Catherine Howarth has led ShareAction as Chief Executive since 2008. ShareAction is a UK-based NGO that works to harness the positive potential of the financial system to support our planet and its people. The organisation promotes ambitious global standards of responsible investment enabling sustainable financial returns alongside healthier societies, decent jobs, and accelerated action to tackle climate change and protect nature. ShareAction's Long-term Investors in People's Health (LIPH) programme brings together investors across the world to hold companies accountable for their impacts on health, with a particular focus on nutrition, air quality and workforce health.  

Catherine serves on the UK government’s Asset Management Taskforce and on the ESG advisory committee to the board of the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial regulator. She served as a member-elected trustee of her pension scheme from 2008-2013 and on the board of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian Media Group from 2015-2022. 

Catherine has a first class degree in modern history from Oxford University and a Masters in industrial relations from the London School of Economics. Prior to working at ShareAction, she spent eight years as community organiser with London Citizens. 

Catherine was named as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014, recognised on the BBC Woman’s Hour Power List in 2020, and awarded an OBE by King Charles III for ‘services to sustainability’ in 2022. She tweets at @ca_howarth and posts on LinkedIn.