About

Peter D. Kinder is an independent consultant on socially responsible investing, a blogger at his site, TheBell.us, and a compulsive picture-taker which he shares on his website.

He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and East Dorset, Vermont.

Mr. Kinder co-founded KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. in 1988 and served as its president and board chair until its sale in 2009 to Risk Metrics Group (now owned by MSCI). Then, KLD served over 400 institutional clients and was the world’s leading provider of social investment research and indices.

The company created the first index to gauge the performance of socially screened portfolios – the KLD 400 which marked its 20th year in 2010. By 2009, KLD’s index family numbered over 20. Its research underlay the first SRI indexed mutual fund and exchange traded fund (ETF) and many other investment vehicles. The company developed the first electronic and then the first on-line social investment research platform.

Among his books are: Ethical Investing (1984); The Social Investment Almanac (1992); and Investing for Good (1993). He has published numerous articles and white papers on legal issues affecting SRI, the evolving nature of the corporation, fiduciary duties of boards and the passing scene. He has spoken at events on four continents.

Mr. Kinder has served on the boards of The Capital Institute, the Center for Political Accountability, Green Mountain College, the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Trillium Asset Management, and the Vermont Community Foundation. He is on the finance advisory kiwigambling.co.nz committee of the Wallace Global Fund.

Mr. Kinder served two terms on the board of the U.S. Social Investment Forum, the SRI trade organization, one as vice chair. He was a co-founder and principal (1997-2000) of Domini Social Investments, LLC.

He was admitted to the bar in Ohio (1973), the District of Columbia (1977), Massachusetts (1978) and the Supreme Court of the United States (1978). From 1973 to 1988, Mr. Kinder practiced law, first as an assistant attorney general in Ohio, then in Boston as a staff lawyer for a foundation and finally in private practice. He specialized in administrative law and corporate regulation.

Mr. Kinder received an A.B. in History from Princeton University in 1970 and a J.D. from Ohio State University in 1973, both with honors.

A complete resume appears in his LinkedIn profile.