People & Appointments: UKSIF’s Howard steps down

Simon Howard is retiring as CEO of UK sustainable investment body, UKSIF, after seven years in the role. Howard had previously held CIO roles at UK insurers Friends Provident, now rebranded as Royal London, and Liverpool Victoria. He will remain CEO until Autumn 2020 when UKSIF is expected to have identified a successor.

Helena Fung has been appointed by FTSE Russell to the newly created role of Head of Sustainable Investment, Asia Pacific. Fung was formerly Global Head of Client Relations at Hermes Investment Management, based in the firm’s Hong Kong office. She will focus on further developing and expanding the index provider’s sustainable product range in the region. FTSE Russell recently expanded the coverage of its Asia Pacific sustainable investment analysis to 4,300 securities.

Olivia Dickson, Shipra Gupta, and Alice Steenland have joined the board of ShareAction, the UK shareholder campaign group, for a term of six years each. Dickson, a Non-Executive Director at UK accounting watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), currently leads the Impact Investing Institute’s work on impact measurement and reporting. Gupta was formerly Head of Sustainability for EY Financial Services, while Steenland oversaw AXA Group’s divestment from coal as Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer.

Anthony Schein has been named Director of Shareholder Advocacy at SHARE, the Canadian sustainable investment research body, and will lead the non-profit’s policy engagement program. Schein has spent a decade in senior roles at the Ontario public sector trade union. He is joined at SHARE by Michael Toulch who will take on a role as a Senior Analyst, Shareholder Engagement and Policy, with a focus on climate change and environmental sustainability. Toulch was formerly an analyst at sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis.

Tove Feld has been named to the board of The Renewables Investment Group (TRIG), the London-listed renewable energy investment company. Feld was formerly Chief Technical Officer at DONG Energy Wind Power, an arm of the Danish energy company, which transitioned away from fossil fuels and is now the world’s largest operator of offshore wind parks.

Shantanu Ghosh has been announced as the first CEO of newly established non-profit, Social Finance India (SF-IND), part of the Social Finance Global Network and supported by The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG). Shantanu joins SF-IND from a corporate background, having held roles at Genpact, GE, Unilever and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. SF-INDS will initially focus on commissioning social impact bonds in the field of education.

Michael Kjeller has been named incoming Deputy CEO of Folksam, the Swedish insurance and pensions provider. Kjeller is currently the group’s Head of Asset Management and Sustainability, and previously led local government-focused pension scheme KPA Pensions, part of the Folksam group, as CIO.

Fredrik Ekström has been appointed President of the Nasdaq Stockholm Stock Exchange where he will oversee its overall business operations in addition to leading its European Fixed Income Businesses. Ekström will report to Bjørn Sibbern, President of Nasdaq’s European Markets. He replaces current President, Lauri Rosendahl, who oversaw the launch of the exchange’s ESG Data Portal and ESG reporting pilot program.

Jamie Broderick, the former CEO of UBS Wealth Management and board member of the Impact Investing Institute has been named as a member of the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment. The Commission, set up by Social Enterprise UK Chair Lord Victor Adebowale, aims to examine how the investment market can support social enterprises in the UK. Broderick will be joined by Jessica Daggers, Susan Aktemel and Chris Murray.

Susan Wilkins has been elevated to Partner by emerging markets specialists Actis. Wilkins is currently the CFO and an existing Executive Committee member of Actis – which manages $12bn worth of client assets. Separately, Shami Nissan, Actis’s Head of Responsible Investment, has been named to the firm’s Executive Committee. Nissan and her team launched an open source impact measurement framework in 2018.