People & Appointments: CalSTRS, Rathbone and Citi lead search for sustainability experts

Stéphanie Lachance, Head of Responsible Investment at Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investments (PSP), has announced that she has stepped down from her role at the C$204bn (€143bn) manager. Writing on LinkedIn, Lachance, who has been with PSP for close to 15 years, said that in the new year she would dividing her time between “supporting a fund manager's sustainable investing strategy and serving on boards and investment committees”. In May, Lachance was named on an eight-strong independent review committee on standard setting by Canada’s accounting and auditing supervisors, the Accounting Standards Oversight Council and Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council.

Flavia Micilotta, the former head of Europe’s Sustainable Investment Forum and member of the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, has joined London-based financial services firm TMF Group as Director of ESG solutions. Micilotta also led the sustainability practice at Deloitte in Luxembourg and was the Director of the Luxembourg Green Exchange.    

Canadian climate solutions firm Manifest Climate – known until recently as Mantle 314 – has acquired Climate Risk Review and made the newsletter’s editor Louie Woodall its editorial lead. Woodall will now work on Manifest’s Market Intelligence offering, which publishes articles for clients across seven climate trends, including regulation. 

Californian public pension giant CalSTRS is recruiting an Investment Officer for Stewardship Strategies to join its Sustainable Investment unit and lead the development and implementation of the $308bn fund’s stewardship programme. The deadline for applications is 8 December. In the UK, Rathbone Brothers is also growing its stewardship team and is searching for “people with relevant ESG/sustainability experience, not just stewardship”.  

US banking giant Citi is looking for a Chief Administrative Office for its New York-based Sustainability & ESG team. The successful candidate will be responsible for the development of the bank’s Net Zero plan.   

Therese Niklasson, Global Head of Sustainability at Ninety One, formerly Investec Asset Management, has joined Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon Investment Management, as Global Head of Sustainable Investment. Niklasson, who will report to CEO Euan Munro in her new role, will lead a team of 19 and be responsible for responsible and sustainable investment at the UK-based firm, which manages assets of £103bn.

Influential campaign group ShareAction is on the hunt for a pensions-focused Investment Engagement Manager to support the development of the Occupational Pensions Stewardship Council – an asset owner body coordinated by UK regulators to improve investment stewardship practices.    

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), one of the EU’s three financial supervisors, is looking for a Senior Policy Officer to support its sustainable finance unit and help it draft technical standards.   

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is looking to hire two professionals to join its secretariat and support the development of its framework, which is slated for 2023.  

US law firm Kirkland & Ellis has named UK-based barrister Paul Barker as a partner in its ESG & Impact Practice Group. Barker, who was previously a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, has experience in counselling clients on ESG risks and opportunities, particularly in relation to climate change and energy transition finance and policy.