Finance & Sustainability Colloquium: Linda Giuliano (MBA '02), Founder & CEO at BrightWorld ESG

Linda Giuliano

Founder & CEO

BrightWorld ESG

Linda C. Giuliano is Founder and CEO at BrightWorld ESG. She founded BrightWorld ESG to work collaboratively with her clients on customizing ESG principles to match their company profiles and to achieve measurable objectives beyond aspirational goals. Enhancing AUM, brand identity, and competitive advantages are benefits Linda believes can be attained through transformational innovation especially when the outcome attracts more clients and builds brand loyalty. Prior to founding BrightWorld, Linda held leadership positions at AllianceBernstein (AB) investment management, formerly Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Over the span of three decades, she served in many capacities contributing greatly to the culture and success of the company. Linda was the firm’s first Head of Responsible Investing, developing the firm’s ESG strategy, and creating a framework for integrating ESG into security research and investment decision-making, and a platform of ESG goal-based portfolios. She also established a first of its kind partnership with Columbia University to develop a program for AB investment professionals on climate assessment, and she led a series of other educational events on ESG for AB stakeholders. With her vision, drive and leadership, the company is now widely acknowledged as a financial-services leader in ESG.

Prior to taking on ESG responsibilities at AB, Linda was Chief Administrative Officer of Equities, a newly created role in which she oversaw a constellation of activities, including financial management, operational risk, technological innovation, and talent management. In that critically important role, she envisioned and built a model to determine product profitability and cost allocation, and developed a compensation model for portfolio managers saving AB substantial expense, including $2 million annually, by introducing a system for procuring market data more efficient. Before joining the Equity Management senior team, Linda’s positions at AB included serving as the first Chief Operating Officer for Alternative Investments—a new role in an emerging business opportunity for the company—and the first Director of Internal Consulting.

Linda a Board member of the Sherman College of Chiropractic and serves on the Executive Committee and the Advisory Committee of the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. She is a former Chair of the Board of the YMCA in Tarrytown, New York.

Linda earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and a M.B.A. from Cornell University. She also holds a certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Business Strategy from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She attained a FSA Level 1 Credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and FINRA securities licenses in Series SIE, 7, 9/10, and 63.