People & Appointments: M&G names Ryan as first chief sustainability officer

M&G has appointed Kathy Ryan as its first chief sustainability officer. She joins from Irish Life Investment Managers where she was head of responsible investment for more than three years. Prior to this, she was a senior ESG strategist at Aviva Investors. Ryan has also held roles as executive director of Global Green Investments, co-head investor engagement at Carbon Tracker, and an adviser at the Climate Policy Initiative.

Fidelity International has expanded its sustainable investing team with two director-level hires in Europe. Phil Cliff, who will focus on climate integration, joins from M&G Investments where he was head of climate for two years and previously director of sustainable investments. He has also held positions at Occam Asset Management, Threadneedle Asset Management, and Skandia Asset Management.

Aaron Hay, whose role will focus on ESG integration within private credit strategies, leaves Federated Hermes after five years of working across ESG stewardship and engagement, most recently as sustainable fixed income engagement and strategy director. Previously he was a sustainability strategy manager at Accenture. He will continue as a board trustee at the EIRIS Foundation, a sustainable finance research charity.

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is recruiting a nature stewardship specialist as part of its new initiative Spring, launched this month at PRI in Person (October). The successful candidate will work closely with the existing stewardship team to finalise Spring, provide support in the selection process of focus companies, and help develop a benchmark and assessment framework to monitor progress. The deadline for applications is 12 November.

EFRAG has issued a call for candidates for its sustainability reporting technical expert group (TEG). The existing TEG’s first term will end on 30 April. The standards body is seeking candidates with a good background and expertise in ESG domains, in particular in standards referenced in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Appointments will start on 1 May next year, lasting for one or two years. The deadline for applications is 8 January.

Neuberger Berman has poached Aria Goudarzi as head of ESG data from Nikko Asset Management. He leaves the Japanese manager after more than eight years, having worked most recently as global ESG data and reporting lead. Goudarzi has also held roles at Macquarie Investment Management and Commonwealth Bank.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation (CDC) is seeking a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) project manager for a three-year term. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing and coordinating the CSRD project, participating in market meetings on the implementation of the directive and its transposition into French law, analysing and interpreting regulatory texts in the context of CDC, and carrying out double materiality analysis.

George Kendall has left Border to Coast after more than two years as responsible investment manager. He was formerly at KPMG for four years and was part of the responsible investment research team.

Vanguard is hiring a lead regulatory change analyst for its ESG team. It follows the appointment of Jaspriya Dhillon as an ESG regulatory change analyst in September. The successful candidate will lead ESG change workstreams analysing regulation, and collaborate closely with the people across the stewardship and data team to “understand where change is required to meet EU regulatory requirements”.

Lukasz Krebel has been appointed as climate policy adviser at the Bank of England. He leaves the New Economics Foundation after more than four years, where he worked most recently as a senior economist.

Dutch development Bank FMO is recruiting two senior officers to join its new sustainability standards and integration team. The successful candidates will contribute to FMO’s sustainable investment strategy by integrating ESG and climate data into the investment process, collaborate with sector departments to ensure investments align with sustainable finance regulation, and enhance existing policies and governance structures. The deadline for applications is 6 November.

Swedbank has appointed Marcus Samuelsson as senior ESG adviser from the start of December. He previously spent 23 years at Ericsson, an IT consulting company, where he was senior treasurer adviser with a sustainability focus.

The Green Finance Institute (GFI) is seeking a UK market engagement lead for its nature programme. The role will require driving forward the adoption of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations with businesses, as well as supporting the TNFD team by convening the national consultation groups. The deadline for applications is 31 October.

The University of Oxford has named Mette Morsing as the next director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. She replaces Cameron Hepburn who was appointed in 2018. Morsing is currently head of the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) at the UN Global Compact. She has previously held professorial positions at the Copenhagen Business School, where she was founding director of the Centre for Corporate Sustainability, and the Stockholm School of Economics, where she was executive director of the Mistra Centre for Sustainable Markets.

Crédit Agricole is hiring an environment and biodiversity expert. Key responsibilities will include developing environmental transition banking solutions, technical and regulatory monitoring, and training new employees in the team.