RI People & Appointments, March 14: GISR, Clean Development Mechanism, RobecoSAM, McKnight

The Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR), the global, non-profit organization has reconstituted its Steering Committee as a multi-stakeholder Board of Directors. The new board includes: Bruno Bertocci (UBS), Dan Hanson (Jarislowsky Fraser), Stephen Hine (Vigeo-EIRIS), Georg Kell (Arabesque Partners, formerly UN Global Compact), Mindy Lubber (Ceres), Bob Mann (Sustainalytics), Sabine Miltner (formerly Deutsche Bank), Curtis Ravenel (Bloomberg), Mark Tulay (CECP). Allen White of the Tellus Institute is Acting Chair. Tulay, previously chief operating officer of the GISR, is now with CECP, the corporate philanthropy body founded in 1999 by the late film star Paul Newman, where he is Director of its Strategic Investor Initiative.

Eduardo Calvo of Peru has been elected chair of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the emissions reduction scheme of the Kyoto Protocol. Calvo, who joined the Board in 2012, is an Associated Professor at Lima’s San Marcos University, and an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. He takes over from Lambert Schneider. Frank Wolke, Head of Section, Emissions Reduction Projects, Emissions Trading Authority in the German Environment Agency, becomes deputy chair of the CDM, succeeding Calvo.

Junwei Hafner-Cai has been named Co-Portfolio Manager for the RobecoSAM Global Child Impact Equities and the RobecoSAM Global Gender Equality Impact Equities Funds. She joined the firm in 2010 and she is a senior equities analyst covering industrials; she will co-manage the funds with Olaf Martin.

Elizabeth McGeveran, who directs the Impact Investing Program at the McKnight Foundation, has been appointed an independent director of the Boston Trust & Walden Funds, the US SRI fund manager. McGeveran, previously senior vice president for governance and sustainable investment at F&C Asset Management (now BMO Global Asset Management), will replace independent trustee James Woodward who has served on the Board of Trustees since 2006 and is Chairman of the Nominating Committee. Woodward is Chancellor Emeritus of both North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Fons Lute has been appointed as client portfolio manager at Russell Investments. He joins from BlackRock’s multi-asset team in the UK, where he was managing director. He has also worked at PGGM Investments, Fortis Investments and Blue Sky Group.Jens Wilhelm, Board Executive at Germany’s Union Investment, and Claudia Kruse, Managing Director for Governance at Dutch pension investor APG are among five new appointees to the German government’s special commission on corporate governance (DCGK). Wilhelm and Kruse’s appointment to the DCGK was effective as of March 1 and is for a period of four years from then. The other three new members of the commission are Michael Guggemos, Head of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung; Wulf von Schimmelmann, Chairman of Deutsche Post; and Margarete Haase, Board Executive at Deutz AG.

Pablo Salas of investment subadvisor Trilogy Global Advisors is no longer a portfolio manager for the Calvert International Opportunities Fund, according to a filing. The $189.36m fund uses a multi-manager approach to invest in non-U.S. small- to mid-cap companies that demonstrate positive ESG performance.

Adam Bendell has been named chief executive of Toniic, the community for impact investors. He will be responsible for taking Toniic “to the next level” and takes over from former CEO Stephanie Cohn Rupp. He was Chief Innovation Officer with FTI Consulting until February 2016.

Sir Brendan Barber, the former General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, the UK’s umbrella union body, has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Banking Standards Board. The BSB was established in April 2015 to promote high standards of behaviour and competence across UK banks and building societies. He takes over from Lord McFall, the Labour politician. The BSB is a private sector body funded by membership subscriptions and open from 2016 to all banks and building societies operating in the UK. It is neither a regulator nor a trade association and has no statutory powers.

Marlene Timberlake D’Adamo has been named Chief Compliance Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). She was formerly Managing Director, Senior Vice President, Portfolio & Risk Management at PNC Bank in Philadelphia.

Ruulke Bagijn, Chief Investment Officer, Private Markets of PGGM and member of the management team of PGGM Investment Management, is joining AXA Investment Managers as Global Head of Real Assets Private Equity.