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Bennett Freeman
SVP of Social  Research& Policy - Calvert Investments
USA

Bennett Freeman joined the Calvert Group in April 2006 as Senior VicePresident, Social Research and Policy, based in BethesdaMD. He leads the social, environmental and governanceresearch, analysis, policy and advocacy work of the largest family ofsocially responsible mutual funds in the U.S. In addition todirecting the Social Research Department of twenty analysts and otherstaff, he serves on the Management Committee of this private assetmanagement firm with billion in assets.
From May 2003-March 2006, Freeman was Managing Director and SeniorCounselor in the Washington DC office of Burson-Marsteller and led thefirm’s Global Corporate Responsibility practice. He adviseda wide range of multinational corporations on policy development,stakeholder engagement and communications strategies related to humanrights, labor rights and sustainable development. Prior tojoining Burson-Marsteller, Freeman advised companies, internationalinstitutions and NGOs on corporate responsibility and human rights asPrincipal of Sustainable Investment Strategies. In 2001-02, heco-authored an independent Human Rights Impact Assessment of the BPTangguh project in Papua, Indonesia, the first such assessmentundertaken in advance of a major extractive industry project in theworld.
As U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rightsand Labor from 1999 to early 2001, Freeman was responsible for theState Department’s bilateral human rights diplomacy around the worldunder Assistant Secretary Harold Koh. In that capacity, heled the development of the Voluntary Principles on Security and HumanRights, the first human rights standard forged by governments,companies and NGOs for the oil, gas and mining sectors and the firststandard for any sector focusing on corporate responsibility in zonesof armed conflict. Freeman previously served as Senior Advisor tothe Under Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs StuartEizenstat in 1997-98, for whom he directed the State Department’shistorical research and diplomacy related to Nazi-looted gold and otherHolocaust-era assets. From 1993 until early 1997, he wasDeputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Chief Speechwriterfor Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Prior to joining the Clinton Administration as a presidentialappointee, he was Manager-Corporate Affairs for General Electric basedin the corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut and theWashington DC Corporate Government Relations office from 1985 to early1993. He focused on public affairs and public policy issuesrelated to international trade and export finance, labor and humanresources, as well as corporate responsibility and businessethics. He joined GE after beginning his career in 1982 as aspeechwriter and presidential campaign aide for former Vice PresidentWalter Mondale.
Bennett Freeman earned an AB in History in 1979 from the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa) and was awarded Highest Honorsand the Department Citation as the outstanding graduate by theDepartment of History. He earned an MA (Honours) in ModernHistory from the University of Oxford, where he was an English-SpeakingUnion Churchill Scholar at Balliol College from 1979 to 1981.
A frequent speaker, writer and media commentator on corporateresponsibility, human rights and U.S. foreign policy, Freeman serves onthe Board of Directors of Oxfam America and the Steering Committee ofAmnesty International USA’s Business and Human Rights program. Heis also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.