Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – James Corah, CCLA

Date: 25 Mar 2026

Karen Jones

This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to James Corah, Head of Sustainability at CCLA.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.

I head up CCLA’s sustainability team, meaning I watch on in awe as my team works tirelessly to deliver for our clients.

Our approach to sustainability is a little bit different to most investment managers. Rather than trying to build sustainable portfolios we take an approach that restricts investments in the activities in which our clients don’t want to invest, and then use their portfolio to push for positive change – on a small number of priority issues – through active ownership.

This means that I have the pleasure of working with people who are experts in changing company behaviour and continue to be blown away by how effective they are at doing this.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There is no normal day. My daughter is not a good sleeper, so I wake up early to take over from my wife (who has normally done the v early shift), sort her breakfast, feed the dog, do a high-performance “cold dunk” and then run a marathon to get the dopamine under control (spoiler – I don’t do the cold dunk or run).

I’ll either then navigate the many roundabouts of Milton Keynes and commute into London or work from home. The more client interaction in the day the better, so I actively try and make sure that I’m interacting with at least one of our client groups either directly or indirectly most weeks. If I’m in the office, I’ll try and catch up with some of the team or wider business. If I’m at home, I’ll try and get my head down and crack through a few of the never-ending to-dos.  

No matter where I am, at some point mid-afternoon my energy will crash and I’ll eat far too much sugar, before either heading home to join in with some of the real (and most rewarding) job which is childcare.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

For those readers not familiar with CCLA, we have a diverse client base spanning wealth clients and IFAs, as well as our more traditional not-for-profit clients from charities, faith organisations and local authorities.

At the moment, one of the most dynamic parts of our client base is from the Catholic faith. Since the publication of Mensuram Bonam – a Catholic guide to faith consistent investment – in 2022, we have seen more and more Catholic investors internationally wanting to adopt their approach to investment. Working with asset owners who have more than a fiduciary rationale for pushing for improvements in the world’s sustainability is really energising, as they’re really wanting their asset manager to be an extension of their mission work. This helps keep our work on issues from modern slavery to mental health outcome-focused.

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

The CCLA client base are quite similar in what they want; this is consistent investment returns, delivered by investments in companies that don’t contradict their mission, values or reputation, with active ownership work that genuinely delivers positive change. This recognises the fact that we predominantly serve not-for-profit organisations who need solid returns to fund their work. It’s always humbling to work for our client base, as no matter how successful we are as a team at driving change (and we are successful at this), what we do is somewhat insignificant compared to the work of our clients. Indeed, as a firm, we always must remember that the most effective way we can contribute to building a better world is by providing our clients with the returns that they need to fund their good work.

This is why we adopt an engagement-led approach. Whilst some of our clients want to invest in a more conventionally sustainable way, most of them are wary about being too constrictive as to how their money should be managed. This leads us to build more conventional looking portfolios and then using them as the platform from which we can deliver our change-oriented engagement work. We think that this gives our clients the best chance of achieving their financial and change objectives.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

It was a long time ago now, but getting a phone call and letter from the then-CEO of GSK Sir Andrew Witty, letting us know that our engagement with them had helped the company become a Living Wage-accredited employer and that – as a consequence – over 300 of their lowest paid staff would be getting a pay rise. This has always stayed with me, because it proves the power that we have as investors to genuinely improve people’s lives.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

On a day-to-day basis, I’d like to think that a good leader can set the vision, ensure that their teams have everything that they need to go out and achieve it, and then get out of the way so as not to mess it up. I think this needs humility, honesty, and clear, consistent and balanced communication. Maybe one day I’ll get there!

Who do you most admire and why?

Is it a cliché to say my parents? My father in particular worked tirelessly to run a small insulation and asbestos removal business – with all the regulation and stress that that involved. Growing up, he was always clear that it should give my sister and I a pathway to do whatever we wanted with our lives. I’m very grateful as I wouldn’t have been able to do what I do if both of them hadn’t worked so hard and showed us the way.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

I probably shouldn’t say this, but at this stage of life I have tried to limit work travel to be able to stay home and see my daughter (there goes my career…) but, now that she is getting older, I’m looking forward to getting back out there and seeing how we can bring the unique skills that we have as a firm to bear to potential clients around the world. For pleasure, quite frankly – as one of the palest people alive – we will go anywhere that’s warm, but not too hot, and has a pool for our daughter to play in…

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

I often ask myself this and I always end the discussion by giving up. So, I’ve come to just being grateful for finding a role and a company that uniquely allows me to be me and do what I do. This is so rare, and I am so lucky.

How do you relax after a long day?

For some reason, I enjoy watching Notts County Football Club. Statistically, they’re the most relegated professional football club in England and in my lifetime, I’ve seen them go from the top league (the year before the Premier League was created) to non-league. Thanks Dad!

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