From the CEO Following the trends New CEO Ursula Bryan urges members to join the IAMs mega-trends conversation, which aims to support its commitment to help governments, investors, asset owners, operators, and managers maximise value from their assets Firstly, I wanted to say what an honour it is to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer at the Institute at such an exciting time. I also wanted to thank everyone for the very warm welcome I have received, it is much appreciated. As I have taken up my new position, over the past few months I have been engaging with our volunteers and wider stakeholders across the world. During these discussions, and despite being an asset manager for nearly 30 years, I am always in awe of the positive impact asset management can make on the worlds biggest challenges and opportunities. You may have seen on our website or social media channels that the Institute has recently discussed, voted on and catalogued the top trends impacting the asset management community at a global level. These top trends we termed the mega-trends because they came to incorporate a number of related trends. To enable a discussion and wider consultation on these trends, we have produced a draft position paper documenting the nine megatrends impacting the asset management community for 2022: Despite being an asset manager for nearly 30 years, I am always in awe of the positive impact asset management can make on the worlds biggest challenges and opportunities Im always keen to hear from members or our wider asset management community, so please email me if there is anything you would like to discuss. Trend 1: Climate Change, Net Zero and Sustainability Trend 2: Resilience, Futureproofing and Risk Management Trend 3: Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Trend 4: Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Trend 5: Societal Wellbeing Trend 6: Sustaining Delivery Capability Human Capital, Outsourcing and the Supply Chain Trend 7: Digital, Data Transparency and Disruptive Technologies Trend 8: Cyber and Physical Security Critical Infrastructure is the Modern Battleground Trend 9: Infrastructure Deficit, Asset Modernisation and Changing Service Requirements The paper sets out how asset management can have a positive impact on the opportunities and global challenges we all face. It is our intention to update these trends on an annual basis and utilise this information to direct our technical work to support our commitment in helping governments, investors, asset owners, operators, and managers maximise value from assets. We would really value your input and comments on this paper so please do join the discussion today in our new IAM Discussion Forum. We will be collating the contributions to use during a workshop on mega-trends 2022 at the Global Virtual Conference that is taking place from 15-16 June. The Global Virtual Conference is free to IAM members and I look forward to seeing you (virtually) there. If you are not an individual paying member and you would like to attend the conference, why not join as a member and enjoy the conference and access the other benefits of being a member. You will see our new IAM Discussion Forum has a number of topics where we are inviting our asset management community to take part in the conversation. Using the forum is a great way to see what others across our asset management community are commenting on. We will be collating and developing contributions on the discussion forum with the aim of generating more knowledge outputs. Finally, I wanted to personally thank Andy Watts for the immense contribution he has made to the Institute during his time as Managing Director. Andy continues to be actively involved with the Institute and he is currently taking a lead role in driving some of the central components for our transformation programme Transform22. Ursula