Tom Marthaler currently serves on the impact investing committee with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Tom spent 40 years in investment management. Most recently he spent 13 years at Neuberger Berman and was a named manager on several US-domiciled funds, including the $2.6 billion Neuberger Berman Strategic Income fund.
In this conversation, Tom gives an overview of the different bond market segments and opportunities for impact. He starts with some distinctions in corporate bonds, then government and mortgage-backed securities. He also offers some helpful commentary around extractive and non-extractive ways investors can act -- and how important flexibility can be.
Towards the second half of the conversation, Tom also reflects on his experience as an advisor and offers some insight on how he encourages clients (investors) to ask their advisors about ESG and their impact aspirations -- and discern how far they've gone, how much they've thought about integrating these questions into their approach and process.
The part I love best is where Tom describes what CST-embodied flexibility looks like -- and how we can be non-extractive in our fixed income holdings.