The Brightlight team is growing!
We have added new team members, expanded our capabilities, and now working to deliver more value for clients and partners. Sandra Carvajal is the Manager of Impact and Andrew Sneddon is the Chief of Client Portfolio Solutions at Brighlight. Read their stories below.
Sandy Carvajal, Manager, Impact
What brought you to Brightlight?
I had seen Brightlight advising and managing capital for impact investors of all types, including government, non-profits and institutional investors across the industry. I had visibility of this work and met some of the team over the last few years, and even worked on some joint projects together. I wanted to join an organisation that I believe is working towards catalytic change at scale in this space.
What are your areas of expertise?
I help institutional investors make a move beyond ESG investments towards impact investments that align with their philanthropic goals. I am driving the development and rollout of a strong gender lens framework across the Brightlight investment process.
What are your hopes for 2023?
To further gender lens investing strategies across products, fund managers and their portfolio companies.
Tell us about your life outside of Brightlight.
Outside of my professional commitments, I'm passionate about supporting social enterprises directly in Australia and Southeast Asia. One of the enterprises I support is a microenterprise development organisation enabling entrepreneurial women on low incomes to build small businesses that generate income and meaningful livelihoods.
I love to cook and share meals of different cuisines with family and friends. I also love to travel to places that seem like the farthest point away from Australia.
Andrew Sneddon, Chief of Client Portfolio Solutions
What brought you to Brightlight?
In the course of my investment career, I have had the opportunity to deliver world-class investment solutions to institutional clients in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States – where my family and I lived and worked as ex-pats.
In delivering award-winning solutions for clients, I have always focussed on institutional investment's traditional return and risk dimensions as a fiduciary. The ability for investors to truly align their investment with their mission is simply too complex for traditional investment firms that lack the professional expertise and organisational passion for delivering on the third investment dimension – impact.
I joined Brightlight as it is uniquely placed to achieve our client's holistic investment goals of return, risk and impact. I personally believe that capital must realise its transformational potential. This is why I'm excited to engage and assist our diverse clients across the Asia-Pacific, who represents a strong endorsement of the world-class quality of Brighlight's impact investment solutions.
What is your area of expertise?
My specific area of investment expertise is in outsourced, total portfolio investment solutions – often referred to as 'Outsourced Chief Investment Officer' or 'OCIO' solutions. In this role, clients may require whole of portfolio investment implementation or assistance with private assets only, a key focus in my investment career. I have experience delivering full implementation, consulting or a solution that combines both.
What are your hopes for 2023?
I hope to see more investors adopt an 'I-OCIO' mindset to deliver true impact-focused total portfolio solutions that align with their mission and investment goals. Brightlight will help to educate new investors on the power of an I-OCIO solution in delivering on all three investment dimensions – impact, return and risk.
Tell us about your life outside of Brightlight.
My wife Bridget and I are very fortunate to have two teenage children. Bridget and I both engage in community volunteer activities, and our children keep us occupied on multiple sporting fronts, from netball to junior AFL – where I'm a longstanding volunteer manager. As a family, we've had extraordinary opportunities to travel and live abroad. On any given Saturday, you'll likely find us culturally immersed – whether at a Sydney Theatre Company play or cheering at a Giants AFL match.