M&G names Braswell global impact head for private markets

M&G Investments has appointed Jen Braswell to the newly created role of global head of impact for its private markets business, according to ESG Today, and placed her under Emmanuel Deblanc, the chief investment officer for private markets, with impact assessment, measurement and governance folded into her mandate — a structure that puts impact leadership where private-markets products are designed and scaled. The firm said the post is meant to accelerate growth of its impact investing platform by pairing institutional scale with the specialist expertise and track record of responsAbility, its emerging-markets impact investing business.

Braswell already works inside that effort. Since January 2026 she has served as senior impact advisor to responsAbility, helping enhance specialist capabilities across the private markets platform and scale the impact offering for clients; she will continue advising responsAbility's executive management team.

Her mandate runs from origination to outcome: improving collaboration across teams, strengthening M&G's ability to originate, manage and scale impact investments for institutional investors, driving product innovation and strategic partnerships, and advancing the firm's approach to impact assessment, measurement and governance.

Before M&G, Braswell was managing director of global impact at EQT, where she led development of impact investing strategies across private equity, infrastructure, growth and venture investing.

Braswell described the opportunity in commercial terms: "Impact investing has moved from a specialist allocation to a strategic priority for many institutional and private wealth investors. The next phase is about clarity of purpose, measurement and delivering investment propositions." Deblanc made a similar point, saying institutional investors increasingly want private markets strategies that can combine financial performance with clear, measurable impact.

Measurement discipline is far easier to install before a strategy scales than after, and in a wealth channel where investors are starting to demand proof alongside returns, that discipline may be what gives M&G's impact funds their staying power.