Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investment Industry's Major Annual Conference

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Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investment Industry's Major Annual Conference to Be Held in Late October in British Col

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As socially and environmentally responsible investing continues to attract more investors and gain momentum in the marketplace, First Affirmative Financial Network and the nonprofit Social Investment Forum (SIF) will host the 19th annual SRI in the Rockies Conference (www.sriintherockies.com), October 26-29, 2008 at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in British Columbia, Canada.

SRI in the Rockies is expected to draw more than 700 professionals from the socially and environmentally responsible investment industry in the U.S. and around the world. This premier annual industry event attracts a wide range of investment professionals -- from financial advisors to institutional investors and mutual fund companies -- as well as social research and proxy voting organizations. Members of religious organizations and social change non-profits, and officers from community development banks, credit unions and related organizations also will be in attendance.

Conference sessions will focus on: sustainable finance and investing, business ethics and transparency, new trends in shareholder activism, climate change, and emerging issues and industries like clean tech, and the latest on community investing. The full SRI in the Rockies Conference agenda is available online at www.sriintherockies.com/2008/agenda.jsp.

Conference speakers will include: David Brancaccio, host of the PBS news magazine NOW and author of "Squandering Aimlessly;" Doug Bauer, senior vice president, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Matt Christiansen, executive director, European Social Investment Forum (Eurosif); Sarah Forrest, executive director, Goldman Sachs Sustain, London; Barbara J. Krumsiek, chair, CEO, and president of Calvert Group, Ltd; Kenneth G. Lay, vice president and treasurer of the World Bank; and Jack Robinson, founder, Winslow Management Company.

The 2008 conference takes place against the backdrop of an industry that continues to expand rapidly. According to the "Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States" issued in July 2008 by SIF, socially and environmentally responsible investing is thriving in the United States, growing at a faster pace than the broader universe of all investment assets under professional management. Roughly 11 percent of assets under professional management in the U.S. (nearly one out of every nine dollars) are now involved in SRI. From 2005-2007, SRI assets increased more than 18 percent while the broader universe of professionally managed assets expanded less than 3 percent.