2024 STEWARDSHIP REPORT
Ariel Investments
200 East Randolph Street Suite 2900 Chicago, Illinois
+1 312 726 0140
+1 800 725 0140
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Our Values
Active Patience ®
Good outcomes take time. While patience may suggest stasis, such rigorous discipline in fact requires constant, dynamic engagement. We are diligently and continually assessing changing conditions, identifying undervalued opportunities, making connections to glean new insights and setting more ambitious goals. Relationships that have been cultivated over decades enable us to benefit from a myriad of perspectives.
Independent Thinking
Different is our advantage. In a world where fitting in feels better than standing out, generic viewpoints and hollow information reign supreme. We seek to develop our own unique insights and are comfortable being uncomfortable—which is key to realizing long-term value. Our contrarian views result from meticulous, fundamental, bottomup research. Analyzing and questioning every position means that when we choose, we do so with knowledge and conviction.
Focused Expertise
We go deep. Jacks of all trades need not apply. As someone once said, “An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less.”
Decades of accumulated knowledge in our core competencies mean we can draw upon a treasure trove of experience when considering every decision. While our approach is time-tested, our learning is never done.
Bold Teamwork
Confident humility holds us together. No one person is sufficient to our clients’ success. We can only win as a team, and we know diverse teams drive better outcomes. As we seek to leverage our collective intelligence, we encourage our colleagues to be courageous when engaging with each other. Silence can be dangerous, and acquiescence can breed mediocrity. Candor builds trust and respectful dissent serves our greater good.
as of December 31, 2024
Chicago | New York | San Francisco | Sydney * Teammates include Ariel and its affiliated entities. ** Assets under management include $1.48 billion for Ariel Alternatives, a subsidiary of Ariel Investments, which reflects aggregate commitments and excludes fund specific leverage.
*** Includes Ariel International DM/EM LLC, Ariel Emerging Markets Value Fund LLC and the Ariel Alternatives’ private fund.
Dear Friends:
As we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, we are reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s enduring wisdom: “Well done is better than well said.” This principle guides our stewardship reporting in 2025—less said, more done. What matters most is not the length of this report, but the measurable impact we deliver through sustained action and accountability. While this report is more concise in form, our commitment remains steadfast. We continue to embed financially material sustainability-related risk factors across our investment process and live our values through our people, operations and culture. Our focus remains on partnering with management teams to address sustainability-related risks and opportunities that shape long-term value creation.
We are proud to share the Ariel Investments Annual Stewardship Report, which highlights our activities and progress over the past year, for the period ended December 31, 2024. This report enhances transparency across three core areas: portfolio company engagement, proxy voting and strategy-level metrics. For a deeper understanding of our policies and practices, we invite you to review our Sustainable Investment Policy in the appendix.
At the heart of our research is a commitment to building enduring relationships with portfolio company leadership. Through direct dialogue, we advocate for strong business practices that drive long-term value and mitigate risk. This year, our engagements centered on environmental management, business model innovation, social and human capital, and governance.
We are grateful for your continued partnership and welcome your questions and feedback as we advance this important work together.
Sincerely,
John Oxtoby SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT RESEARCH
Portfolio Engagement
Our approach to engagement with portfolio company leadership is rooted in principles of inclusion, transparency and continuous improvement through dialogue. We view stewardship not as a checklist, but as a strategic lever to enhance long-term value for our clients. Central to this effort is the identification and management of financially material sustainability risk factors—those that have the potential to impact a company’s performance, resilience and valuation over time.
This section outlines the scope and themes of our engagement activity, offering a clear and candid view into where we concentrated our efforts. Our dialogues focused on areas where we believe thoughtful collaboration can drive meaningful progress, including environmental management, human capital development, governance practices and innovation aligned with long-term business model sustainability.
1 Disaggregated engagement data reflects Domestic and Global team activity.
Portfolio Engagement
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION
SOCIAL AND HUMAN CAPITAL
LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Proxy Voting Summary
At Ariel Investments, we view proxy voting as a natural extension of our fundamental research and engagement efforts. It is a critical mechanism through which we exercise our fiduciary duty, ensuring that our clients’ long-term interests are represented in corporate governance decisions. Our voting decisions are informed by a holistic assessment of all material factors—including sustainabilityrelated considerations—that may impact a company’s performance and risk profile.
We prioritize companies led by high-caliber management teams, distinguished by their industry expertise, proven track records and thoughtful stewardship of material issues. This includes their approach to sustainability matters that are integral to long-term value creation. We seek to invest in organizations where leadership demonstrates integrity, transparency and a commitment to open dialogue with shareholders.
In alignment with our investment philosophy, Ariel Investments generally places significant weight on management recommendations, particularly when we maintain an active and constructive engagement with company leadership. This approach reflects our belief in fostering long-term partnerships and encouraging continuous improvement through accountability. This section provides a summary of our proxy voting activity. For detailed rationales behind each shareholder vote, we invite you to visit our website and review our comprehensive Shareholder Proxy Voting Summary.
MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS
SHAREHOLDER PROPOSALS
2,679
110
VOTES
VOTES
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Beyond individual company engagements, Ariel Investments monitors portfolio-wide indicators to evaluate progress, uncover emerging risks and identify new opportunities. These metrics offer a quantitative lens through which we assess the effectiveness of our stewardship activities, complementing our qualitative insights from engagement and proxy voting. By reporting at the portfolio level, we aim to provide stakeholders with a transparent and comprehensive view of outcomes, reinforcing our commitment to accountability and long-term value creation.
Ariel Small Cap Value
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Small Cap Value Concentrated
Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Small/Mid Cap Value
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Mid Cap Value
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Focused Value
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel International (DM)
Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel International (DM/EM)
Portfolio-Level Metrics Ariel Global
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Emerging Markets Value
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Emerging Markets Value ex-China
Portfolio-Level Metrics Ariel Fund
LSEG Governance Score
LSEG Social Score
MSCI ESG Rating (CCC-AAA)
MSCI ESG Quality Score (0-10)
* Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Appreciation Fund
LSEG Total ESG Score
LSEG Environment Score
LSEG Governance Score
LSEG Social Score
MSCI ESG Rating (CCC-AAA)
MSCI ESG Quality Score (0-10)
Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel Focus Fund
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Ariel International Fund
LSEG Total ESG Score
LSEG Environment Score
LSEG Governance Score
LSEG Social Score (0-100)
MSCI ESG Rating (CCC-AAA)
MSCI ESG Quality Score (0-10)
ESG Rating (0-5 Globes)
Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics Ariel Global Fund
LSEG
LSEG
* Unless otherwise indicated.
Portfolio-Level Metrics
Schwab Ariel Opportunities ETF
LSEG Total ESG Score
LSEG Environment Score
LSEG Governance Score
LSEG Social Score
MSCI ESG Rating (CCC-AAA)
MSCI ESG Quality Score (0-10)
Unless otherwise indicated.
Appendix
Sustainable Investment Policy
As of March 2025
This Sustainable Investment Policy (this “Policy”) sets forth how Ariel Investments, LLC (“Ariel”) integrates sustainability considerations, including its proprietary Business Resilience Risk Ratings, into its investment processes. Ariel has adopted this Policy in accordance with requirements of the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”), of which Ariel is a signatory.
1. Summary
Our tailored approach to investing recognizes sustainability risk factors can be material to business results. As such, we integrate these considerations within the investment process and collaborate with management teams to address sustainability-related factors with the goal of strengthening long-term financial performance.
The chief investment officer of each Ariel investment team is responsible for integrating and executing sustainable investment considerations within the respective investment processes. As part of our bottom-up fundamental research process, our Domestic and Global investment teams assign a proprietary Business Resilience Risk Rating to each company indicating the perceived potential negative financial impact that sustainability-related factors may have on the company’s enterprise value. The Emerging Markets Value (“EMV”) investment team develops a proprietary view on sustainability by factoring in a company’s risks and opportunities, but does not assign ratings to companies. Across all teams, the relevance and materiality of sustainability-related risk factors varies by industry and geography and their impact on our investment thesis. All investment teams integrate their assessments into their financial valuations. Such financial modeling and valuation work can directly impact portfolio construction.
Ariel seeks to engage with management teams on material sustainability-related topics impacting the relevant company. As longterm investors we understand that many interactions do not fit neatly into short-term binary outcomes, but rather are part of a longer-term dialogue. In general, the investment teams seek to promote positive sustainability outcomes and avoid detrimental sustainability-related impacts when relevant and financially material to the investment thesis.
Although Ariel does not employ exclusionary practices across its strategies, our investment teams will consider investment restrictions and/or exclusions of certain sectors or securities, for sustainability-related issues or other regulatory reasons, at client request.
Our compliance team conducts periodic reviews of our sustainable investment processes and disclosure practices to ensure compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
2. Integration
As part of our bottom-up fundamental research process, the Domestic and Global investment teams assign a proprietary Business Resilience Risk Rating to each company indicating the perceived potential negative financial impact that sustainability-related factors may have on the company’s enterprise value. The EMV investment team develops a proprietary view on sustainability by factoring in a company’s risks and opportunities, but does not assign ratings to companies. Such assessments can be based on objective data or subjective judgment, including industry risk exposure, quality of disclosure, forward-looking assessments of management performance, as well as other factors.
Each team integrates their assessments into financial valuations. As a result, sustainability-related factors incorporated into our financial modeling and valuation work can directly impact portfolio construction. Sustainability-related issues are one of many factors that may impact an investment decision. In addition, our portfolio-level dashboards monitor material sustainability-related factors across our strategies, which can help inform overall risk management, future research priorities and continued learning and engagement opportunities.
Our analysis is supported by decision-useful insights obtained from third-party sources, such as Bloomberg, ISS, MSCI, and Refinitiv, alongside data points from our proprietary research. Our proprietary research is also informed by company disclosures, such as company websites, sustainability reports and SEC filings, direct dialogue with management teams and other sustainabilityfocused organizations, such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
Appendix
Each investment team maintains a customized approach to structuring assessments as well as curating and integrating sustainable investment research into their respective investment processes. In general, we view individual data points on a case-by-case basis as part of a broader mosaic approach. There may be variation among the teams’ sustainability risk assessments and data integration (even for similar or the same companies), as the investment teams create their own assessments and approach to integrating sustainability data into their investment decisions.
We integrate all material issues into our proxy voting decisions, including sustainability-related risk factors, consistent with our fiduciary obligation to clients. Ariel’s proxy voting guidelines for its investment strategies are detailed in our Proxy Voting Guidelines which are made available upon request to ClientserviceIR@arielinvestments.com.
The primary objective of integrating sustainability-related issues into investment analysis and decisions is to manage potential risks and opportunities which may have a material financial impact on a holding’s enterprise value and therefore, our clients’ investment portfolios. This aligns with the overall investment objectives of the strategies that Ariel manages, as disclosed in the applicable governing documents of each portfolio, as well as our fiduciary duty to protect client assets and act in the best interest of investors.
3. Engagement
Our approach to engagement with portfolio company leadership teams is grounded in principles of inclusion and improvement via dialogue. Our primary stewardship objective is to maximize overall value to our clients over the long term. Ariel seeks dialogue with management teams to encourage improvement on disclosure and performance across financially material issues, including sustainability-related risks. In general, as part of our engagement, we seek to focus our discussions on key improvements that will drive the greatest financial impact and/or where our efforts can have a higher probability of success, such as instances in which we are large and/or long-standing investors. We track our interactions with portfolio companies.
Our investment teams employ a variety of methods in engagements. For example, direct engagement typically includes conversations and other interactions with management teams, board members, and key business unit or organizational leaders on specific issues, letters on thematic topics, company-tailored recommendations for board members and other forms of direct dialogue. Individual investment teams may also engage in dialogue with subject matter experts, regulators, suppliers and third-party vendors. The engagement method and frequency of interaction varies depending on the individual context for a given portfolio company.
While our approach to engagement typically focuses on supporting or partnering with management teams on their efforts to strengthen disclosure and management of material and relevant issues, we may employ escalation tactics on a case-by- case basis when we believe material issues are not being adequately addressed by management teams. We do not employ a formulaic approach to escalation; approaches will vary depending on the relationship and history with management, the industry or business model and/or the nature and materiality of the issue. We may identify and engage with key business unit or organizational leaders with responsibility for a given topic; articulate or send a letter to management outlining our concern; vote against management on a proxy voting proposal; and/or consider selling all or some of a position.
On occasion, we may consider collaborative initiatives, such as joint letters, in partnership with other investors or third parties. Such opportunities are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and executed in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
4. Sustainability Factors
The relevance and materiality of sustainability-related risk factors that are considered as part of Integration and/or Engagement varies by industry and geography and their impact on our investment thesis. We therefore do not have a “one-size-fits-all” approach but a case-by-case assessment of materiality and relevance, as determined by the investment teams. As patient investors who invest with a long-term investment horizon, we consider the materiality of sustainability-related risk exposures from both a short- and long-term point of view. Such assessments help us better understand a company’s risk exposure, risk management, quality of disclosure, performance and potential for improvement. Our investment teams incorporate sustainability-related risk factors into their analysis and/or direct company engagement when deemed relevant and material for the specific company. Below are examples of sustainability-related factors that may, but do not have to be, considered (see following page):
Appendix
- Climate Event Impact (i.e. wildfires and hurricanes)
- Energy Management
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
- Waste and Hazardous Materials Management
- Human Rights
- Customer Privacy
- Data Security
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practices
- Community Relations
- Materials Sourcing and Efficiency
- Product Quality and Safety
- Supply Chain Management
- Business Model Resilience
- Critical Incident Risk Management
- Systemic Risk Management
- Air Quality
- Ecological Impacts
- Transition Risks of Climate Change
- Water and Wastewater Management
- Access and Affordability
- Customer Welfare
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Health and Safety
- Labor Practices
- Product Design and Lifecycle Management
- Selling Practices and Product Labeling
- Business Ethics
- Competitive Behavior
- Management of Legal/Regulatory Environment
5. Oversight and Compliance
The Sustainable Investment Committee (the “Committee”) is responsible for reviewing this Policy annually. The Committee is chaired by the Director of Sustainable Investment Research and is comprised of senior investment professionals from the Domestic, Global and EMV research teams. The Committee also includes senior leaders from Client Relations, Consultant Relations and Legal and Compliance. In addition, the Committee is responsible for reviewing the sustainable investment policies of Ariel Investments’ affiliate, Ariel Alternatives, and includes a representative from Ariel Alternatives.
The Committee facilitates reporting and communication among its members and the broader Ariel Investments and Ariel Alternatives community regarding ongoing sustainability-related topics, third party research, training opportunities, trends in the marketplace and the regulatory landscape. The Committee’s other responsibilities include:
• Coordinating disclosure practices;
• Assessing firm-wide current and prospective commitments including but not limited to PRI, affiliations, and policy/advocacy statements relevant to sustainable investing; and
• Reviewing recommendations identified from third party or internal compliance reviews.
In addition, Ariel has adopted a Code of Ethics and other compliance policies and procedures, inclusive of conflicts of interest and proxy voting policies and procedures, to preserve the independence of its investment advice to its clients. Ariel’s proxy voting policy addresses how Ariel manages and mitigates conflicts of interest with respect to voting its clients proxies.
Disclaimers
Risks. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing in equity stocks is risky and subject to the volatility of the markets. The intrinsic value of the stocks in which the Ariel Investments portfolios invest may never be recognized by the broader market. The portfolios are often concentrated in fewer sectors than their benchmarks, and their performance may suffer if these sectors underperform the overall stock market. Investing in small and mid-cap stocks is more risky and more volatile than investing in large-cap stocks. Investments in non-U.S. securities may underperform and may be more volatile because of the risks involving non-U.S. economies, markets, political systems, regulatory standards, currencies and taxes. Investments in emerging markets present additional risks, such as difficulties in selling on a timely basis and at an acceptable price. A concentrated or focused portfolio may be subject to greater volatility than a more diversified portfolio. An economic moat is a perceived competitive advantage that acts as a barrier to entry for other companies in the same industry, and this perceived advantage cannot protect investors from the volatility associated with stocks, incorrect assumptions or estimations, declining fundamentals, or external forces.
Investing in the Funds. Investors should consider carefully the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing. For a current prospectus which contains this and other information about the funds offered by Ariel Investment Trust, call us at 800-292-7435 or visit www.arielinvestments.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Distributed by Ariel Distributors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ariel Investments, LLC. Ariel Distributors, LLC is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Schwab Ariel ESG ETF. Ariel serves as sub-adviser to the Schwab Ariel ESG ETF but does not distribute the ETF. This communication is not intended to promote or offer the ETF and should not be considered a recommendation for any security, including the ETF.