Women of Impact: Veris Wealth Partner’s Stephanie Cohn Rupp and her 100% commitment to ESG

When Stephanie Cohn Rupp moved from London to Washington to fulfill her dream of working in international economic development, the London School of Economics graduate quickly became disillusioned.

Working in microfinance at the turn of the century, Rupp experienced first-hand the adverse effects of large financial institutions on the world, including a noticeable uptick in predatory lending to those in poverty. What she witnessed led to a decades-long career in ESG investing to fill the social responsibility gap often left in the wake of public sector failures and private sector indifference.

“I realized there had to be another way,” she said.

Rupp’s realization led to a shift in her career. She started working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which at the time had launched an initiative to empower women in business across the globe. The job took her to central Asia, where she supported women entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other parts of the region.

“The concept of dealing with women, not as poor beneficiaries of aid, but as businesswomen who were building up their hairdresser shop, had a really high impact,” Rupp said.

A dual citizen of France and the United States, Rupp left USAID to work for fellow countryman and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar is well-known in business circles for his extensive participation in impact investing, which allowed Rupp to deploy millions of dollars toward socially responsible causes.

“I was very attracted to his firm because I thought we were aligned in our thinking that business had a place to change and attack issues of poverty and public sector failures. And that’s all he did,” she said. “The billionaire can afford to say, ‘Let’s try a few million dollars there, and if it fails, it’s not a big deal and we will just keep going,’” she said.

Her experience working for Omidyar helped solidify Rupp’s position in impact investing. Years later, in 2013, she was named CEO of Toniic, a global network of impact investors.

Educating investors on having an impact

Toniic leveraged its relationships with foundations and individuals interested in impact investing to help clients decide where to direct capital. The business helped eliminate a problem many impact investors faced when attempting to solicit advice from traditional banks on making sustainable investments.

“This learning group really grew a lot when I was there,” Rupp said. “There was so much excitement around asset owners, and the wealth management business was well behind. … The asset owners knew what was possible, and if they asked Goldman Sachs or Citi or UBS and so on, ‘I have $25 million invested with you, what can I do to fight climate change?’ the typical wealth management firm would say that’s not an investment question, it’s a philanthropic question.”

Rupp traveled the world participating in information sharing on how to be ahead of the curve of traditional financial services, but wanted to become further involved with directing money toward sustainable finance.

For years, Rupp envisioned working for Veris Wealth Partners, which she said is known for refusing to compromise on sustainable investing while still aiming to return profits in step with the S&P 500.

Rupp had always been bothered by seeing companies that may have ESG investing divisions while still allocating a large portion of money to industries like oil and gas. Veris never made such concessions.

The only problem was landing the job.

“I had wanted to work for them for maybe 12 or 14 years,” she said. “I always tried — I knocked on their door a few times — and there was no job.”

At least not until Aug. 2, 2019, when Rupp was named CEO and partner of the San Francisco-based wealth management firm.

“The firm has always been women-led, which is rare in wealth management,” Rupp said, adding that the operation also focuses heavily on racial justice investing and policy advocacy.

Rupp draws on her master’s degree in public administration, finance, trade and macroeconomics from Harvard Kennedy School to advocate for shareholders with policymakers in Washington. Veris also works to connect its clients with their own representatives and senators to help promote their own voices.

‘A house divided cannot stand’

Under Rupp, Veris has spent years on Capitol Hill combating the shortsighted viewpoint that ESG investing is in some way anticapitalist or inherently evil.

“It’s so mind-boggling,” Rupp said, adding that her group has met with elected leaders on both sides of the aisle to educate legislators on sustainable finance’s benefits and effectiveness.

She said the Democratic side embraces many of the tenants championed by Veris and even created the Sustainable Investment Caucus under U.S. Reps. Sean Casten, of Illinois, and Juan Vargas, of California, 18 months ago.

On the other side of the aisle, Rupp said Republican lawmakers often understand intellectually what sustainable finance is about, but it’s hard for them to implement when considering, for example, the possibility of oil and gas workers losing jobs in states like Texas or Oklahoma.

Texas has banned municipalities and other public entities from ESG investing, which Rupp said has only increased taxpayer costs.

“What they’ve done is create less competition,” she said. “You have smaller firms and fewer firms bidding, so the price of management of these public assets goes up, and the taxpayers are left with a much higher debt service.”

Rupp said she is continuing to approach the issue through the lens of creating unity, which goes directly to her favorite quote, often attributed to Abraham Lincoln during the upheaval leading into the Civil War, but also attributed by some to Jesus.

“A house divided cannot stand.”

Looking to the future

Rupp sees a bright future for investment firms like Veris as the younger generation increasingly accepts and gravitates toward sustainable life choices, including investment decisions. She also sees a world where Veris will remain independent for many years to come.

“What I’m most proud of is that we have had many offers to be acquired — businesses saying that we’re the experts on sustainable finance and gender lens investing — and every time we’ve had a golden offer on the table, we have declined it.”

Why? Because the deals typically involve Veris becoming a division of another wealth management firm, which would go against the company’s mission of remaining 100% committed to ESG.

“We’re very proud of our independence,” she said.

Veris continually seeks new prospects, including interns, to join the firm.

“We love having interns, and often we recruit our interns later as advisers or investment professionals — that’s a big way that younger folks can get involved in what we’re doing.”

For the older generations, Rupp said Veris has a $5 million minimum to invest and stressed that the operations of the firm are hardly philanthropic.

“We’re trying to show that in the long term, investing in this way is the smarter way to invest. Diverse teams outperform.”

Read more on Women of Impact: Kelly Ann Winget on her alternative investment fund and gender bias | Santia Deck and a revolution in impact investing | more articles in this series here.