The US firm deploys a significant chunk of its AuM into impact investing, an area that has gained traction in recent years.

Tiedemann Advisors, the US wealth management house, has stepped up its impact investing effort by naming prominent industry figure Jed Emerson as managing director. He holds the post of global lead of impact investing.

Emerson, who has served on Tiedemann’s Impact Advisory Council for the last three years, will now join formally to oversee strategy and implementation of Tiedemann’s impact investing practice, the firm said in a statement this week. 

“Interest and demand for impact among our clients and prospects has never been greater with over $3.5 billion already committed, and Jed’s sincerity and commitment to the field will serve as an instrumental resource as we grow our capabilities with a sustainable and authentic approach internationally,” Michael Tiedemann, chief executive of Tiedemann Advisors, said.

For decades Emerson led and advised funds, firms, social ventures and foundations pursuing financial performance with social and environmental impact. He is an internationally recognized thought leader in the space, and has co-authored seven books in the field, including the first book ever published specifically on impact investing, Tiedemann said.

The firm said Emerson is “considered the originator of the concepts of Blended Value and Total Portfolio Management”. In the late 1990s Emerson convened what is thought to be the first working group to formalize a methodology for calculating SROI (Social Return on Investment), each of which has served as foundational concepts for the impact investing industry since its inception. 

Among other roles, Emerson is a Senior Fellow at global impact investing network Toniic and a senior research fellow with the Center for Social Investment, Heidelberg University. He has also had previous faculty appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford.

“Over the last 10 years, impact investing has completely taken off. There is an opportunity for firms, who have scale and integrity, to reflect on how best to continue to advance impact and sustainability through a traditional investment structure,” said Emerson.

Emerson will work with Jennifer Ayer and Brad Harrison, who co-lead Tiedemann’s US impact investing strategy. The firm's’s impact strategy focuses on two key themes: environmental sustainability and socio-economic development. 

Founded in 1999, Tiedemann has nine offices across the US and provides trust services through Tiedemann Trust Company, a state-chartered trust company located in Wilmington, Delaware. In July last year FWR reported that Tiedemann Advisors had appointed former Cresset Capital senior managing director Jill Shipley as head of family governance and education. In May 2020 it named foreign policy luminary and international investment expert Robert Hormats as a managing director. During his career, Hormats built an investment expertise and knowledge of trade policy, intellectual property protection, protection of trade secrets, international environmental issues and global energy.