Geof started working in the ESG space – or corporate governance as it was known then – in 1992 while undertaking postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. His time researching the role of institutional investors in corporate governance coincided with the Cadbury Committee preparing the UK’s first corporate governance code.

On returning to Australia, Geof spent a number of years teaching and researching in corporate law and corporate governance at the University of Melbourne, ultimately as a professor.

In the early 2000s, he co-founded Proxy Australia and led a number of research projects commissioned by Australian investors and industry groups including the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).

Geof became Managing Director of ISS Australia after ISS’s acquisition of Proxy Australia in 2005.

In 2008, Geof moved to the global mining company BHP and served in a number of governance and ESG roles in London over the next 14 years, ultimately leading a newly created ESG team as Group ESG Officer reporting to the CFO.

Geof has also served as a non-executive director of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and an Executive Committee member of GC100 – the association of general counsel and company secretaries working in FTSE 100 companies. He co-chaired the Climate Action 100+ Investor & Mining Companies working group, and is currently a member of the proxy advisory industry’s Best Practice Principles Oversight Committee.