# Bringing Honeybee to Scale May 04, 2017 [Katherine Collins](/news/2013/04/24/value-investor), MTS ’11, is on the move again. In 2008, Collins left her position as the head of equity research at Fidelity Investments, where she oversaw assets of over $20 billion, to come to HDS and develop the ethical foundation she saw as essential to her profession. Informed by this experience, she started her own research and consulting firm, [Honeybee Capital](https://honeybeecapital.org/), in order to reconnect investors with the world, its people, and its ecosystem. Now, Collins is taking the ethos and the model that she developed at Honeybee and bringing it to scale. On May 1, she joined [Putnam Investments](https://www.putnam.com/about-putnam/), a firm with over $160 billion in assets under management, as the new head of sustainable investing. “Putnam wants to include more thorough analysis of environmental, social, and governance factors in their investment process,” Collins says. “What would it look like to have funds that put this analysis at the center of the investment process, instead of way off to the side? My job is to help think that through.” The stakes are high, both for the world that financial firms operate in and for their bottom lines. As the pace of climate change and other global challenges accelerates, Putnam and nearly 1,700 signatories from over 50 countries have signed on to the [United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing](https://www.unpri.org/) (UNPRI): “to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions.” Together they represent about half of the world’s declared wealth—$62 trillion. The pact was maligned when it was established in 2006 by some who felt that its goals were too broad and unenforceable. As more firms committed to it, though, the pressure built for real action—and to demonstrate compliance. “So, for instance, the pension fund of Norway signed on to this protocol,” Collins explains. “Now, when they put out proposals for investment advisors, they’re asking whether these firms are also signed on to the UNPRI and can show what they are doing to comply. It’s taken a while to get the feedback loop moving, but now that it is, it’s powerful.” Because Collins’ position is new, she will be able to shape it and, in so doing, the investment giant’s approach to responsible investing. But while she will bring Honeybee’s investment content to Putnam, Collins stresses that the firm she built isn’t going away. “Honeybee Capital will continue, in slightly different form,” she says. “That includes our [Sunday Best](https://honeybeecapital.org/) blog posts, which usually have a spiritual underpinning, our book lists, which everyone really likes, and, most important, our [giving program (PDF)](https://honeybeecapital.com/hbc/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Honeybee-Capital-Giving-Report-2016.pdf).” Collins calls Honeybee’s giving program "unusual." That may be the understatement of her career. She takes 100 percent of the firm’s profits and distributes them through nonprofit grants. Since she started Honeybee in 2009, Collins has given about half a million dollars to organizations in her community. Now that she’s moving to Putnam, she’s set aside a pool of money so that the program can continue. “We’ll keep reporting on that,” she promises. “I’m excited that the community that’s gathered around Honeybee’s work can stay pretty vibrant and continue the Honeybee ethos.” Even as she looks forward to shaping the investment practices of a big firm like Putnam, Collins understands that it’s only one step in addressing problems like climate change. At a time when many predict disaster in the wake of recent elections in the U.S. and elsewhere, however, she remains optimistic. She points to the exponential increase in the power and adoption of renewable energy sources—and the steady decrease in cost and greenhouse gas emissions—and says that the same technologies that have created the tremendous challenges humanity now faces can be just as powerful in addressing them. “The best businesses of our time are the ones that have actually solved a crucial need for humanity,” Collins says. “So what are our needs? Air? Water? These are pretty fundamental needs. One way or the other, I think they’re going to be met. It will be hard. We could take a terrible path. I’m hoping we’ll take a great one. But one way or another, we’ll get there.” *—by Paul Massari* See also:- [ Alumni News and Activities ](/news-category/alumni-news-and-activities) - [ Sustainability ](/topic-tags/sustainability) - [ Business ](/topic-tags/business)