RI People & Appointments, April 29: New head at Environment Agency Pension Fund

Following the announcement last autumn that Howard Pearce had decided to retire as Head of Environmental Finance and Pension Fund Management for the Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF) on 30 April 2013, the EAPF has announced Dawn Turner will be his successor. Turner, who has worked in the Environment Agency for 14 years, is a Chartered Management Accountant, with experience in both the private and public sector. She will be supported by the existing management team at the EAPF of Faith Ward, Mark Mansley and Craig Martin. Pearce is taking a break but has said he will be looking at external opportunities later this year (contact email).

Jens-Christian Stougaard, Director of SRI at Pension Danmark, has been appointed as the new chairman of the board for Dansif, the Danish social investment forum. Link

EIRIS, the ESG research house, has appointed Anders Frisk as Sales Manager for Scandinavia starting May 1. Frisk was most recently Communications Officer at SIRP/MISTRA Sustainable Investment Research Platform. He has a master’s degree in environmental management and has worked for many years on the creation and implementation of sustainable investment strategies. He will work from Sweden.

Amy Bulger has joined the Wespath Investment Management division of the $19.1bn General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the Illinois-based United Methodist Church, in the new role of manager of alternative investments. She was previously an analyst at the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

Johan Ericsson has decided to step down as CEO of Sweden-based finance group Catella AB, whose fund management arm is a signatory to the PRI Initiative. He will continue in post until a replacement is appointed, and will stay with the company in another role.

Gerold Permoser has become Chief Investment Officer of Austria-based PRI Initiative signatory Erste Asset Management and ERSTE–SPARINVEST. He was formerly CIO at Macquarie Investmentmanagement Austria KAG. He takes over from Harald Egger, who becomes Head of Equity Fund Management. Announcement*Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive of Norges Bank* Investment Management, has joined the nomination committee of Swedish truckmaker Volvo, the first time the investor has formally participated in the selection of board directors. It comes as NBIM has signalled it aims to take a more active stance to its big investments.

First State Investments, part of the asset management division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has formed a global responsible investment committee to be chaired by Mark Lazberger Chief Executive Officer of Colonial First State Global Asset Management, its Australian entity. First State and CFSGAM collectively manage £95.1bn. Will Oulton, Global Head of Responsible Investments at First State, said the committee would hold its first meeting in May.

Bertrand Fournier has been re-elected President of the FIR, the French SIF. The organisation also elected three new members to its 12-strong administrative council. Of the new members, AG2R La Mondiale, the social insurance group, is represented by Philippe Dutertre. AXA Investment Managers is represented by Pascale Sagnier, responsible for ESG thematic research. Préfon, the complimentary retirement plan, is represented by Jean-Paul Thivolie, Vice-President of Ircantec and administrator at ERAFP

Inflection Point Capital Management (IPCM), the specialist fund manager, has been appointed to co-chair the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative during 2013-2015. David Pitt-Watson, a Senior Advisor at IPCM will undertake the UNEPFI co-chair role.

Former Credit Suisse executive Leone Pattofatto has joined the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the Italian state-backed investor, according to reports. Pattofatto will head up strategic investments into listed Italian companies at the fund, a founder member of the Long Term Investment Club (LTIC) platform for major investors.

Aviva plc, the insurance giant which is parent to leading responsible investment house Aviva Investors, has appointed Colin Simpson as its new Investor Relations Director, reporting to CFO Pat Regan. He joins from Goldman Sachs where he was Vice President, Equity Research, and lead analyst on large European life insurers. He takes over from Charles Barrows, who returns to Aviva’s Life business.