Jo Holden
The Orchestrator
Scaling people and moving parts into one working whole.
Jo Holden exemplifies The Orchestrator archetype through her deliberate coordination of complex, multi-stakeholder investment ecosystems. In this interview, Holden describes her role not as oracle but as facilitator, weaving together asset managers, institutional clients, governance frameworks, and sustainability imperatives into coherent, implementable solutions. She articulates a philosophy of enabling good decisions across diverse actors, from smaller pension trustees to global allocators, rather than imposing singular answers. Her leadership of the investment consultant sustainability working group, her push to bring mid-sized investors into collaborative engagement, and her insistence that inclusion precedes diversity all reflect an Orchestrator's instinct to align people and systems toward shared outcomes. Holden consistently emphasizes connective tissue: between public and private, between risk and return, between governance discipline and investment freedom.
“In my opinion, a good consultant facilitates good decisions. We like to think of ourselves as being a productivity aid rather than a replacement for in-house staff or decision makers.”
“I actually think good governance is higher up that list when it comes to thinking about easier fixes to help us make good decisions.”
“I think inclusion probably has to come before diversity. If people don't feel included, it's not working, is it?”
Money Maze Podcast: “Helping Institutional Investors Invest With Confidence - With Jo Holden, Mercer’s Global Head of Investment Research & Consulting”
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