Meredith Jones is a published author, speaker and consultant with decades of experience in the investment industry.  She is a Partner and Global Head of ESG at a large consulting firm, where she chairs the ESG Think Tank with oversight of global solution development and strategy relating to climate change and ESG.  She runs her own research firm MJ Alternative Investment Research and is on the Board of Directors of Rock The Street, Wall Street.  She is the Author of Women of The Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns and How you Can too. She released a Ted Talk on her life experiences called “Creating Luck for Yourself”.

Our conversation is a very broad-based one that starts with her upbringing, in which the theme of social mobility featured prominently. We trace the mentors who saw her talent and nurtured it, and then move to her ascent through financial services.  Meredith has broken barriers with her research, particularly her findings of the added value of female fund managers.  She has built an extensive network this way, and is a prominent advocate for better diversity in financial services as as on boards.

We talk about her current passion, Rock the Street Wall Street, and the work that that organization does in promoting roles in finance, providing networks, insights and mentorship as well as role models to young women interested in pursuing a career there.

Finally we listen to some life truths, such as never read the comments and to not think about careers and progression as a zero sum game.

You can see Meredith’s Ted talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UR6WvCoNGQ