We kicked off the year at CIIC by welcoming Anne Schankin as our new Director on January 10th! Anne previously worked as Director of Client Development & Sales at CME Group, the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, but began her career in the non-profit space working for organizations like Focolare Movement and Catholic Charities of Dallas. On the blog we take a deeper dive and hear from Anne and Elizabeth Garlow, Co-Founder of the Francesco Collaborative who previously got to know Anne through the Focolare Movement, about Anne’s faith journey, Catholic Social Teaching, and the CIIC community.
Anne, welcome to CIIC! You’re stepping into an important leadership role with an organization that so many of us across the field are excited to collaborate with. We’re also excited to learn more about your faith journey, work history, interests and what draws you to CIIC as the place to do your important work.
CIIC is unique in the ways it’s weaving together faith and finance. Let’s start with your own groundedness in faith. Where and when did your own faith journey begin?
Thank you for this welcome, Elizabeth! I was born in Brazil and grew up in a beautiful family, with solid Christian values. My parents were involved in the parish and a local social assistance center, so from early in my teens I volunteered at activities in the parish, neighborhood and fundraising dinners. My first job was at that center: I was only 16 and teaching pre-k to a group of almost 30 4 and 5-year-olds every afternoon!
Growing up my parents instilled in us a very direct, personal relationship with God within, along with a strong sense of justice and sharing. Every year, for example, they would come up with different ways for us four children to help the poor during the season of Advent, as a way to prepare for Christmas. The social and economic disparities surrounding me struck deeply: seeing children getting food out of dumpsters, and slums surrounding a wealthy city like São Paulo, had a profound impact on me.
How did your witness to those disparities shape you?
I got involved with a youth group through a Catholic lay movement called Focolare. Through them, I was involved in various social activities, especially in a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of the city. We didn’t notice that we came from different backgrounds, socially, racially and economically. Instead, I remember deep sharing among us, even moments of true contemplation while we were reading together the recently-released Catechism of the Catholic Church. Another experience that marked me was participating at the World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1985: an event that opened my horizons to many other cultures and peoples, and made me want to contribute first hand to building a more united world.
When I was 20 years old, I knew that I wanted to dedicate myself completely to that, so I left my rather comfortable life and joined a consecrated community through the Focolare Movement. After five years of formation in Brazil, Italy and Switzerland with others from literally the whole world, I went to Dallas, where the Bishop had asked for a new Focolare center. I was there for 9 years, where we built a retreat house and helped support a community of families, youth, and people of different walks of life. I had full-time jobs at a parish, then at Catholic Charities, a telecom firm and United Way… while also organizing retreats and meetings, and attending to our community’s household responsibilities. Those were busy times! Next, I was in Rome for 2 ½ years and worked in the financial office at the headquarters of the Focolare; it was a special period during which I was close to the founder, who was still alive at the time, and at the pulsating heart of a spiritual family.
What a leap of faith you took to dedicate your life to the Focolare’s spirituality! You and I first got to know each other through that movement, actually. They started an initiative called the Economy of Communion in Brazil in 1990 to invite entrepreneurs to build a society “where no one was in need”, as we read about in the scriptures in the early Christian communities. Like with the Economy of Communion, what kind of vision do you think Catholic Social Teaching can offer our economy and investors today?
CST provides a lens to understand society with the human person at the center, with inherent dignity no matter the circumstances because we’re all sons and daughters of God, created in God’s image. That dignity should be at the foundation of all economic and social activity – and the fact that our society is so far from that reality encourages me to “roll up my sleeves” and do my small part. CST (and certainly Pope Francis) urges us to focus on those with no access to resources or who are suffering because their human dignity is not recognized; on sustainable practices and care of our common home; in building just and equitable relationships with one another at all levels – including in the economy and finance.
Tell us about how you made your way to Chicago and into the world of finance.
I eventually discerned that I needed to leave consecrated life and made my way to Chicago, where I had a supportive community to help me transition while still remaining close to the Focolare’s broader spiritual family. Just two weeks after arriving here, I started temping at the CME Group, the world's largest regulated derivatives market – and ended up working there for almost 18 years. Since I had a good job and CME offered me the opportunity to pursue an MBA at Kellogg, I decided to stay in the US longer before returning to Brazil. [And God’s plans are beautifully different from ours: right after graduation I met Ron, we’ve been married now for 12 years, and I’m still in Chicago!] At the Exchange, I started in commodities marketing, then business development in Latin America, later focusing on institutional clients (especially pension and mutual funds in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru), which eventually led to working with asset managers and Buyside entities in the US for the past four years.
Sounds like a journey full of surprises – the best kind! What did your experience with CME teach you about investors and our capital markets that you’re bringing into your work with CIIC?
There’s undoubtedly increased interest by investors in recent years for products with ESG filters, particularly from the large state and corporate pension funds that I supported. In addition, new generations of investors are clearly not satisfied with markets that benefit only shareholders, often to the detriment of other stakeholders or the environment. I saw the early development of a more values-driven approach to capital markets, even in very secular environments; and despite the slow pace of this new approach, it motivated me to keep supporting those institutions whose investments can potentially be such a changing force for good. Unfortunately, I also witnessed how individuals can lose empathy and sensitivity towards the needs of their fellow human beings as they grow wealthier; their distorted perception of reality and short-termism bothered me. Financial markets impact everything we do around the globe, so they have quite a part to play in creating more just and equitable communities, in making possible the systemic shifts that are urgently needed. I’m very happy to continue working with investors at CIIC, now in a much more direct and impactful way.
I hear the yearning in what you’ve shared for a new vision for capital markets and investing. What inspired you to apply for and take on this new role with CIIC?
For some time now I’ve wanted to dedicate myself fully again to changing people’s lives rather than putting money in people’s pockets, and impact investing seemed the best way to apply what I’d learned while contributing to the common good. Last year I obtained a certification in DE&I, then attended an interdisciplinary course in Rome for Catholic-inspired NGOs. Recently I began immersing myself into the sector and worked on a certification in impact management and measurement. When I saw that CIIC was looking for a Director, I knew immediately that it was the kind of role I wanted. I was amazed by how it brought together seemingly disconnected aspects of my background: nonprofit experience, knowledge of Church teaching and structure, outcomes measurement, business development, experience in the institutional investing space and financial markets – and I was so attracted by this opportunity to conduct finance with the person at the center, focused on positive impact.
It’s inspiring to hear about your north star of “putting the person (and our common home) at the center”. What are some of your early hopes and ideas for Catholic investors who want to adopt this “new finance mindset” you describe and help to change lives?
I’d love to help more and more Catholic investors “put their feet in the water” and begin considering investments not exclusively for the purpose of financial returns. Beyond divestments and shareholder engagement, to expand their risk appetite, but the right sort of risk; to start making allocations in their portfolios also to investments that generate social returns, even if very small portions initially. To have the courage to not let their fiduciary responsibility – which I sincerely respect – be an excuse for not taking the bold actions our times demand.
If we “shine a light” on the amazing members of the CIIC community who are already investing positively for social and environmental impact, and expand available investment deals and opportunities, I know others will be inspired and our community will grow. If we let ourselves be open to the Holy Spirit sincerely, also as investors, we’ll understand what steps to take, how to proceed, each one in their unique circumstances – but decisively – to respond to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.
How can the broader CIIC community support you as you are settling in with your new role? Are there certain topics you’re eager to learn more about, for example?
I’m so impressed and grateful by how welcoming the CIIC team has been! I have some catching up to do in the private markets and positive impact space, and am super excited to dive in – but certainly appreciate any support. I’m eager to learn about the journey that each Catholic institution in the CIIC network has undertaken to build impactful portfolios, how they align investments with their respective missions, and also how they continue to evolve in that journey, so that I can serve them as best as possible.
