People & Appointments: Denis Lehman quits as Aviva France’s head of ESG

Aviva’s Head of Investments and ESG for France, Denis Lehman, is leaving the firm after 17 years this month. Baptiste Buisson will take over as Director of Mandates, Solutions and ESG Management. Lenoir joined Aviva Investors France in 2012 as a bond fund manager, before being promoted to head the sovereign euro rates team in 2015 and multi-asset portfolio manager in 2019. He has not disclosed if he has taken up a role elsewhere.

Willis Towers Watson has announced the appointment of Tony Rooke as Director of Climate Transition Risk in the organisation’s Climate and Resilience Hub. Rooke is a well-established figure in climate and disclosure, having been Global Director for Disclosure at CDP. He also created and led sustainability consulting practices at Infosys and Logica. In his new role, Rooke will guide the advice, analysis and new products on the low-carbon transition.

Governance and standard setting expert Jane Diplock has been appointed as Advisor to CEO Clara Barby at Impact Management Project. Diplock has over 10 years of experience in the sector behind her and will continue her roles as Board Director at Singapore Exchange Limited, Chair of the ADGM Regulatory Committee, Chair of Governance at the International Integrated Reporting Council and Director of the Australian Financial Services Group.

The Clim8 Invest platform has appointed to its investment committee: James Millard, Chief Investment Officer of Hiscox; Vivian Bertseka, former Director at Generation Investment Management; and Bart Dujczynski, a renewable energy and cleantech expert who was previously CFO of Polenergia.

Doris Honold, former Chief Operating Officer at Standard Chartered Bank, has been appointed as a Director at Climate Bonds Initiative, according to a filing on Companies House. Honold recently became Chair of the Board Risk Committee at Credit Suisse. Last month, she had an article on tree extinction published in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Social Impact Review.

Leonie Kelly-Farley is stepping down as a Partner at the Sustainable Finance Initiative after four years at the non-profit, to join an undisclosed law as head of ESG and Impact. She has previously held positions at Deloitte, Citi, and the Zoological Society of London, and will continue as an advisor to SFI.

Chair of the UK Investment Association, Keith Skeoch, has been appointed as interim Chair of the country’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) by Business Secretary Alok Sharma, following the resignation of Simon Dingemans in May. Skeoch will hold the position for up to six months whilst a permanent Chair is recruited. He has previously served as a non-executive director at the FRC, as well as CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen and CEO of its asset management business, Aberdeen Standard Investments. He will retain his position as Chair of the Investment Association during the period.

 

Charles Hewes Moore, Jr., the first Executive Director of the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) group, sadly passed away on October 8 in Laporte, Pennsylvania. Moore was hand-picked for the role 20 years ago and spent 15 years at CECP. During this time, he spearheaded the expansion of the coalition of CEOs, which now represents $11.2trn in revenues. Long after he retired, Moore remained a presence at CECP Summits and Board of Boards and is the name behind CECP’s annual corporate leader award, the Charles H. Moore Award for Leadership in Corporate Community Engagement.

The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has appointed Melissa Schulz as its Real Estate Executive Committee’s first General Manager of Sustainability. She joins from  real estate management company Vicinity Centres where she was also General Manager of Sustainability.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Board has put forward Carol Young and Dave Coplin to be appointed as Non-Executive Directors for initial three years terms at the organisation’s AGM next month. Young is the Director of Reward & Employment at Natwest Group, while Coplin is an independent Non-Executive Director for Mitchells & Butlers and Vianet Group. Richard Butcher is also being put forward for reappointment as PLSA Chair, extending his term for a further year until autumn 2021.

Bedford Row Capital has appointed Professor Kevin Haines as its first Head of Social Policy, to set up internal ESG and due diligence processes, to help identify ESG-compliant firms looking to issue debt securities, and to communicate the non-bank originator’s ESG approach to investors. Professor Haines has a 30-year academic career as a criminologist and has been involved in high-profile projects including one with the UK’s former Department for International Development, reforming the children’s criminal justice system in Romania.

The Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) has announced the chairs of its Informal Working Group, which will kick off the new initiative’s work until an official task force is formed next year. Antoine Sire, Director of Company Engagement at BNP Paribas, Rhian-Mari Thomas, Chief Executive of the UK’s Green Finance Institute, and Mariuz Calvet Roquero, Director of Sustainability and Responsible Investment at Banorte will co-chair the group, which seeks to mirror the success of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Sustainable investment house Earth Capital has made its Chief Risk Officer Neil Brown, Chief Financial Officer Phil Culver Evans and Chief Sustainability Officer Richard Burrett shareholders. Co-founder Stephen Lansdown and Gordon Power will remain the majority owners of Earth Capital. Existing Director of Investment, Nick Curtis will also become Chair of its new waste-to-energy portfolio company, it said in a statement; and private equity specialist Avent Bezuidenhoudt will join as an Investment Director alongside Simon Crook – formerly an Operating Partner at impact investment firm Greensphere Capital. The pair will become part of the team making investments for the Nobel Sustainability Fund, which focuses on new technologies in the sustainability sector.