About Us
Verity Platforms Inc. is a mission-driven, public benefit corporation that created and operates Stwrd, the first Integrated Stewardship Platform. Stwrd allows companies and investors to source and integrate actionable sustainability research directly from expert stakeholder organizations through our holistic analysis, AI, and engagement solutions. These solutions enable Stwrd to also power coalitions and collective engagement campaigns, while producing documented evidence to substantiate organizational claims and combat green-washing. Stwrd’s founding team has extensive experience in investment management, sustainability, stakeholder management, and software development. The company is headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts.
Read about one of the guiding principles behind Stwrd here.
Founder
“A data point is about as useful as a sound bite in helping an individual grasp a complex topic. Instead, we believe conversation is the most effective means of transferring knowledge, increasing transparency, and fostering understanding.”
Jeffrey Marsh is the founder of Stwrd Inc and serves as the chairman of the company’s board of directors.
Prior to founding Stwrd, Jeffrey spent 15 years at MFS Investment Management in Boston, Massachusetts. Initially beginning his career in the firm’s call center, Jeffrey spent time in trade operations, quantitative research, fundamental research (energy sector) and then finally ESG research. In his final role, he facilitated the expansion of the sustainable investing team and co-designed the firm’s ESG integration approach across equity, fixed income and quantitative strategies. As an advocate of bottom-up ESG integration, Jeffrey traveled with the firm’s sales team and presented to audiences on ESG integration in global equity markets.
Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College and a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential from SASB. He is an avid Boston sports fan, enjoys music, playing the guitar and is a frequent rider in the annual Pan-Mass Challenge.
Team and Extended Family
Stwrd is comprised of individuals with extensive experience in sustainable investment management, corporate sustainability, data science, and software development. The company is supported by leading firms in software development, product marketing, and intellectual property law.
Ryan Barrett
Legal Counsel
Eugene Emelyanov
Head of Engineering
Mason Gregory
Head of Investor Engagement
Joe Patneaude
Business Development
Salar Satti
Data Science Advisor
Mark Stephen
Head of Corporate & Stakeholder Engagement
Polsinelli
Legal Services
Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
Intellectual Property Law
Coalitions and Affiliations
Company Story
Stwrd began its life as one of many ideas in a commonplace book. It was, however, an idea that just would not quit for its creator, Jeffrey Marsh. For more than a year he regularly found himself revisiting it, layering in additional concepts, and carving out new dimensions. Initially drawing heavily from his experiences in investment management – especially his time developing ESG integration approaches for equity, fixed income, and quantitative strategies – Stwrd first took shape as a solution to the industry’s many shortcomings. The lack of tools to support the integration of fragmented ESG research into a bottom-up research process were sources of constant frustration, but also inspiration.
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Such charged inspiration quickly elicited an extensive mockup of Verity, but did not answer a question that troubled Jeffrey: to what end? The rocketing growth in sustainably managed assets had failed to move the needle on its implicitly purported promise: the allocation of resources to address society’s most pressing needs. It seemed simply building another “ESG tool” was unlikely to change that? Such concern soon gave way to a second spark of inspiration that came from the most unexpected of places.
With Summer waning, Jeffrey found himself spending more of his days writing on his garden patio. Intermixed with deliberations on socioeconomic theory and product design, the new setting marked an increasing focus on the natural systems on display around him as the New England fall approached. The observed ecosystem stability from direct and indirect interspecies mutualism provided an interesting model for interdisciplinary relationships. He identified the framework as the potential fulcrum of a platform ecosystem, or even further, as a foundation for sustainable economic growth. The thought exercise elicited new design ideas for the types of tools necessary to foster such an ecosystem and it quickly became apparent that it was time to start building. [Note: this time is partially captured in “Fostering Mutualism In Markets”]
Jeffrey began by contacting developers that might be able to make his project a reality, however he soon recognized the only way to achieve the impact he sought was to assemble and align passionate individuals behind the idea. He began actively recruiting at sustainability, impact and startup events in Boston and reaching out to his network and profiles on LinkedIn that looked promising. By August of 2019 he had assembled a team to move forward with development. With a more complete product to present, Verity Platforms Inc instituted a Summer Internship program to inject fresh perspectives into the company and establish a pipeline for future hires. Today, Verity continues to grow and remains driven by the founding mission and commitment to provide a useful, innovative tool for the emerging stakeholder economy.
Our Culture
Our culture is built around six key values: curiosity, empathy, passion, agility, collaboration, and transparency.
Ask questions and innovate: curiosity drives impactful solutions
Be empathetic: it’s simple, the most successful teams are kind
Let passion drive you: our mission guides us daily
Remain agile: take ownership and get the job done
Collaboration and knowledge sharing: we all bring valued perspectives
100% transparency: promotes faster, better decision-making