PRI Reporting as a Strategic Tool

With the PRI reporting window set to open in early May, Valoris Stewardship Catalysts and StePs - Association of Stewardship Professionals recently brought together two asset managers at different stages of their PRI journey and had a collaborative discussion on reporting. The session explored how reporting can be used not as a mere compliance exercise but as a strategic tool to examine the gap between what firms say (statements and policies) and what they do (practices). Speakers shared first-hand experience from both sides of that gap, what the process reveals, what it demands and what it enables when done with genuine intent. The Valoris team contributed insights from their experience assisting asset managers, informed by their own professional histories within signatory firms (particularly Co-Founder and Managing Director Mike Lubrano’s prior role at Cartica Management, LLC).

At the outset, Alexander Juschus introduced StePs – Association of Stewardship Professionals as an international platform for training and certification, highlighting how PRI reporting, assessment and stewardship practices are embedded in the broader curriculum.

“The firms that get the most out of PRI membership are not the ones that check the box most efficiently. They are the ones that treat each reporting cycle as a structured occasion to look honestly at the gap between what their policies say and what their practices actually do.” Davit Karapetyan, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Valoris Stewardship Catalysts

Two outside voices brought that gap to life. Bradley Zucker of Ancora Alternatives (Alts), a Cleveland-based activist asset manager that offers a range of alternative solutions and strategies, namely shareholder activism, event-driven/multi-strategy and commodity. Alts completed its first reporting cycle in July 2025, described what the journey actually looks like when you start from scratch. Ancora spent the better part of two years working with Valoris before submitting its first report on building out policies, developing an ESG toolkit structured around the investment screening process and handling a complicated application process to position Alts as an independent PRI signatory within a much larger holding group.

“We look at this as a circle. Part of it is getting up and running, but once you are up and running, every year you are going through a process of not only reporting but trying to better implement new practices and continue to evolve the priorities you are doing in-house.” Bradley Zucker, Chief Administrative Officer, Ancora Alternatives Karin Riechenberg of Sands Capital Management offered the perspective of an asset manager focused public growth equities across concentrated, long-term portfolios and that has been a PRI signatory since 2017. Karin was candid about the early frustrations, especially PRI questions that did not fit how Sands invests - the frequent need to reach for the “other” box. At the same time, she was equally clear about the durable value the reporting framework provides. It anchors the firm's policies and provides internal discussions a common language.

Beyond the internal benefits, both speakers highlighted a clear external advantage: PRI reporting directly informs a firm’s external narrative. The language developed to answer the questionnaire becomes the basis for client presentations, responses to due diligence questionnaires and stewardship code reports (a particularly relevant point for Sands as a UK Stewardship Code Signatory). Ultimately, it acts as a signaling mechanism that still functions as a baseline credential in many institutional investor searches.

“It forces you to think about why you are doing certain things the way you are doing them and having good reasoning for everything you do is the additional benefit. It also enables you to build a library of language and responses for other types of reporting.” Karin Riechenberg, Director of Stewardship, Sands Capital Management

The Webinar showed that even when Brad's and Karin's firms entered from very different starting points, they both arrived at the same conclusion. PRI reporting forces a firm to be intentional about what it does, why it does it and how it can do it better. The reporting window is one moment in a longer journey. What a firm does with the findings determines whether membership generates lasting value.

Mike Lubrano, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Valoris Stewardship Catalysts, concluded that "PRI reporting started long before stewardship codes were implemented. For very large stewardship code reporters that publish extensive sustainability reports, the additional internal and market value of PRI reporting is probably marginal. But for firms without large stewardship teams or in markets without stewardship codes, it retains its value as an important strategic tool and a strong market signal."