People & Appointments: EU Platform on Sustainable Finance announces rapporteurs

The EU Platform on Sustainable Finance has announced the rapporteurs who will lead its three subgroups following Helena Viñes Fiestas’ appointment as chair in February. Elodie Feller, global policy lead at UNEP FI, and Clémence Humeau, head of sustainability coordination and governance at AXA Investment Managers, will lead the usability and data subgroup. Astrid Matthey, senior economist at the German Environment Agency, and Andreas Brunsgaard, senior adviser at the Confederation of Danish Industry, will head the technical working group developing recommendations for taxonomy criteria. The third working group on the monitoring of capital flows will be led by Karl-Oskar Olming, head of sustainability strategy, policy and governance at SEB, and Bertrand Magné, senior economist at the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The Global Reporting Initiative has announced a series of appointments to the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), the independent body that sets the GRI standards. Jeff Robertson, director of environment and sustainability at Bimbo Canada, has been named vice-chair. Other new board members include Chulendra De Silva, founding partner and owner at InterBalance Consulting, Deborah Ng, head of ESG and sustainability at GMO, and Gayla Tsonkova, corporate sustainability policy and reporting manager at Coca-Cola HBC. The announcement follows the appointment of Carol Adams as chair in March.

The GRI’s Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC), which ensures standard-setting activities are conducted in accordance with the defined process, has reappointed Caroline Wakesho Sonje, regional manager for UNEP FI’s African network, as a board member. She will be joined by newly appointed board member Jeremy Nicholls, assurance framework lead at UNDP.

The Danish sustainable investment forum (Dansif) has elected four new board members. Anna Maria Fibla Møller is head of responsible investments at AP Pension. She is joined by Charlotte Mansson, BlackRock’s head of sustainability for the Nordics, Ann-Sophie Lemvigh, senior ESG specialist at Danske Bank, and Melanie Bylov Jensen, senior associate at Sustainalytics. Dansif has also re-elected Troels Børrild, head of responsible investments at AkademikerPension, and Mikael Bek, head of ESG PenSam.

The Global Steering Group (GSG) for Impact Investment has named Nick Hurd as its new chair. He succeeds Ronald Cohen, who will become non-executive president and continue to serve on the GSG’s board. During his time as a member of the UK Parliament, Hurd served as minister for civil society in cabinet and minister of state for climate change and industry in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He will continue in his roles as chair of the Access Foundation for Social Investment and a member of the advisory council of the UK Institute for Impact Investment.

Richard Andrews has been promoted to head of ESG at KPMG UK. He succeeds John McCalla-Leacy, who was appointed as global head of ESG last October. McCalla-Leacy will assume the role of vice-chair for ESG in the UK while continuing in his global role. Andrews has worked at KPMG for more than 25 years, previously as a partner in the financial services consulting practices. He will continue in his role as chair of the financial services faculty at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Nigel Topping has been promoted to global ambassador for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience. He will work alongside COP28 UN high-level climate champions Razan Al Mubarak and Mahmoud Mohieldin. Topping served as UN climate change high-level champion for COP26 between 2020 and 2022. He will continue in his roles as external member to the advisory committee at AXA Investment Managers, senior climate adviser at FSD Africa, and advisory board member at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance has appointed David Beers as co-chair of its enhanced label bonds campaign. He will lead the alliance’s outreach to sovereign issuers. He formerly spent more than 21 years at S&P as managing director of sovereign and international public finance ratings. Beers has served as special adviser to the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England and is also a senior fellow at the Centre for Financial Stability in New York.

Nicolas Forest will assume the role of chief investment officer (CIO) at Candriam on 1 May. He has worked at the impact manager for more than 17 years, most recently as global head of fixed income. The promotion follows the recent appointment of Vincent Hamelink, Candriam’s current CIO, as CEO-elect at Candriam, succeeding Naïm Abou-Jaoudé, who will take up the role of CEO of New York Life Investment Management, Candriam’s parent company. Philippe Noyard, currently global head of credit and deputy global head of fixed income, will succeed Forest as global head of fixed income.

Infrastructure impact investor ThomasLloyd has named Nadir Maruf as chief investment officer. He leaves his role as head of private markets at Tesco Pension Investment (TPI), where he worked more for than two years. Maruf was formerly CIO of Alternatives at Eastspring Prudential and also spent more than 10 years as DWS.

Amanda O’Toole has joined Redwheel as a portfolio manager to lead clean economy and biodiversity strategies. She leaves AXA Investment Managers, where she spent 12 years as a fund manager running both clean economy and biodiversity strategies, as well as leading work on clean tech themes within the internal research team.

Pooja Fricke has joined Schroders as ESG adviser and integration investment director. She joins from Man Group where she worked for more than four years, most recently as a responsible investment director.

Tanya Dos Santos has left her role as global head of sustainability at Investec after more than 21 years at the bank. She has yet to announce plans for her next role.