Jean-Pascal Porcherot
Co-CEO, Lombard Odier IM
10 October 2022
Why have you joined 25×25?
Well Tara, many thanks for asking the question. But let me start by thanking you for leading such an important initiative. At Lombard Odier Investment Managers [LOIM] we believe that the world needs to move to what we call a CLIC® economy, which stands for Circular, Lean, Inclusive and Clean. We believe that inclusion is absolutely key. We believe that by pushing it, you can get better performance, you can get better innovation.
So, for all these reasons, I think that it’s great that corporates like ourselves can team up together, can work together to develop and offer great opportunities for talented women.
Do you think the investment landscape has changed?
The landscape has changed, but not fast enough when I still see a number of companies talking about ESG factors. Well, ESG for us gives you an idea about the behaviours of the company at a point in time. It has nothing to do with what we believe in at Lombard Odier, which is about sustainability, the future – what needs to change in order to make your business sustainable.
When you just look at what we’ve been doing in LOIM: one of the things that we did was to have a diverse, balanced executive committee. So, we are four of us, two women, two men, from different backgrounds. I think it starts, you know, by showing that example. And then we can try to make sure that the organisation follows your lead and adapts itself. But there is still a lot of work to be done in this industry.
What is your personal interest in improving gender balance at executive leadership levels?
Well, for me personally, it goes back to having a very meritocratic organisation. I’m French, I’m part of a Swiss company. I’m not part of the Lombard family or the Odier family, but because we work in a very meritocratic organisation, because I work hard, I was able to become a managing partner. In the end, what I really want for Lombard Odier Investment Managers is to be in a very meritocratic culture, and that is important. You know, we talk a lot about our values and talk about excellence. We talk about innovation and I’m 100% convinced that by pushing inclusivity, by pushing diversity, we’ll be better placed.