As Senior Vice President for Sustainability Research and Policy since 2006, Bennett Freeman has led Calvert’s Sustainability Research Department and its environmental, social and governance research analysis, shareholder advocacy and public policy work of the largest family of sustainable and responsible (SRI) mutual funds in the U.S. Freeman has played a leading role in renovating Calvert’s policy framework, widening the impact of its advocacy work and developing innovative new funds.
Before joining Calvert, Freeman led the Global Corporate Responsibility practice for Burson-Marsteller, the global public affairs and strategic communications firm, advising multinational corporate clients on human rights and sustainability-related policy, stakeholder engagement and reporting. Previously as Principal of Sustainable Investment Strategies, Freeman co-authored a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) for BP’s Tangguh project in West Papua, Indonesia, the first ever such assessment undertaken in the extractive sectors.
Freeman was a Clinton presidential appointee in three positions in the U.S. Department of State, most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In that capacity, Freeman led the development of the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights, the global human rights standard for the extractive sectors. He also served as Senior Advisor to Under Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Stuart Eizenstat and as chief speechwriter for Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Prior to joining the State Department, he was Manager-Corporate Affairs for the General Electric Company and a speechwriter and presidential campaign aide for former Vice President Walter Mondale.
Freeman is Chair of the Advisory Board of Global Witness; Vice Chair of the Board of the United to End Genocide (the newly merged Save Darfur Coalition and Genocide Intervention Network); a Trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business; Board Secretary of the Global Network Initiative (GNI); Board Chair of EG Justice/Working Towards a Just Equatorial Guinea; a member of the Governing Board of the Revenue Watch Institute and the Business and Human Rights Group of Amnesty International USA. He served on the boards of Oxfam America from 2002-10 and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) from 2006-09 representing Oxfam.
A native San Franciscan, he earned an AB in History from the University of California at Berkeley and MA in Modern History from the University of Oxford.