Hamilton Lane announces new director of ESG and sustainability

Hamilton Lane has appointed longtime managing director Paul Yett as director of ESG and sustainability, tasking him with co-ordinating the firm’s efforts in sustainable investing.

Yett, who has already started the newly-created role, is responsible for managing ESG integration through investment processes across the fund, direct investment, secondaries, real asset and direct credit teams, advising deal teams during due diligence processes and driving ESG development in their investments.

He also oversees corporate ESG policies within the firm and will serve as a member and advisor to the firm’s Responsible Investment Committee. Yett is already a longstanding member of the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, which he helped form in 2015.

“Sustainability concerns, social issues, responsible investing considerations – these factor into everything we do at Hamilton Lane, and my focus will be on expanding those efforts to continue to adapt to the evolving market and better serve our clients, investors and employees,” Yett said.

Yett has over two decades of experience with Hamilton Lane, beginning in 1998, when he managed due diligence for the firm’s global venture capital and real estate practices. He went on to join the firm’s relationship management team in 2002, where he was a managing director up until this most recent appointment.

Prior to Hamilton Lane, Yett spent four years at Denver-based PE firm Stone Pine Asset Management.

Hamilton Lane has been a UN PRI signatory since 2008 and helped develop the PRI Limited Partners’ Responsible Investment Due Diligence Questionnaire and ESG guides for GPs and LPs.

The firm established its Responsible Investment Committee in 2012 to work alongside the investment committee and investment teams on setting policies, feedback and guidance on ESG matters, and closed its inaugural Impact Fund in June 2020, which has a mandate in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.