Michelle Edkins

Michelle Edkins is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team of about 65 specialists covering the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia-Pacific. The team engages companies and others in the investment stewardship ecosystem to promote the governance and business practices aligned with long-term value creation by the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

Michelle is responsible globally for investment stewardship policy and institutional relations. She also serves on the firm’s Global Operating Committee and External Affairs Operating Committee. Michelle is an active participant in the public corporate governance debate and regularly speaks and writes on the importance of good stewardship for company performance. She currently serves on a number of industry initiatives to enhance governance and sustainable business practices. She is Chair of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a former Chair of the International Corporate Governance Network and an Aspen Institute First Movers’ Fellow. She is also a member of the Investor Advisory Group of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which is developing a global baseline of sustainability reporting standards.

An economist by training, Michelle has also worked in the UK in a number of investment stewardship-related roles and in government roles in her native New Zealand.