Katy Smith is a Senior Vice President at Payden & Rygel. She is an ESG Strategist, responsible for advising institutional clients and consultants on ESG portfolio solutions across the firm’s strategies. Based in London, Katy manages the firm’s sustainability initiatives across jurisdictions. Prior to joining the ESG team, Katy was part of the business development team, focusing on consultant relationships in the UK and Europe.

Laura Lake is a Managing Director at Payden & Rygel. She has more than two decades of investing experience and leads the firm’s global ESG initiatives.
Prior to joining Payden & Rygel, Laura was the Chief Investment Officer at Breckinridge Capital Advisors where she served on the executive committee, chaired the investment committee and was responsible for developing ESG integration in strategies across the firm. Prior to that, Laura was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Mellon (Standish) responsible for managing multi-sector portfolios for insurance companies. Before Standish, she managed portfolios for institutional clients at Wells Capital Management. She also worked for HSBC in London where she was responsible for external manager selection.
Laura holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute. She earned a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MS in Finance from London Business School.