Gillian Lai

Gillian Lai joined Vancity Investment Management’s ESG teamin July 2025, bringing over 10 years of experience in the sustainability sector. Her primary area of focus has always been climate change, but she has recently refined her expertise to concentrate on sustainable finance andinvesting. As a member of the ESG team, she is responsible for analyzing the ESG performance of public companies, assisting with portfolio management, and performing shareholder engagements.

Before joining Vancity, Gillian worked on the Sustainable Finance Team at HSBC Commercial Banking, structuring green and sustainability-linked loans. Prior to that, she held roles as an internal Sustainability Manager and as an external ESG consultant, where she provided guidance to public companies on strategies to manage and enhance their ESG performance and reporting. Drawing from her corporate experience, she finds it exciting and inspiring to learn new perspectives from the investor side.

Gillian earned her BSc from the University of British Columbia and her MSc from Imperial College London. She feels grateful for the opportunity to join Vancity, where her aspiration to do good while maintaining financial sustainability aligns closely with the company’s core values. Her mission is simple yet challenging: to make sure our children and future generations can continue to play outside. In her personal time, Gillian enjoys spending time outdoors with her two lovely children and exploring new restaurants.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking weused when we created them.” – Albert Einstein