As Head of Fixed Income ESG Research, Laura Nishikawa leads MSCIs research on environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities in the fixed income space. She oversees research and ratings of over 5,000+ corporate and government bond issuers, leads the methodology and design of ESG fixed income indexes in collaboration with Barclays, and developed MSCIs Green Bond Criteria. She chairs MSCIs ESG Ratings Methodology Committee, and her global team is responsible for all ESG-related methodologies, including ESG ratings, carbon estimates, portfolio-level tools, and analysis used for positive and negative screening.

Laura joined MSCI in 2010 through the acquisition of RiskMetrics, where she led ESG ratings methodology development and was the head of financial sector analysis. Prior to joining Innovest in 2008, Laura conducted macroeconomic research with the United Nations Development Program, and led research studies on political consumerism through McGill University.

Laura received her Masters degree in International Economic Policy from Columbia University (SIPA), and her Bachelors degree from McGill University, and is a CFA charterholder.