People & Appointments: Accountancy veteran St-Jean named first CSSB chair

The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) has named Charles-Antoine St-Jean as its first chair. St-Jean has nearly 40 years’ experience in the consultancy sector, mainly at EY. He has also held multiple senior roles outside the industry, including comptroller general of Canada, chair of the Public Sector Accounting Board and, most recently, regional director of the Americas at the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation. In the latter role, he assisted with the implementation of ISSB operations in North America.

Other newly appointed CSSB members include Bindu Dhaliwal, senior vice-president of ESG and corporate governance at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Alyson Slater, managing director and head of sustainable investment in Canada, public markets at Manulife Investment Management and former chief network engagement officer at the Global Reporting Initiative; and Raylene Whitford, chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council, TC Energy and former global indigenous community practice lead at Deloitte Canada. All CSSB appointments were made by the implementation committee, which provides transitional oversight of the initiative.

Former BlackRock head of sustainability policy and engagement Paul Bodnar has joined the Bezos Earth Fund as director of sustainable finance, industry and diplomacy. Bodnar formerly served the White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for energy and climate change, as well as director for environment and climate change on the National Security Council. From 2009-13, he worked as lead negotiator for climate finance at the US Department of State, before taking on the role of director for climate finance and counsellor to the special envoy for climate change. He was also founding chair of the Centre for Climate-Aligned Finance.

Eurosif has appointed Pierre Garrault as senior policy adviser. He joins from climate change think-tank E3G, where he was sustainable finance policy adviser. He previously spent four years at French asset manager network Association Française de la Gestion financière as junior executive of European affairs.

Nordic pension funds have seen an exodus at senior level over the past week. On 11 April, CEO Magnus Billing was fired from Swedish pension fund Alecta. Since then, Swedish pensions giant AP7 has announced the upcoming departure of deputy CEO and chief investment officer Ingrid Albinsson in July. She has worked at AP7 for more than 11 years and also served as co-chair of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance for three years. This follows an announcement last year that long-standing CEO Richard Gröttheim will stand down from his role this year.

Elsewhere in the Nordics, PensionDanmark’s Torben Möger Pedersen is stepping down as CEO in October after more than 30 years of heading Denmark’s largest labour-market pension fund. The board has initiated the recruitment of a new CEO and expects the process to be concluded by summer.

Franklin Templeton has promoted Piers Hugh Smith to head of global stewardship. Smith joined the manager in October 2021 and was promoted to investment stewardship manager last June. He formerly worked as climate and environment stewardship officer at CCLA Investment Management.

Jess Foulds has been promoted to ESG strategy director at Aviva Investors. She has been at Aviva for two years, previously as head of strategy for the manager’s sustainable finance centre for excellence, and previously spent more than five years as a policy specialist at The Investment Association.

Therese Kieve has been promoted to senior stewardship analyst at Sarasin & Partners. She has worked at the manager for more than three years, previously as stewardship analyst. Alongside her stewardship role, Kieve serves as head of the race equity workstream for The 30% Club’s UK investor group. She has also held roles at ISS and ShareAction.

ShareAction’s head of biodiversity, Katie Leach, will leave the NGO after two years to join Lloyds Banking Group as head of nature at the end of May. ShareAction is currently recruiting for Leach’s replacement (deadline to apply is 2 May), as well as for a senior policy officer for biodiversity to work within its UK policy team. The deadline for the second position is 24 April.

The UK government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) is seeking a senior green finance and economy analyst. The candidate will lead the CCC’s work on the role of finance in the UK’s transition to a net-zero economy, and the macroeconomic impacts of a net-zero transition. This is a two-year position starting in the summer. Applications close on 24 April.

Eugene Klerk has joined Standard Chartered Bank as head of ESG research. Klerk previously worked at Credit Suisse for 10 years, most recently as global head of ESG research.

EdenTree Investment Management has promoted Leonora Rae to head of corporate responsibility and charity partnerships. She has worked at the manager for more than three years, previously as strategic lead of charity partnerships.

The Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) is recruiting a sustainable finance officer to assess and monitor key market, regulatory and research trends in sustainable finance at national, EU and international levels. Applications close on 5 May.

Ivonne Mundil has been promoted to head of sustainability and ESG at Trei Real Estate. She has worked at the German company for more than eight years, most recently as a senior construction manager.