As we build on the economic recovery from COVID-19, we need to put our people and our purpose at the heart of financial and professional services to rebuild a more sustainable and inclusive economy - investing in better.
Capitalising on client, customer and consumer demand for purpose driven businesses, the Lord Mayor’s Gresham Lecture 2022 will look at how we drive positive impact across the economy, driving sustainable finance and encourage more capital to contribute towards the UN’s SDGs through a vibrant impact investing market.
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Alderman Vincent Keaveny was elected as the 693rd Lord Mayor of the City of London on 29 September 2021 and took office on 12 November 2021. He previously served as Sheriff of the City of London in 2018-19 and in that capacity supported the then Lord Mayor, undertaking numerous engagements and activities at home and abroad.
Vincent is a partner in the international business law firm, DLA Piper. He advises on debt capital markets, structured finance and securitisation transactions in the UK and banks, financial institutions and corporate clients in the UK and internationally on banking, finance and capital markets transactions. He is listed as a leading practitioner in his area of practice by all of the principal legal directories and is included in the legal ‘500’ Hall of Fame for securitisation practitioners. Until May 2019 he was International Co-Chair of the Financial Services Sector at DLA Piper. In 2014/15 he served as President of the City of London Law Society. He is an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn
Since his election to the City of London in 2013 as Alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Within, Alderman Keaveny has served on a number of City Corporation Committees. He is currently a member of the Policy & Resources Committee and the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Subcommittee. He also a Governor of the City of London School. Vincent is also Co-Chair of the HM Treasury & BEIS Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce.
A Liveryman of the City of London Solicitors', the Woolmen's, Distillers', Spectacle Makers', Stationers’, Framework Knitters’, Upholders’ and Security Professionals’ Companies, Vincent served as Master Solicitor in 2014/15. He is also a member of the City Livery Club, the City Pickwick Club and the Royal Society of St. George (City Branch) and the Court of The Honourable The Irish Society. Vincent is the Senior Patron of the Farringdon Ward Club.
Vincent graduated from University College Dublin with a BCL and subsequently obtained an MLitt from Trinity College, Dublin. He was recognised in 2018 by UCD as their Law Alumnus of the Year. Since his admission as solicitor in England & Wales in 1992 he has worked in private practice in the City. Vincent's interests include theatre and the arts. He is a trustee of the Sir John Soane's Museum, where he is the Independent Director on the Board. He chairs the board of the vocal ensemble, Exaudi, and is a director of Actors Touring Company.
Vincent is married to Amanda, an Intensive Care Nurse and in what spare time he has, he enjoys tennis and walking their Labrador.
Mayoral Theme
People with Purpose - Vincent’s year will champion a purpose-led and people-focused UK FPS sector; growing the global competitiveness of the UK as a world leader in ESG and sustainable finance and home to the best and most diverse global talent; driving social mobility at all levels.

Sir Ronald Cohen is a pioneering philanthropist, venture capitalist, private equity investor, and social innovator. He is recognized as the father of impact investment and European venture capital, and is driving forward the global Impact Revolution. He serves as Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative at Harvard Business School, and The Portland Trust.
He is a co-founder and former Executive Chairman of Apax Partners Worldwide, a global private equity firm. He is also a co-founder of Social Finance UK, USA, and Israel, co-founder Chair of Bridges Fund Management and former co-founding Chair of Big Society Capital. He chaired the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce (2013-2015), the UK Social Investment Task Force (2000-2010) and the UK’s Commission on Unclaimed Assets (2005-2007).
Oxford and Harvard educated, Ronnie was born in Egypt and left as a refugee at the age of 11, when his family came to the UK. He is now based in Tel Aviv, London and New York. He is the author of IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change, which was published in 2020 by Penguin Random House and is a Wall Street Journal Best Seller.

Elizabeth has extensive experience in the financial services industry having been CEO of Allianz Global Investors, initially for Europe then globally, from 2005 to 2016. She continued to act as an advisor to the company until the end of 2019. Elizabeth was previously at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (formerly Mercury Asset Management), Coopers & Lybrand and Sun Alliance. Elizabeth is active in representing the investment industry and developing standards within it.
Elizabeth is chair of the Impact Investing Institute and is a non-executive director of BAE Systems plc and Morgan Stanley Inc. She joined the board of Schroders plc in September 2021 as Chair designate, effective from the AGM currently scheduled for 28 April 2022.
She is a director of the Green Finance Institute; serves on the investment committee of the Leverhulme Trust; is a member of the CFA Future of Finance Advisory Council, AQR Asset Management Institute, the Committee of 200 and the 300 Club.
As well as being a trustee of the British Museum, Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is also a published author of crime thrillers. She was awarded a CBE in January 2015 and a DBE in June 2019 for services to the economy and financial services.
In 2016 Elizabeth received an honorary doctorate from the London Institute of Banking and Finance (formerly the IFS University College) and in June 2019 she was made an honorary fellow of the London Business School.

Tony Burdon has been CEO of Make My Money Matter from March 2020, with a focus on creating more voice and choice for how people’s savings are invested through their pensions and banks, and to drive sustainable and responsible investment.
He has worked in international development for much of his life, with over fifteen years in Africa and Asia, including Malawi, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Iraq and Nepal.
While in Oxfam he was on the board of the successful Jubilee 2000 Debt Relief campaign. He then worked in the UK Treasury, the Commission for Africa, and the Department for International Development, leading the government’s economic and private sector work in Nepal and Nigeria, and then as a senior civil servant, leading the Economic, Private Sector, and International Financial Institutions Departments.
A key interest has been the mobilisation of private sector investment into developing countries, with a focus on impact, tackling the climate emergency, and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.