Celebrating a decade of innovation, growth and success
Posted by Ethical Investing NZ
Wednesday 22 January 2025
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At the end of 2024, Ethical Investing NZ celebrated 10 years in business – and 10 years of success. Like all good things, Ethical Investing NZ was years in the making. Based on his decades-long commitment to stewardship, founder Peter Lee brought together his extensive experience of “advising advisers” with his passion for ethical investing. In 2014, at age 56, Peter made the gutsy decision to quit his senior corporate role at a major bank.
Unlike most peers Peter hadn’t been an adviser and didn’t have a single client to his name. However, he did have a vision – to set up a top-flight, professional advice firm based on principles of sustainability. The business was born! As is often the case with a start-up, though, the first few years were hard.
A major turning point happened in 2017 when Larry Stead and Peter joined forces, bringing Steve Mascarenhas along. While Larry retired in 2023, Steve is still with us as Client Support Coordinator, just a friendly voice or email away. The next five years saw significant change as we took on more clients – now – retired practice manager Suzanne Baldwin joined in 2019 followed by advisers Mark Holtom in 2019 and Dal Jandu in 2021. Current Operations Manager Francesca Snell came on board in 2020.
While there have been a few changes, perhaps the most significant was the change of company name to Ethical Investing NZ in 2021. While we had been principally focused on the area for some years, we felt the time was right to tell the world, the culmination of the journey the firm had been on since 2014. Reception has been overwhelmingly positive from clients and others alike. Along the way we collected awards from Mindful Money in three successive years.
What hasn’t changed has been our commitment to our clients, many of whom have been working with us for many years. We are acutely aware of our crucial role in acting as kaitiaki (stewards), not just of our clients’ investments but also of their hopes and dreams. It’s a commitment we take very seriously indeed.