Preqin, a specialist in alternative assets data, tools and insights, has appointed Jaclyn Bouchard as its Head of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) as the company is ramping up its efforts to provide quality ESG data at scale for private markets.
Bouchard as joins Preqin from S&P Global where she worked for almost ten years in various sustainability-related roles, most recently spearheading the development of S&P’s ESG products.
As Head of ESG, Bouchard as will be responsible for further developing Preqin’s ESG product suite as well as working together with external stakeholders globally to support the alternative assets industry in navigating a complex and ever-changing ESG reporting landscape.
ESG factors have become a major business priority for alternatives professionals. According to a recent Preqin survey of fund managers, two-thirds noted that the lack of high-quality, consistent ESG data was the main challenge to implementing an ESG policy.
Confusion over terminology (43 per cent) and lack of knowledge or expertise (32 per cent) were also noted among the prime roadblocks to comprehensive ESG policies. To address this challenge, Preqin launched ESG Solutions in November 2020 — the first of its kind ESG data solution for the private markets, designed to capture, analyse and display ESG risk exposure and transparency data from across the alternatives sector.
Mark O’Hare, Founder and CEO of Preqin, says: “We are thrilled to have Jaclyn join Preqin. ESG is transforming how institutional investors source and select alternative asset funds, and there are still challenges around adoption, scoring and benchmarking. Jaclyn’s invaluable experience and expertise will help us tackle those challenges with the most comprehensive ESG data in the sector and advance the adoption of ESG in the private markets.”
Bouchard says: “For someone as passionate about ESG and using business to accelerate more sustainable markets as I am, Preqin’s commitment to the sector is something that matched my own ambition and clearly stood out for me. I am extremely excited to further develop and implement Preqin’s ESG product suite, as demand for quality ESG data solutions is growing rapidly.”
More than 110,000 global alternative assets professionals rely on Preqin for information on 35k private market firms, 65,000 funds and 18,000 institutional investors.
The company is currently going through a strong growth phase and is headquartered in London, where Jaclyn will be based, with engineering, information technology and client services teams located across the Americas, EMEA and Asia.
