Tariq Fancy is founder of the Rumie Initiative. A successful investor, turnaround specialist and entrepreneur, he has a unique perspective on how to merge sustainability and social imperatives with traditional business models focused purely on profit.

Tariq was BlackRock’s first-ever Global Chief Investment Officer for Sustainable Investing. He later began publishing op-eds challenging the ESG status quo, culminating in a 2021 viral essay entitled “The Secret Diary of a Sustainable Investor” that sparked a wide-ranging and ongoing backlash against ‘greenwashing’ in the financial services industry.

Rumi, a non-profit whose free microlearning tools are used by millions in over 200 countries today, broadens digital access, such as allowing Afghan girls to learn safely from anywhere on a mobile phone. Rumie is a graduate of tech incubator Y-Combinator and subject of a 2016 Harvard Business School case study.

Tariq has worked as a senior investment professional at Credit Suisse First Boston’s technology investment banking group, MHR Fund Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). He led the turnaround of Wildfire, an Asian software company acquired in 2015.

Tariq holds a Master’s in Economics & Public Policy from Sciences Po Paris and an MBA from INSEAD in France and Singapore.