Edward Baker joins SEDA Expert’s ESG Expert Witness Practice

New York, NY, January 19, 2024 – SEDA Experts LLC, a leading expert witness firm providing world-class financial expert witness services, announced today that Edward Baker joined the firm as Managing Director.

“We are excited to grow our ESG practice with the addition of Edward Baker,” said Damiano Colnago, Managing Partner of SEDA Experts.

Edward Baker has enjoyed a 40 plus year career in the investment management business, with a focus on ESG investing, quantitative investing and corporate governance. He is currently an advisor to climate change and extreme risk modelling firm Tipping Frontier; their mission is to help companies and government entities assess the potential risks and costs from both the direct and indirect impacts of extreme risks, particularly climate related risks.

Mr. Baker’s experience in quantitative modelling includes running the research team as Executive Chairman of currency hedge fund The Cambridge Strategy (later Mesirow Financial, which acquired the business through a lift out), where the investment process was based on a diverse set of quantitative models. In addition to his senior management role, he was responsible for the industry’s first research demonstrating a connection between exchange rate movements and ESG factors.

Prior to this he was the Chief Investment Officer of Emerging Markets Growth Equities at Alliance Bernstein in London, having joined the firm in 1995, then Alliance Capital. During his tenure at Alliance, he served as CIO of their Emerging Markets Growth Equity business and as CEO of their London office. He pioneered the development of one of the industry’s first models of corporate governance in emerging markets and the AUM’s of the strategy based on this model reached capacity, at $10billion in AUM’s, by the time of his departure.

Mr. Baker began his investing career at Barra Inc. Barra is a pioneer in risk management modelling and technology, having developed the financial industry’s first fundamental multiple factor equity models.

He has been active with industry associations and other not-for-profit entities, having served as Chairman of the Working Group on Corporate Governance and Transparency for the Institute of International Finance, where he was responsible for developing a Code of Corporate Governance for emerging market countries. In conjunction with the Investments & Wealth Institute, he founded the Journal of Investment Consulting in 1998 as Editor in Chief and continues as a member of its editorial advisory board. In recognition of his long-term contribution to the investment management industry, he received the 2023 Investments & Wealth Institute Investment Consulting Impact Award. He has been a trustee for the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute for over 15 years.

Mr. Baker earned an MS degree in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Regents Fellow and subsequently went through PhD programs at UC Berkeley in both mathematics and finance, receiving an ABD in mathematics. He has published a notable range of research papers in practitioner journals over his career, with an emphasis on corporate governance, ESG related and other risk management topics.

About SEDA Experts LLC

SEDA is a leading expert witness firm specializing in financial services. We support international law firms by offering the highest level of expertise across the financial industry and providing access to the most influential financial services industry leaders. We provide superior independent advice, data analytics, valuation, and elite expert reports and testimony services to law firms, regulators, and leading financial institutions.

Tags: Corporate Governance, ESG Investing, Quantitative Investing, Risk Management