People & Appointments: HSBC AM appoints new Head of Stewardship and Engagement

Christine Chow has replaced Thomas O’Malley as Head of Stewardship and Engagement at HSBC Asset Management. O’Malley, who has been with HSBC AM for 12 years and represented it as a lead investor for Climate Action 100+, becomes Head of Policy in its newly established sustainability office. Chow, a Board Member of the International Corporate Governance Network and honorary advisor to the Financial Reporting Council, left her role as Global Head of Strategic Governance and ESG Integration at IHS Markit in September. Chow had joined IHS from Federated Hermes in February, leaving her role as Global Tech Lead and Head of Asia and Global Emerging Markets.

Deborah Orida has been appointed the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s first ever Chief Sustainability Officer. Orida, who has been at CPP for 12 years, will also retain her current role of Global Head of Real Assets in addition to her new responsibilities. 

Rosalie Vendette, former ESG head at Desjardins, the Canadian financial services company, and a sustainable finance committee member at lobby group Finance Montreal, has joined management consultancy firm Quinn & Partners as an Associate. Vendette, a well-known Canadian ESG professional, had started her own consulting business in 2019 called DecodESG after she left Desjardins, to advise organisations on ESG work. In the last couple of years, Vendette was also Chair of the Marketing and Outreach Taskforce at the CSA Green and Transition Finance Committee, which is working on a Canadian taxonomy.  

Stanley Kwong has joined US private equity firm KKR as Vice President Sustainable Investing. Kwong, who has previously worked in a number of UK government departments and the National Audit Office, leaves his role as ESG Associate Director Impact at Aviva Investors. Kwong’s appointment is part of a larger expansion at KKR, which plans to triple the size of its ESG investment team. 

Michael Kashani has joined Apollo as Principal and its first Head of ESG Credit. Kashani leaves his role as Global Head of ESG Portfolio Management in Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s fixed income division, and has previously worked at American Capital and S&P.  

Dimensional Fund Advisors has made two new appointments to senior ESG roles. Jim Whittington has been promoted from a portfolio management role to become the firm’s new Head of Responsible Investment, replacing Joe Chi, who is due to retire, while Lacey Heubel becomes Head of Responsible Investment, North America. Heubel, who has been with the firm for nine years, will retain her existing roles as Portfolio Manager and Vice President. 

Peter Holm has left his role as Head of Social Responsibility at Danish pension fund AP Pension to join Velliv in the same role. Before joining AP Pension, Holm worked at Skandia for 19 years, for example as Head of Corporate Responsibility. 

Karen Mahrous has left her role as Director of ESG and Decarbonisation Programmes at consultancy CodeGreen to take up the newly created role of Head of ESG at Clarion Partners. 

Carbon registry and marketplace Puro.earth has appointed a new advisory board. The members of the board, which will be chaired by Oxford Professor of Geosystem Science Myles Allen, are: Nikki Batchelor, Mai Bui, Todd Flach, Larissa Lee Beck and Remi Bouteille, with Jimmy Kvarnström, Deputy General Counsel at Nasdaq, acting as Secretary. 

Désirée Lucchese, Head of Ethics and Impact at Australia ethical manager U Ethical Investors, has joined the RI Certification Program Technical Expert Group at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.  

Zaïda Thépass has joined German real estate manager PATRIZIA as ESG Manager. She leaves her role as Sustainability Consultant at CBRE Netherlands, where she has worked since 2019.