People & Appointments: Standard Chartered appoints global head of sustainable finance

Amit Puri has been promoted to global head of sustainable finance at Standard Chartered. He replaces Daniel Hanna, who joined Barclays in September as global head of sustainable finance. Puri has worked at Standard Chartered for more than 18 years, most recently as global head of environmental and social risk management. Prior to joining the bank, he was a tax consultant at KPMG.

Claudine Blamey has been appointed as group director of sustainability at Aviva. She previously worked as head of sustainability and digital strategy at Argent. She has also held sustainability roles at easyJet and Sainsbury’s.

Laura Trott has been named the UK’s new pensions minister, as former minister Guy Opperman is promoted to minister for employment. Opperman was replaced with Alex Burghart in September, and it was widely expected that he would take up the role once more when it was announced he would be returning as a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions. Trott assumes responsibility for a number of ESG initiatives, including Opperman’s taskforce on social investments and policy work on pension scheme voting and stewardship.

Anne Ackerman has been appointed as head of sustainable investing governance at UBS Asset Management. She joins from Credit Suisse, where she spent more than 15 years, most recently as head of sustainable and impact fund selection.

HSBC has appointed Tim Ash Vie as European head of climate change. He was previously executive director at The Climate Group for more than five years. Ash Vie was also head of climate change at Adam Smith International and has held roles at PwC, the Climate Development Knowledge Network and Defra.

Mike Berners-Lee has joined the Global Returns Project’s Advisory Board. He is the author of There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make-or-Break Years, and How Bad Are Bananas? The carbon footprint of everything. Most recently, he was invited to contribute a chapter to Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book. Berners-Lee is a professor at Lancaster University where his research includes supply chain carbon modelling, sustainable food systems and the environmental impact of ICT.

Schroders has hired Willem Schramade as head of sustainability client advisory. He was previously founder, consultant and researcher at Sustainable Finance Factory, after spending more than nine years at Robeco in several sustainability roles. Schramade is a supervisory board member at Triodos Investment Management, and a researcher and fellow for the Erasmus platform for sustainable value creation at Rotterdam School of Management.

Monica Bae has joined the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change as director of investor practice. She was previously regional lead of capital markets at CDP, where she led nature-positive engagement with Asian Capital Market stakeholders. Bae co-chairs regional working groups to facilitate the development of sustainable investments in Asia. She is also part of a working group for a global coalition of leading financial institutions that spearheads sustainable finance initiatives.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is recruiting two senior policy adviser positions, one for the green finance team and the other for private investment in the net zero team. Both candidates will be tasked with developing a more strategic approach and framework to coordinate cross-government approaches for mobilising private investment into net zero. The first role will lead the development of “financing green” proposals under the UK’s second Green Finance Strategy. The second position will also look to lead the development of several priority policy areas. Applications for both roles will close on 23 November.

Edris Boey has left Maitri Asset Management as head of ESG research following more than three years with the firm. She was previously sustainability and compliance manager at Hong Leong Asia and held two sustainability roles at KPMG Singapore over more than three years.

Private equity firm L Catterton has hired Tehmina Haider and Michael O’Leary as partners to lead its new impact investing strategy. Haider was formerly a principal at the firm for more than four years. She joins most recently from Harry’s, where she was chief growth officer. O’Leary joins from Engine No.1 where he was a strategic adviser. He also worked in impact investing at Bain Capital for five years.

Teni Ekundare has been hired as engagement manager in the active ownership team at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. She was previously head of investor outreach at the FAIRR Initiative for more than two years.

Nakul Zaveri has been appointed as partner to co-lead LeapFrog Investment’s new climate investment strategy alongside Phyl Georgiou, head of climate strategy and operations. He was previously managing director at Relativity Investment Manager.

Seahorse Environmental, a sustainability consultancy, has appointed Chloe George as head of ESG to launch its ESG and corporate sustainability practice. George previously worked at BT Group, where she was most recently head of ESG strategy and engagement.

Low Carbon, a renewable energy company, has hired Edward Shelton as managing director for North American Investments. He joins from RWE Renewables, where he was most recently executive vice-president for solar and storage development. He has also held senior positions at E.ON, Recurrent Energy and Goldman Sachs.