New initiative provides Xponance with exclusive rights to create institutionally focused investment strategies employing As You Sow racial justice and workplace equity data

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Stefanie Spear, sspear@asyousow.org, 216-387-1609

PHILADELPHIA, PA—FEB. 1, 2022—Xponance, Inc., a leading multi-strategy investment firm, and As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility, today announced that they have formed a new partnership. The relationship grants Xponance exclusive rights to create investment products for pensions, endowments, foundations, and other investors using As You Sow’s racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) data. 

The partnership enhances existing Xponance ESG offerings within its $6.5 billion Systematic Global Equities platform and the firm’s ability to develop more equitable portfolios for institutional clients. The As You Sow data will be used as an additional screening tool, alongside other ESG data sources, to help clients make more informed investment decisions when it comes to racial justice and DEI issues. The data can be applied to both actively managed portfolios and developed into customized indexes for passive strategies.

“We are thrilled to partner with As You Sow to offer our clients a unique way to incorporate racial justice considerations into their equity investments as DEI issues become an increasingly critical factor amongst institutional allocators,” said Sumali Sanyal, managing director and senior portfolio manager of the Systematic Global Equities Platform at Xponance. “We have long believed in diversity as a source of alpha, and we look forward to working with the As You Sow team to help clients realize this in their portfolios.”

“Xponance’s powerful institutional investor network makes them an ideal fit to develop investment products that will add leverage to our corporate engagements on racial justice and DEI,” said Olivia Knight, racial justice initiative manager at As You Sow. “By linking institutional investments to scorecard performance, this partnership will provide additional incentive for companies to have a direct impact on the eradication of racist policies.” 

As You Sow’s Racial Justice and DEI scorecards analyze each company in the Russell 1000 and S&P 500 to determine how 56 key performance indicators (KPI’s) are incorporated into their internal policies and external practices. The Racial Justice Scorecard evaluates company statements and corporate policies and practices across key KPI’s, including: public statements matched with action on racial and environmental justice, direct CEO responsibility, job title of a DEI leader, and racial justice related donations. The complementary Workplace Equity data measures detailed recruitment, retention, and promotion of diverse talent, corporate levels of transparency about workforce composition, pay equity, and inclusion metrics.

Xponance’s partnership with As You Sow builds on the firm’s long-standing commitment to being an investment leader in ESG. Xponance is a signatory of the UN supported Principles for Responsible Investment, and in 2021, the firm hired Lisa Hinds as Managing Director, Client Engagement and Sustainability. The Firm intends to make further enhancements to its ESG and sustainability platform over the coming year.

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Xponance, Inc., formerly known as FIS Group, is a Black woman led, and employee-owned investment manager, founded in 1996 by CEO Tina Byles Williams. With over $15 billion in assets under management*, Xponance is a multi-strategy firm offering active and passive systematic equity, fixed income, and alternative solutions as well as multi-manager strategies that source alpha from emerging and diverse managers.  Xponance's technology subsidiary, Aapryl, LLC, offers a web-based analytical platform that assists asset owners in portfolio, manager, and risk due diligence. 

Xponance's primary goal is to be a trusted client solutions partner. The firm's name is derived from the word "exponent" and dually connotes its core objectives—to be a zealous champion for clients; and to provide higher level engagement and a broader array of solutions to meet their investment needs.           

As You Sow is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building and innovative legal strategies.