3ci managing director Tessa Hebb profiled in SSHRCC’s 30th anniversary publication

The work of Dr. Tessa Hebb, Managing Director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, was profiled in SSHRC’s new book, 30, which celebrates the Council’s 30 years of supporting Canadian researchers. The story highlights her leading-edge work in using a case study approach to assessing corporate engagement on governance, social and environmental issues by major pension funds.

Source: Celebrating 30 years of cultivating excellence in social sciences and humanities research

Increasingly, those responsible for large Canadian pension funds are turning to Tessa Hebb’s expertise to ensure their investments flourish. Hebb, director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, received the William E. Taylor fellowship in 2003 as the top doctoral candidate of that year. Her work? To research how pension funds interact with—and influence—the corporations in which they invest.

Pension funds are some of the largest corporate investors in the world and are understandably concerned about the long-term performance of their investments. Prior to 2001, it was illegal in Canada for investors to collaborate with one another about a corporation’s activities. Today, pensionfund investors are beginning to recognize their tremendous power to effect constructive change within an organization. As an example, some pension funds now expect the corporations they invest in to adopt forward-looking environmental practices.

Canadian pension funds are in the early stages of such positive engagement. Hebb assists many funds, including the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, using a case-study method that teaches best practices of corporate engagement.