Ada Yip and Stephanie Robertson have been appointed the new Board Co-Chairs of Social Value International (SVI). They take the helm at time of significant growth and opportunity for the social value movement and are keen to support the expansion of our networks and accelerate the adoption of social value thinking and methodology during their three-year term.

“Ada and Stephanie bring passion, leadership, and decades of experience to their roles,” said our CEO Ben Carpenter. “I’m thrilled to build with them on the excellent work of their predecessors, Simon Faivel and Richard Kennedy, and capitalize on the opportunities to substantially advance our mission to change the way the world accounts for value.”

Collaboration and Credibility

Among Stephanie and Ada’s top priorities are promoting the expansion of existing joint member networks and the formation of new networks. A key to success , they say, will be effectively disseminating and amplifying best practices so that each member network can build on the experience of their counterparts. 

Another initiative is the Blueprint for Collaboration, our plan to assist local networks to increase revenue and achieve common goals. The Blueprint sets a target of accrediting 1,000 social value practitioners by the end of 2024. This will expand the global pool of social value practitioners and provide capacity in building a community of professionals who can enable more informed decisions and conduct social accountability reporting.

But it’s not just about numbers. Ada and Stephanie aim to increase awareness and use of the Social Value Principles and Standards. This will support our goal to change the way the world accounts for value, by accounting for social value, alongside financial and environmental accounting. 

 “There is a growing awareness that persistent and deeper inequality is counter to all environmental sustainability efforts and harmful to our common survival. But solutions can’t be invented on behalf of people affected, they need to be designed with people affected. The social value principles and standards position people’s experience at the center. I am excited by the opportunity to embed impact on people, and the effect upon well-being at the core of how the world accounts for value,“ says Stephanie.

Conditions that Create Opportunity

The twin crises of climate change and inequality are forcing a reckoning.

“There is a growing awareness that persistent and deeper inequality is counter to all environmental sustainability efforts and harmful to our common survival. But solutions can’t be invented on behalf of people affected; they need to be designed with people affected,” says Stephanie.

She adds, ”the social value principles and standards position people’s experience at the center.  I am excited by the opportunity to embed impact on people, and the effect upon well-being at the core of how the world accounts for value.”

“At the same time, the growth of ESG and IMM (impact measurement and management) have also created opportunity,’ notes Ada, ‘as well as healthy competition and some confusion. In order to stand out from the crowd, we need to be able to explain why and how our principles, tools, and standards represent the gold standard.”

Ada expects that there will be consolidation within the sector, and wants to leverage SVI’s knowledge, experience, standards, people, and partnerships to further increase recognition of SVI thought leadership and as a knowledge bank for the impact management and assurance industries.

“The growth of ESG and IMM (impact measurement and management) have also created opportunity, as well as healthy competition and some confusion. In order to stand out from the crowd, we need to be able to explain why and how our principles, tools, and standards represent the gold standard,” notes Ada.

Communications is a Key to Success

Success relies on effective communications, which has not always been our strong suit. Ada notes that, “we are a network run by people who are experts in our field, but we need to get better at communicating in simple language to engage, expand, and help people comprehend why what we do is so important.” She adds, “The world needs to understand that wellbeing can be measured.”

This is why Stephanie and Ada have championed the formation of a global Marketing and Communications Working Group bringing together representatives of our member networks to refresh our key messages, develop shared communications assets, and collaborate on global marketing campaigns to promote membership, training, case studies and research.

“As we saw with the Social Value Matters 2020 Conference, when our networks joined forces on a social media campaign, our messages reach millions of people across the globe within a short period of time,” says Stephanie.

 “Get involved!”

“I got involved in the social value movement 25 years ago, because I was frustrated by my own inability to express the importance of investing in community and society,” says Stephanie. “Today, I am excited by the growing acceptance of the need to account for social impact around the world, and the work being done in this regard in the 60 countries where SVI has members.”

Ada is enthusiastic about the opportunity to represent her region – where interest in social value is surging – as well as her heritage and community at the Chair level. She is keen to draw on everything she’s learned at different stages of her career – from investment banking to social enterprise, and business incubation to crowd funding — to the role. “I can provide a different perspective and bring a range of leadership experience to the role and governance of SVI,” she says.

As they begin their new roles, the Co-Chairs parting message to members is “get involved”. They encourage more members to develop or participate in cross-network initiatives and, if interested, to apply to join the SVI Board and help shape our global movement.

“Ada and Stephanie bring passion, leadership, and decades of experience to their roles. I’m thrilled to build with them on the excellent work of their predecessors, Simon Faivel and Richard Kennedy, and capitalize on the opportunities to substantially advance our mission to change the way the world accounts for value.”
— Ben Carpenter, CEO, Social Value International

About Stephanie and Ada

Stephanie Robertson has been with the social value movement since its beginning and has spent the past two-plus decades working with corporations, governments, and civic agencies to understand, maximize and report on the value of impact. She is the founder and CEO of SiMPACT Strategy Group, a recognized leader in the areas of community investment, SROI methodology and across the broader social value agenda. Stephanie is also the Founding Chair and Executive Director of Social Value Canada, and has represented Canada on the SVI Board since 2013. Follow Stephanie on LinkedIN

A former Goldman Sachs executive turned impact investor, Ada Yip is the Chief Operating Officer of Hong Kong-based AngelHub, an Asia-wide equity crowd-funding platform. She brings extensive experience of working with the public, private and social sectors, and has served on the boards of SVI, the Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts (our member network now rebranded as Social Value Hong Kong), and a number of other charitable organizations and private companies. Follow Ada on LinkedIN