02 Jul 2020 5 min read

#IAM: We stand together with our team mates

By Emiel van den Heiligenberg

This year we are raising money for a wonderful charity focused on helping young people from unprivileged backgrounds; we hope you enjoy the song we have recorded as part of our efforts!

 

London cityscape

The Asset Allocation team at LGIM is a very close-knit group. Together we work hard to manage investments and risks for our clients, but we also understand there is more to being a team than just work. Team mates are often more than just colleagues. We look after each other when the going gets tough.

The killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, and everything that has followed has had a deep impact on many of us.

To quote what my teammate Justin Onuekwusi wrote at the time: “The events of the last week have left us all lost for words. It has left us depressed, frustrated and maybe somewhat lost. It has maybe led many of us to question ourselves and our role in this world.” I urge you all to read his post in full; the reactions to the #IAM initiative have been extremely positive and broad based.

We realise that many of us are very privileged, each of us in our own way: having jobs, friends, and for many of us a wonderful family. However, for some of us it took many personal struggles to get to where we are now.

This year we want to recognise the struggle of our black colleagues, team mates and friends throughout LGIM. We want to show them that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them when they feel depressed, frustrated and angry after the latest tragedies in the long and horrific history of violence and racism against black communities.

With this in mind, we have chosen to raise money for the Aleto Foundation as part of our regular charitable campaigns. The foundation is a charity created to provide opportunities for young people with high potential from an unprivileged background. We hope our contribution can change lives and help people to reach their full potential.

As a team, we hope to show our support and raise some money for the Aleto Foundation by recording the song in the video below. The song and clip reflect the unprecedented times in which we are living – fighting a virus, enduring a lockdown, and battling structural racism. Our special thanks go to the Phoenix Chamber Choir for allowing us to use their vocals.

If you enjoy the video, please do consider donating to the Aleto Foundation.

We hope we can raise awareness of and contribute to the Aleto Foundation to the same extent – or more! – as we have in our previous charitable campaigns.

As a team, every year we choose a charity that is special to us and try to raise money for it. Last year, for example, we chose Dyscover to support our teammate and friend Kevin who suffered from speaking difficulties as the result of a stroke.

Emiel van den Heiligenberg

Head of Asset Allocation

Emiel is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the team’s investment and business strategy. He claims to have been a promising lightweight rower at university until French fries got the better of him. Reflecting his love for rowing in a team, he firmly believes that excellence can only be achieved by a great team made up of motivated individuals that are also eager to work together. To this end he is the self-proclaimed inventor of the verb 'teaming' to acknowledge that shaping a top team and culture of excellence is an ongoing process. Outside of work-family obligations, Emiel’s spare time is filled by a passion for shark diving and skiing. Prior to dedicating his career to portfolio management in 1996, Emiel worked as a policy adviser in the Dutch Ministry of Finance and he graduated from Tilburg University in the Netherlands ages ago. When not glued to his Bloomberg screens, this Dutch man is hooked on computer games, peanut butter and his favourite dark beer made by Belgian monks.

Emiel van den Heiligenberg