People & Appointments: Church Commissioners names Hancock head of RI

Olga Hancock has been promoted to head of responsible investment at the Church Commissioners for England, which manages the Church of England’s £10 billion ($13 billion; €12 billion) endowment. She replaces Bess Joffe, who left in April to join MFS Investment Management as lead strategist in the sustainability strategy team. Hancock previously worked as deputy head of responsible investment at the Commissioners. She also chairs the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association’s (UKSIF) policy committee, and is co-lead of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance’s policy workstream.

The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) is seeking expressions of interest from senior leaders for the sustainable finance taxonomy technical expert group. The group will comprise 20-25 experts in sustainable finance, climate science, industry, policy and Indigenous representation to provide input and endorsement of technical screening criteria developed by ASFI’s technical team of taxonomy and sustainability specialists. Applications will close on 7 July.

Theodor Christensen has stepped down as head of sustainability compliance at Danske Bank. Christen, who was formerly head of ESG at Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority, plans to work as a sustainable finance consultant and develop a tech-based analytics solution.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has named Marc Palahí as its first chief nature officer. He was previously CEO at the European Forest Institute, where he worked for 16 years. Palahí has also been chair of the Circular Bioeconomic Alliance for three years.

BNP Paribas is recruiting a biodiversity and deforestation specialist to support its existing work on ESG. The candidate will work to integrate ESG into the group’s risk assessment processes, as well as monitor performance indicators related to biodiversity and deforestation risks.

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has appointed Tim Steinweg as its first head of nature stewardship. He previously worked as senior responsible finance adviser at the Rainforest Foundation Norway.

Staying with the PRI, the organisation is also recruiting for three positions. They include a new head of private equity, following Peter Dunbar‘s announcement that he will be leaving after three years at the organisation. Dunbar, who previously worked in ESG private market roles at Capital Group, will step down at the end of August, but will continue in his role as steering committee member of French private equity organisation Initiative Climat International (iC International).

The PRI is also seeking a head of fixed income to work on research, analysis and guidance on responsible investment in fixed income across the organisation, as well as a senior responsible investment manager for France. The latter will work to raise awareness of responsible investment among French asset owners, investment managers and service providers. The deadline for all three applications is 25 June.

Jakob Thomä, co-founder and research director of Theia Finance Labs (formerly 2DII), has been appointed as project director at the PRI’s inevitable policy response. Thomä is also a professor at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and was formerly a climate change academic adviser at the Bank of England. He replaces Mark Fulton, a founding partner of Energy Transition Advisers, who was formerly head of research at Deutsche Bank’s Climate Change Advisors, and co-chaired the UNEP FI Climate Change Working Group.

The People’s Partnership has appointed Dan Mikulskis as chief investment officer. He is due to join in September from Lane, Clark and Peacock, where as investment partner he implemented net-zero programmes for large asset owners.

Europe’s Association for Financial Markets is seeking a sustainable finance manager. The main responsibilities include running sustainable finance steering committees and working groups, developing policy positions, and drafting policy papers and consultation responses.

Heidi Douglas-Osborn has been promoted to government affairs and policy manager at UKSIF, a year after joining the organisation as policy manager. She was also formerly a policy and public affairs executive at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

The World Economic Forum is seeking a sustainable finance specialist for its centre for financial and monetary systems. The candidate will support the sustainable finance lead, contribute to activities of the broader sustainable finance team, and coordinate alignment with other climate finance initiatives across various centres.

Legal and General Investment Management is recruiting a responsible investment strategist to further research on sustainability, identify information and data gaps to address sustainability themes, and work to incorporate sustainability into the manager’s investment process. The deadline for applications is 30 June.

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change is recruiting a climate transition analyst for its corporate team. The candidate will be responsible for developing analytical frameworks to support investors with assessing the transition risk across their portfolios.