Replay the December 5, 2022 event (viewing time 58:43)
Collaborating with the Church:
Advancing Church Values from Washington, DC to Wall Street
We invite you to join us for a conversation with leaders from The Episcopal Church, the Executive Council Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Church Pension Group as they discuss how their collaborative relationship has helped affect changes in government policies and among publicly traded companies.
Learn how the values of the Church continue to help guide their shareholder engagement strategies as they work to address environmental, social, and governance issues impacting the world today.
Opening Prayer/ Welcoming Remarks
The Rev. Clayton Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group
Mary Kate Wold (moderator)
CEO and President
Church Pension Group
Panel Conversation
Rebecca Linder Blachly
Director, Office of Government Relations
The Episcopal Church
The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, PhD
Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
Chair, Executive Council Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility
Christopher Rowe, CFA®
Managing Director, Investments
Church Pension Group
Opening Prayer
The Rev. Clayton Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group
The Reverend Clayton Crawley is Executive Vice President and Chief Church Relations Officer of CPG. He is responsible for strengthening CPG’s ties with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the General Convention, and other groups and stakeholders around The Episcopal Church. He joined CPG in 1999.
Previously, Fr. Crawley led CPG’s technology program and served as Chief Information Officer. Prior to this, he was the Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California. He has more than 25 years of ordained ministry experience and currently serves as a non-stipendiary priest at St. Bartholomew’s Parish and Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City.
He holds an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
Welcoming Remarks and Moderator
Mary Kate Wold
Chief Executive Officer and President
Church Pension Group
Mary Kate Wold serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Church Pension Group (CPG), a $17 billion financial services enterprise that provides retirement, health, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, and other products and services to The Episcopal Church. She also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Church Pension Fund, CPG’s governing body.
She has served in a variety of leadership positions in the corporate, legal, and government sectors. Prior to joining CPG, she was a senior finance executive and principal corporate officer of Wyeth, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Before embarking on her corporate career, she was a partner and chaired the tax practice group of Shearman & Sterling, a leading global law firm. Earlier in her career, she served in the Office of Tax Policy of the United States Department of the Treasury.
Her board participation has included both not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. She sits on the board of the Church Benefits Association, a national association of faith-based benefits organizations, and on the steering committee of the Church Alliance, a benefits policy and advocacy group. She serves on the vestry of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City and on its investment committee, which oversees the institution’s multi-billion-dollar real estate and securities portfolio. She also sits on the boards of Nucleus RadioPharma, The Jackson Laboratory, and Burke Neurological Institute. Her professional affiliations include membership in the Women’s Forum of New York and Women Corporate Directors.
Mary Kate spent her childhood in Bottineau, North Dakota, a small rural community on the Canadian border. She graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, summa cum laude with a BA in English and Theater and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She later graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.
Panelists
Rebecca Linder Blachly
Director, Office of Government Relations
The Episcopal Church
Rebecca Linder Blachly serves as Director of the Office of Government Relations for The Episcopal Church. Prior to taking on this role in September 2016, she was the Senior Policy Advisor for Africa in the Office of Religion and Global Affairs at the US Department of State.
Her previous positions include Acting Chief of the Strategic Communication Division at US Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Research Associate in the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has conducted fieldwork and research throughout Africa and the Middle East and she has published on civil-military relations and information sharing in complex environments.
Ms. Blachly received her BA in philosophy from Williams College and her MDiv from Harvard University, and she is a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a member at Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes in Washington, DC.
The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, PhD
Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
Chair, Executive Council Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility
On December 1, 2012, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori consecrated Fisher as Bishop at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, succeeding The Rt. Rev. Gordon Paul Scruton, who was elected as bishop in 1996.
Fisher was rector of Grace Church, Millbrook , New York for twelve years before election to the episcopate. Prior to that he was Pastor of Holy Innocents in Highland Falls, New York and Chaplain to United States Military Academy at West Point (1997-2000), and Chair of the Standing Committee for the Diocese of New York.
Bishop Fisher is a graduate of St. John’s University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts. He earned a Master of Divinity at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, NY and was honored with the James Newcombe Award for Outstanding Biblical Scholar in 1980. His Doctor of Ministry is from Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge.
Bishop Fisher’s decade of episcopal ministry began with a walking tour of the three corridors of our diocese. He was a vocal opponent of MGM Casino coming to Springfield and is an ardent advocate for gun safety legislation. Bishop Fisher’s membership in Bishops United Against Gun Violence has led to direct engagement and public witness at Smith and Wesson, Corp. in Springfield. Under his leadership the Trustees moved diocesan assets away from fossil fuels. Bishop Fisher has authored resolutions related to gun violence that were passed by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church in 2018 and 2022.
Bishop Fisher appointed a Missioner for Creation Care, an Urban Missioner and a Missioner for Hispanic-Latino Ministry. He has lifted up the ministry of deacons in our diocese ordaining nine in ten years. The Bishop’s early ministry with soldiers at West Point inspired Building Bridges Veterans Initiative – a growing constellation of sites where table fellowship creates community for those who served and their families.
Born and raised in Valley Stream, Long Island, Fisher is married to the Rev. Elizabeth Fisher. They live in Great Barrington, MA. They have three children, and two grandchildren.
Christopher Rowe, CFA
Managing Director, Investments
Church Pension Group
Christopher Rowe is a Managing Director of CPG. He is responsible for leading CPG’s socially responsible investment engagement strategy and outreach initiatives. He works to build relationships with companies in which CPG invests, peer organizations, The Episcopal Church, and other stakeholders with similar values. Additionally, he works on behalf of the Chief Investment Officer to oversee various aspects of administration for the Investments Department, including communications and compliance.
Prior to CPG, Christopher was Chief of Staff to the CEO of PGIM, Prudential Financial’s asset management business, where he was responsible for wide-ranging activities including business administration, external relations, and sustainability. Earlier in his career, he worked directly with institutions and faith-based investors on strategies for integrating values with investments.
He received a BA in Economics from Haverford College and an MBA in Finance from New York University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
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