Advocacy Talking Points 5 December 2023
Fighting the Shadows: Unraveling Modern Slavery Reporting and Compliance
Webinar Presentation
Download PDFOverview
How do companies identify and address modern slavery risks in their supply chains, and what must they do to improve disclosure quality? In light of the recommendations in the recent Review Report of Australia's Modern Slavery Act, the modern slavery reporting requirement could be extended to small organisations, and non-compliance may result in penalties.
In this webinar, we invited speakers from the investment and corporate world to discuss initiatives companies have taken to combat modern slavery and the challenges they face to meet the growing expectations of regulators, investors, and society.
Speakers:
- Ammie Davies, principal sustainable procurement, Fortescue
- Saskia Kort-Chick, senior vice president, director esg research and engagement, AllianceBernstein
- Nga Pham, CFA, senior research fellow, monash center for financial studies, Monash University
Moderator:
- Scott Lee, senior director, strategic partnerships, CFA Institute
Speakers
Ammie is a supply chain professional with an MSc in Sustainability and Social Responsibility. She has held multiple global commercial roles and has led social audit and responsible sourcing programs across multiple jurisdictions including Australia, South Africa, Colombia, and China. In her current role as Principal Sustainable Procurement at Fortescue, Ammie is responsible for identifying, mitigating, and managing sustainability risk in the metals and mining supply chain, and implementing enhanced human rights due diligence in higher risk categories.
Saskia Kort-Chick is a Senior Vice President and AB’s Director of Social Research and Engagement for the Responsibility team, where she leads AB’s global efforts to further enhance investors’ ability to integrate social issues into their decision-making and investment processes. Kort-Chick has been leading AB’s work on modern slavery, which has been recognized with the Themis International Services 2021 and 2022 Combatting Modern Slavery Award; the Environmental Finance Sustainable Investment Awards 2022 ESG Assessment Tool of the Year, Risk and Reporting Award; and was a shortlist for the PRI’s 2022 Stewardship Initiative of the Year Award. She herself was also shortlisted for the International Corporate Governance Network Rising Star Award in 2022. Kort-Chick is also responsible for the development of ESIGHT, AB’s ESG research and collaboration platform, and chairs the ESIGHT Steering Committee. She co-chairs the APAC Responsibility Steering Committee and is a member of both the Controversial Investment Advisory Council and Proxy Voting and Governance Committee. She participates in many industry organizations, including Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia Pacific, PRI’s Advance, and the Asia Corporate Governance Association. Prior to joining AB in 2010, Kort-Chick worked for investor relations consultancy RD:IR as a senior account manager. She holds a BA (cum laude) in social sciences from University College Utrecht, Netherlands; an MA (with merit) in war studies from King’s College London; a postgraduate certificate in management (with a focus on corporate responsibility) from Birkbeck, University of London; and an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from the CFA Society of the UK. Location: Melbourne.
Nga Pham is a research fellow at the Monash Centre for Financial Studies (MCFS), Monash University in Australia. She works on issues related to pensions, ESG and shareholder activism. Her most recent research on the disclosure quality of modern slavery has been featured in prestigious media including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Australia's Financial Review and SBS World News.
Nga is currently also a co-chair of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) Financial Capital Committee. Before that, she was a member of the Disclosure and Transparency Committee of ICGN.
Before joining Monash University, Nga was a consultant at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, working for the Vietnam Corporate Governance Project. Her work involved raising awareness, regulatory advocacy, capacity building and firm advisory activities in corporate governance. She co-authored a book titled "State on Board: Navigating Corporate Governance in Emerging Market Business".
Nga was also an academic at Hanoi University in Vietnam where she had assumed various leadership roles, including the Executive Director of La Trobe – HANU joint programs, Vice Dean and Dean of the Faculty of Management and Tourism.
Nga is a CFA charterholder and an active volunteer and member of the CFA Society Melbourne.
As the Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships of CFA Institute, Scott is responsible engaging with key industry stakeholders to promote the highest standards of education and professional excellence. This includes formulating strategic partnerships on research, professional learning and investor protection initiatives.
On behalf of CFA Institute, Scott manages the Asia-Pacific Research Exchange (ARX) - a research hub that brings together like-minded finance and investment management professionals to share, learn and engage on relevant industry topics. Leveraging ARX, Scott and his team have organized 300+ online and offline events for CFA members, candidates and other industry stakeholders in the past few years.
Scott possesses Master’s in International Management, Postgraduate diploma in Business Administration, Bachelor of Banking and Finance and Bachelor of Computing.