Simon Ruddick is the founder and current Chairman of Albourne Partners, a major player in the financial services industry that has been providing research advice on alternative investments since 1994. The combined investments of the firm’s clients now top $500 billion.
As a long-standing supporter of Synchronicity Earth, we asked Simon what lay behind his growing passion for the natural world and his commitment to promoting the urgency of environmental issues within his industry. We also learnt more about what Albourne is doing to promote greater integration of Environmental, Social and Governance criteria in the sector.
What is one of your earliest memories of nature?
What is one of your earliest memories of nature?Well, let me start by telling you a shocking story. One of my earliest memories is when I was in a kindergarten class. The teacher told us that for the next class we were going to go outside to study something called ‘nature’: she was going to tell us about the names of trees and plants and other things. I remember thinking – and this was an absurdly precocious thought for someone under 5 years old – I’m not going to listen to this because I want to keep space in my head for other topics!
So what changed?
I think in our youth we latch on to a range of viewpoints on various topics, feel comfortable with those and our views become somewhat fixed over time and as we get older. But it’s shocking when something happens and you realise that you’ve just got it completely wrong. I’m ashamed to say that my interest in nature and the environment – in how essential and life-defining it is – is a relatively recent occurrence. I’ve been passionate about a lot of things in life, but I’ve come late to this one. Not because I didn’t care, but because I felt terribly under-equipped to understand the subject and didn’t feel that I brought any skills to the table. The scale of the problem seemed so overwhelming and beyond my power to change, which I think is quite a common feeling.
But now I’m deeply concerned – consumed almost – by thoughts about the environment and what is happening to the diversity of species in the world.
How did you come across Synchronicity Earth, and how would you describe your involvement with the charity?
Well, it was through a combination of business and pleasure. I got to know Adam Sweidan (Chairman of Synchronicity Earth), as we work in the same industry, and through him I got to know Jessica Sweidan (Founding Trustee of Synchronicity Earth) and spent time with them both socially. Personally, I tend to run on 95% emotion and 5% facts. I find that energy and enthusiasm are fabulously contagious, so meeting them and seeing the sincerity of their passion for the environment kick-started my own interest and enthusiasm. Since then, and because I’ve supported them and been to many of their events, several things have happened. First of all, Synchronicity Earth gives the best feedback to its donors of any charity we deal with. We have dealt with a lot of charities, and it’s kind of perverse how bad many of them are at giving feedback and reporting, regardless of how big or well-recognised they are. Synchronicity Earth are not only top in terms of the feedback they provide, they are by far and away the best we have dealt with to date, and a shining light of what can be done. For me, they are very good at turning donors into believers.
I remember going to one amazing Synchronicity Earth event, where they talked about the extraordinary diversity of species on Earth and made the point that there are ‘poster’ species that get a rel