Portfolio 21’s CIO Departs

Leslie Christian, former CEO, and CIO of Portland, Ore.–based Portfolio 21 Investments, has left the firm.

After nearly 17 years, Christian has “transitioned to explore some new projects” but will be continuing her work as chair of Upstream 21 Corporation, a Portland-based holding company that acquires small, privately-owned firms in the Pacific Northwest, according to Carsten Henningsen, founder and now chief executive.

“In 1998, Leslie and I came up with the concept to launch an investment strategy using The Natural Step principles as a foundation for our investment selection process,” he wrote on the firm’s web site. “At the time, sustainability was a relatively new and undefined term. While many SRI investment strategies had environmental screens, these screens were primarily used to screen out companies with poor environmental performance. We developed a comprehensive positive screening approach to selecting environmental leaders, which brings us to where we are today.”

“All of us at Portfolio 21 Investments are thankful for Leslie’s contribution to our success over the years and we wish her the very best in her future work.”

In other firm news, John Streur has joined the Board of Directors of Portfolio 21 Investments as non-executive chairman. Streur most recently served as president and trustee of The Managers Funds and chief executive of Managers Investment Group, LLC.

“We first met John about four years ago while he was doing research on environmental investing,” wrote Henningsten. “When we met earlier this year it became clear that John's unique combination of depth of experience with global investment processes, along with his commitment to environmental investment principles, would make him a strong addition to our Board.”

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