People & Appointments: Danske hires former head of ESG at Danish regulator

Theodor Christensen, former head of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority’s ESG unit, has been hired by Danske Bank as principal ESG compliance officer. Christensen left his role at the regulator in May, three years after moving from Denmark’s permanent mission to the UN. The Danish FSA established a separate ESG and sustainability supervision unit at the start of May, which is led by Henrik Brarup Damgaard.

Kathryn Mintoft has joined Citi as EMEA head of sustainability and ESG. Mintoft, who leaves her role as interim head of sustainability risk at Credit Suisse, has held a number of sustainability roles at the bank since moving from Barclays in 2010.

Elaine Wu has moved to BlackRock as APAC head of research for its sustainable investing wing. Wu, who has left her role at JPMorgan as head of Asia ex-Japan ESG and utilities equity research after 11 years at the firm, started her career as a reporter at the South China Morning Post before moving to Nomura as an equity analyst.

Sriya Sundaresan has announced she is stepping down as co-CEO of climate analytics provider TransitionZero to focus on new climate projects. Sundaresan co-founded the non-profit with Matthew Gray, who previously ran the power and utilities team at Carbon Tracker alongside her, and will become sole CEO.

The UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative is hiring a US policy consultant, preferably based in New York or Washington DC, but with the possibility of remote working.

Arnold Gast has left his role as risk and investment officer at Shell’s Dutch pension fund to become director of ESG research at Sustainalytics. Gast, who was chief investment officer at ACTIAM for just over a year, has previously held roles at ABN Amro and Delta Lloyd Asset Management. He will be responsible for leading Sustainalytics’ ratings team, working across 10 sectors.

Generation Investment Management is hiring a sustainability regulation and reporting associate based in London to work on its compliance with new sustainability-related regulations, including SFDR.

Peter Zink Secher been appointed by BNP Paribas as European head of ESG ratings advisory, a newly created role. Secher was previously managing director at Nykredit’s sustainable solutions arm.

Herman Kleeven has joined Van Lanschot Kempen as investment lead on its sustainable equity team. Kleeven has left his role as head of focus equities portfolio management at APG Asset Management. He previously held roles as head of equity investments at ING Insurance and director, sustainable investments and corporate governance, at ING Investment Management.

Mike Spaeth has left his role as ESG director, North America at Moody’s ESG to become head of ESG earth intelligence at space tech firm Maxar Technologies. Spaeth previously held a private equity ESG role at EcoVadis and spent three years working as a professor at a number of US institutions.

Sanjay Narain has been promoted to global COO of EY’s climate change and sustainability services team. Narain joined EY in 1999 and has worked across a number of roles since, most recently as Americas risk consulting partner for life sciences.

Ryan Cook has departed his role as senior responsible investment analyst at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia to join the stewardship team at Victorian Funds Management.