People & Appointments: MSCI hires Eichler and Verdegaal from Ortec for climate risk centre

Lisa Eichler and Wilhelmina Verdegaal have joined MSCI’s climate risk centre as co-heads of its modular scenarios group. Eichler leaves Ortec Finance where she was managing director of climate and ESG solutions for more than five years. She has previously been a consultant on climate change at Ecorys Research and Consulting and Trinomics, before founding her own environmental solutions advisory business Terra Consulting. Verdegaal was also at Ortec Finance and most recently worked as director of strategy and markets on climate and ESG solutions. She was formerly a responsible investment and governance advisor at MN, and a senior policy climate finance adviser at the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of finance.

MSCI has also promoted Rumi Mahmood to research director within its sustainability institute. He joined in 2020 as head of ESG and climate fund research. He has also held roles at JPMorgan and BNY Mellon.

Former EFRAG president Jean-Paul Gauzès has died. He served as the first president of the board for two consecutive terms between 2016 and 2022 following a career as an MEP. During his time at EFRAG, the standard setting body created a new reporting pillar to ensure European Sustainability Reporting Standards were being developed using an inclusive and rigorous process.

Dutch manager Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management has added Huub van der Riet and Chong Peng to its sustainability equity strategy team. Riet joins from Goldman Sachs where he was an impact strategies portfolio manager. Prior to this, he spent more than 20 years as a global portfolio manager for equities at NN Investment Partners. He has also held roles at Aegon and ABN Amro. Peng leaves APG Asset Management where she worked for more than four years. She has also worked at Oliver Wyman and ABN Amro Bank.

The Church of Sweden has named Linda Sundberg as its head of sustainable investing. She replaces Gunnela Hahn who left the asset owner in December after more than a decade of leading its sustainable investment efforts. Sundberg joins from Sweden’s ministry of climate and business where she was an investment director for more than five years, having joined as an investment manager.

Iancu Daramus has been promoted to head of sustainability at Fulcrum Asset Management. He has worked at the manager since 2021, previously as director of climate-aligned investing. He spent four years working as a sustainability analyst at Legal and General Investment Management. Daramus was also a communications and engagement associate at Carbon Tracker.

Gwil Mason is leaving the Financial Conduct Authority after four years of working on ESG policy at the UK regulator. He is moving on to lead the World Benchmarking Alliance’s engagement with the financial system. Mason was a policy adviser for stewardship and corporate governance at The Investment Association prior to joining the FCA.

JPMorgan Chase has hired Giorgio Botta as vice-president of regulatory affairs. He was previously a sustainable finance manager at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe. Botta was also a sustainable finance regulatory policy adviser at the European Fund and Asset Management Association.

Rachel Ward has joined the Central Bank of Ireland as an EU and international senior manager. She was previously a policy programme director at the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change between 2017 and 2022, and has since worked as an independent sustainability consultant. Ward has also held several government roles including head of strategy for mobilisation of COP26 finance campaign, while on secondment from the IIGCC, first secretary for climate change at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and head of energy and climate at the Cabinet Office.

The Principles for Responsible Investment has appointed Aditya Vikram as its new head of private equity. She replaces Peter Dunbar who left to join StepStone as its responsible investment principal this month. Vikram was formerly senior vice-president at PE giant Partners Group and has worked as a private investor at Fosse Housing for the past year.

Aviva’s head of group financial and climate reporting Victoria Smith has been appointed as a member of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s transition implementation group (TIG) on IFRS S1 and S2. The TIG is comprised of 17 members, of which 13 are preparers and four are assurance providers, and additionally includes official observers.

Hilary Eastman has joined KPMG as a partner to lead its ESG reporting practice. She leaves PwC where she was a director of global investor engagement, ESG reporting and assurance for more than nine years. Prior to this, she acted as an investor liaison at the International Accounting Standards Board. She has also been on CFA UK’s board since 2018.

Nicolas Hostein has been appointed as head of sustainability at French auditing oversight body H3C. He joins from Palmer International where he was an associate partner for more than three years. He was a senior auditing manager at KPMG between 1995 and 2005. He has worked in several chief financial officer roles at real estate companies Immo Mousquetaire and Akerys, and at real estate asset manager Aerium Finance.

Roslyn Stein has moved over to AXA Investment Managers as a senior ESG strategist. She previously worked at AXA’s insurance arm where she was most recently head of climate and biodiversity.

Oliver Phillips has joined Barclays as regional head of sustainable finance for the Middle East and Africa. He leaves Standard Chartered Bank where he was the sustainable finance lead for Africa and the Middle East for more than five years.

Climate Asset Management has appointed Hugh Killen, Irina Frolova and Andrea Abrahams as independent directors. Killen, who will chair Climate Asset Management’s board, is a senior adviser at Pollination and a non-executive director at Impact Ag Partners. He was CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company for more than four years and also spent 16 years at Australian bank Westpac.

Frolova, formerly an independent member Climate Asset Management’s natural capital fund investment committee, has been appointed as independent chair of the committee. She was head of infrastructure at PGGM between 2014 and 2022. Abrahams will chair the Nature Based Carbon Fund’s investment committee. She is a managing director at the International Emissions Trading Association and spent more than 30 years working at BP in energy transition roles.

EDHEC Business School professor of finance Gianfranco Gianfrate has been named as co-chair of the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI). He joins director of the centre for sustainable finance at SOAS University of London, Ulrich Volz. GRASFI comprises 24 world-class research universities, including institutions such as Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Zurich, and is dedicated to promoting rigorous and impactful academic research in sustainable finance and investment.

Chairman of UK Finance Bob Wigley has joined climate risk analytics provider Climate X as an adviser. He was formerly the chairman of Merrill Lynch for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and was a member of Court of the Bank of England during the global financial crisis.

The Science Based Targets initiative is recruiting a financial institutions net-zero senior manager. The successful candidate will lead the standard-setting process for the financial institutions net-zero standard. The deadline for applications is 22 September.