New Member on Castlefield External Advisory Committee

We are delighted to announce that Dr Ilma Nur Chowdhury will be joining Castlefield’s external advisory committee in February 2021. The advisory committee was set up in 2018 to provide impartial oversight on how we incorporate environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) into our investment decision-making within our B.E.S.T Sustainable fund range. The committee also oversees our voting policy and the engagement that we carry out with companies on ESG issues.

Dr Ilma Nur Chowdhury is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) and a Chartered Marketer. She is the Associate Head for Social Responsibility and Engagement in the Management Sciences and Marketing Division. Ilma has represented the marketing group on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for six years, working towards enhancing gender and race equalities within the business school.

Upon graduating as the valedictorian of her class, Ilma began her career in marketing as an assistant brand manager at Unilever Bangladesh where she was responsible for the brands Sure, Cif, and Omo. She moved to the UK to do a research-based MSc in Marketing and went on to complete her PhD in services management on a four-year AMBS scholarship.

Ilma conducts research on bottom of the pyramid markets, customer vulnerability, social innovation and sustainability in supply chains, and is passionate about research on the reduction of inequalities, alleviation of poverty and enhancement of living standards through services marketing and management practices. She has recently been awarded EPSRC[1] funding to explore digital service provision for UK refugees in partnership with the charity, Caritas[2]. Ilma’s work has been published in leading international, peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Business Strategy and Environment, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management and Journal of Operations Management[3].

Dr Chowdhury’s expertise on social and supply chain issues will complement the existing mix of clients and ESG specialists on the committee. We’re really excited about her appointment and we look forward to working with her.

[1] Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

[2] https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/ilma-nur-chowdhury(c29e2bf9-1269-48b8-9272-72cfc5533e78)/projects.html?period=running

[3] https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/ilma-nur-chowdhury(c29e2bf9-1269-48b8-9272-72cfc5533e78)/publications.html