ABP trustee den Uyl to chair new high-level PRI asset owner committee

Xander den Uyl, a trustee of Dutch civil service pension fund giant ABP, has been named chair of the Principles for Responsible Investment’s new high-level Asset Owner Advisory Committee.

Also on the panel are some of the most senior figures in institutional investment, such as Chris Ailman of CalSTRS, the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan’s Hiromichi Mizuno and Allianz’s Jay Ralph (see full list below).

The PRI had sought committee members late last year and the group is being set up as part of its 2015-2018 strategic plan.

Den Uyl was vice president of the €345bn ABP from 1993-1997 and again from 2007- 2013, where he helped develop the responsible investment policy the Dutch giant adopted in 2007. He’s been a trustee of ABP since 2015 and was elected to the board of the PRI in November last year.

Prior to his election, he said he would “commit myself to empower small and large asset owners, specifically trustees, to set the agenda for the future of responsible investment”. He’s also been involved with the Committee on Workers Capital, the body which advises union pension trustees on responsible investment.

The new PRI committee will advise the initiative on the strategy and execution of its Asset Owner Insight work on areas such as incorporating ESG considerations into selecting, appointing and monitoring managers and managing passive investment.“Through collaboration with the Advisory Committee, the Asset Owner Insight work will help the PRI to meet its strategic objective of moving from awareness to impact,” the body says. There are two vacant seats on the committee for asset owners from emerging markets. The point person at the PRI is Don Gerritsen, the former KPMG advisor who joined the PRI last August. Link

Members:

• Chris Ailman, CIO, CalSTRS
• Sharon Alpert, CEO, Nathan Cummings Foundation
• Jagdeep Singh Bachher and Amy Myers Jaffe, Office of the Chief Investment Officer, University of California
• Yvonne Bakkum, Director Investment Management, FMO
• James Davis, CIO, OPSEU Pension Trust
• Marie Giguère, Executive Committee Member, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
• Hiromichi Mizuno, CIO, Government Pension Investment Fund, Japan
• Jay Ralph, Chairman of Allianz Asset Management
• Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper
• Daniel Simard, CEO Bâtirente
• Anders Thorendal, CIO, Church of Sweden
• Xander den Uyl (chair), ABP
• Mark Walker, CIO, Univest
• Faith Ward, Chief Risk Officer, Environment Agency Pension Fund