Settling in at Castlefield - Eleanor Walley

Eleanor Walley recently joined Castlefield as an Executive. In this piece, Eleanor describes what brought her to Castlefield, and how she has found the experience of working within the Investment Management team.

Hello! I joined Castlefield in June 2022 as an Executive working on environmental, social and governance (ESG) and stewardship within the Investment Management team. A little about me- after spending some time travelling, I went on to study Geography at the University of Bristol where I further developed an interest in the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in this field, so after graduating last year with a First Class Honours, I went on to work for an environmental consultancy. My main role here was facilitating the development of an online tool to monitor environmental performance, aiming to help large organisations utilise their leverage and resources to drive collective action across their entire business ecosystem.

As events such as COP26 unfolded last year, I became increasingly conscious of the finance industry’s ability to steer businesses in the right direction to address the environmental and social ills of society. I wanted to explore this, and when I came across the opportunity at Castlefield- a company where sustainability and investment intersect- I was immediately intrigued! Fast forward three interviews and I am fortunate enough to be writing this having completed my first two months in the role.

The first couple of weeks or so were spent getting to know many new faces both in the office and virtually, building a greater understanding of the company and the scope of my role, as well as working my way through the Professional Refresher modules. Professional Refreshers, available through the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), are a useful form of online training helping you keep up to speed with the latest developments and maintain regulatory compliance. From anti-money laundering to ESG investing, you are bound to learn something new and it’s a great way to continue to educate yourself!

Ever since joining, I have been invited to attend meetings with investee companies, engaging in discussions around various ESG issues. Collaborative engagement is front and centre to Castlefield’s relationship with investee companies, supporting a number of initiatives which push companies to demonstrate best practice. Recently, we signalled our support for two Churches, Charities and Local Authorities (CCLA) led initiatives; the Corporate Mental Health Benchmark; and a modern slavery initiative - Find it, Fix it, Prevent it. CCLA, pioneers of responsible investment in the asset management industry, have identified mental health and modern slavery as areas where, for the most part, corporate responses are inadequate.

We will be engaging with investee companies to encourage a more proactive approach to identify and eradicate modern slavery from supply chains, as well as pushing for better disclosure and reporting on workplace mental health. Somewhat unsurprisingly, net-zero is a priority area for Castlefield this year. I’ve been collecting net zero target data for investee companies, in particular looking to assess the credibility of company net-zero targets, according to factors such as whether nearer-term interim targets have been set, and whether targets are science-based. Castlefield itself recently announced a commitment to achieve net-zero across its own operations and supply chain by 2030, and net-zero across our investment portfolios by 2040.

One of the first things I sensed was the positive culture at Castlefield - I hadn’t heard much about employee ownership (EO) before joining but I am already feeling the benefits. Every employee is an equally valued ‘Co-owner’ of the company whose voice is respected and listened to. An EO Committee has recently been established- a “revamp” of the former EO Council- creating a space for Co-owners to collaborate and shape the direction of the company across a range of issues including: culture; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and net-zero. In July, Castlefield hosted an EO Social, it was a great night of celebrations and a perfect opportunity to get to know other Co-owners outside of the office!

I have learnt so much in my first two months at Castlefield, adjusting not only to a new role, but also a new industry- whilst this is somewhat of a challenge, it is one which is highly rewarding! I’m looking forward to developing my skills through the Castlefield Academy and I can’t wait to see how my career unfolds here.

Written by Eleanor Walley