Finance & Investment

Growing a Better World Together:
Why I Joined the Financial Sector

Throughout my career, I learned that climate risk equals financial risk and the financial sector has a responsibility to help clients transition to more sustainable practices for the benefit of people, planet and profit. Enter Rabobank.

Brand Provided | By Terryn Lawrence | Published 1 year ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: Tom Swinnen

As a child, I didn’t anticipate I would pursue a career in the financial sector.

I grew up surrounded by nature and animals on a small farm in southern Missouri. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my early years gave me an understanding of hard work, admiration for our agricultural communities, respect for the environment, and appreciation for where our food comes from.

Now, as the Chief Sustainability Officer for Rabobank North America, I have the opportunity to pull together my personal and professional experiences into the intersection of finance, agriculture and sustainability.

After almost a decade of experience within the food value chain, where I gained experience across consumer packaged goods, crop inputs and feed divisions, I realized that how we feed the world holds the key to a sustainable future.

I then evolved my career into the startup ecosystem. I joined and scaled several sustainability-focused technology startups, and founded one of my own. Most recently, I was an early employee at a carbon-accounting software startup. This gave me a deep understanding of carbon, the complexity of environmental sustainability goals, and the interconnectedness of sustainability factors.

As the company matured, I led our global partnership with a large management-consulting company and created carbon measurement and decarbonization strategies for regional corporations, global enterprises and financial institutions.

That experience showed me that climate risk translates into financial risk and that the financial sector has a responsibility and privilege to help clients transition to more sustainable practices for the benefit of people, planet and profit. Enter Rabobank.

Rabobank is a leading financial institution with a powerful mission of Growing a Better World Together. Founded by Dutch farmers more than 125 years ago, Rabobank has stayed true to its agricultural roots while growing into a global bank with employees and clients in 37 countries. Our expert teams combine financing, deep technical knowledge, global networks and innovation for our clients. Rabobank remains dedicated to supporting and growing sustainable agriculture and is uniquely positioned across all aspects of the food value chain.

In my first few months, it became clear that Rabobank is so much more than a bank. We are a relationship-driven organization, and we are committed to sitting side-by-side with our food and ag clients to help them stay competitive and achieve their objectives while minimizing risk and identifying value-creation opportunities. Our global RaboResearch division is an in-house team of over 140 analysts dedicated to supporting our clients to develop and deepen their business insights and to make well-informed, strategic decisions based on their specific area of expertise — from dairy to produce, farm inputs, and consumer foods and beverages.

Additionally, Rabobank started the Carbon Bank three years ago to help the food and agriculture value chain reduce carbon emissions. Our mission is to prevent, reduce and remove emissions; and provide voluntary, high-quality nature-based carbon solutions in food and agriculture supply chains. We lend across the value chain; and our relationships allow us to connect producers with corporates to work together in reducing Scope 3 emissions.

We also invest in the future of food with our Sustainability Academy for Young Producers — during which the next generation of potential producers can network with industry leaders, gain an understanding of current business opportunities, and develop an action plan for their own operations — all focused on the economic and environmental benefits of agricultural production with an innovative, sustainable mindset.

At Rabobank, we are working to feed our growing population and striving to end hunger — which is still a reality for millions of people around the world — while protecting the environment on which we all depend. I am eager and honored to do my part.