Mirtha Kastrapeli

Mirtha Kastrapeli is Managing Director and Global Head of ISS STOXX’s Research Institute. She’s an accomplished sustainable investment leader with a track record in developing cutting-edge research and insights in the sustainable investment space.

Ms. Kastrapeli has led various research initiatives dedicated to advancing the understanding of how sustainability issues affect investment portfolios and to helping institutional investors seeking to incorporate social and environmental considerations into their decision-making process. Her research expands across various themes including deforestation, regenerative agriculture and circular economy. Before ISS STOXX, Ms. Kastrapeli was the founder and CEO of Beyond Alpha LLC, a specialized research and consulting firm dedicated to helping investors design and implement sustainable investment strategies. With Beyond Alpha, she published the study ‘We Need To Talk: Why It’s Time for Institutional Investors to Embrace SDG-Aligned Investing’, which was selected as one the top 10 ESG papers by Pension and Investment Europe Magazine in 2021.

Ms. Kastrapeli had a long and successful career at State Street Bank in Boston. As Global Head of State Street’s Center for Applied Research, she co-authored multiple papers including ‘The Big Shift; Finding a New Center of Gravity for the Investment Industry’ in 2019, ‘The Investing Enlightenment: How Principle and Pragmatism Can Create Sustainable Value through ESG’ in 2017, the award-winning study ‘Discovering Phi: Motivation as the Hidden Variable of Performance’ in 2016. Ms. Kastrapeli has over 20 years of experience in the private and public sector, analyzing capital markets and helping shape public policy. She spent seven years as a Global Macro Strategist at State Street Global Markets in Boston. In the public sector, Ms. Kastrapeli served as an advisor to the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Economics in Nicaragua. She also worked at the Economic and Commercial Office of the US Embassy in Managua, where she received a Meritorious Honor Award from the US Department of State. Ms. Kastrapeli earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in Finance and Economics from Ave Maria College in Nicaragua and a master’s degree in business administration, MBA, from the Brandeis International Business School.