Catherine Howarth is the Chief Executive of ShareAction, a UK registered charity that seeks to define the highest global standards of responsible investment and to promote those standards internationally. Working closely with investors in many countries, ShareAction drives accelerated action by companies to raise living standards, strengthen public health, drive low carbon transition and address the risks and impacts of climate change and loss of biodiversity.

Catherine was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2014. In 2022 she was awarded an OBE by King Charles III for ‘services to sustainability’. She was appointed in late 2023 to the Financial Conduct Authority’s advisory committee on Sustainable Finance. She is a member of the HM Treasury’s asset management taskforce. Since 2024 she has been a board member of Nest Pensions, the UK’s largest pension scheme by membership.

Catherine has a First Class Honours degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics in Industrial Relations.