RI People & Appointments, March 28: SocGen boosts SRI broker research team

RI’s regular Monday review of people moves and appointments.

French bank Société Générale has hired Carole Crozat and Niamh Whooley to join its SRI broker research team following the departures last year of Valéry Lucas-Leclin and Sarbjit Nahal to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Crozat joins its Paris-based team as a Senior SRI analyst. She was previously an SRI and financial analyst at Allianz Global Investors. Whooley, a former CSR specialist at Fidelity Investments, will work out of Société Générale’s London office.

Hermes Equity Ownership Services, the engagement arm of BT Pension Fund-owned Hermes Fund Managers, has appointed Roger Hirst as a Senior Adviser. He will help with engagements and the development of a system to measure their impact. He previously ran the Equity Research Division for Bear Stearns in London. Hermes EOS also confirmed the appointment of Henk Marius from Shell, first reported by Responsible Investor last year.

Lucian Bebchuk, Director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School, has been elected to the board of Russian mining firm MMC Norilsk Nickel. The election occurred at an Extraordinary Shareholder Meeting on March 11 and is a twist in a bitter takeover battle between billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin.

Drew Hambly has been appointed Executive Director of Corporate Governance at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York. He was previously a vice president at rival State Street and takes over in the role from Kenneth Bertsch who has joined the Society of Corporate Secretaries as President and CEO.
John Dawson, Director of Investor Relations at energy firm National Grid, is to take over as chairman of the UK’s Investor Relations Society from Richard Davies. Dawson is currently Deputy Chairman. Karen Keyes, Head of Investor Relations at Logica, will become Deputy Chairman after the society’s annual general meeting.

Johan van der Ende, the former Chief Investment Officer at €105bn Dutch pension fund PGGM has taken on a role as Senior Advisor at private equity firm Duet. Van der Ende left PGGM unexpectedly in October last year. PGGM named Eloy Lindeijer as Chief Investment Management.Jenny Blinch is joining Responsible Research in Singapore as an analyst covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in Asia, according to PR database Gorkana. She was formerly editor of private equity publication PE Asia.

Glen Estill and David Rounthwaite have been named to the board of Sprott Power Corp., the renewable energy developer that’s part of Canadian asset management firm Sprott Inc. Estill is the founder of Sky Generation Inc., while Rounthwaite is a former trustee of Northland Power Income Fund.
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is joining the Pew Charitable Trusts, the $5bn US non-profit organisation, as a senior adviser on energy. She will support Pew’s efforts to “promote clean energy policies that create jobs, stimulate innovation, spur investment and enhance America’s competitiveness in the global clean energy race”.

Catharina Saponar has joined Cheuvreux in London to develop its Green Tech Research and cover companies in this area. She joins from Nomura where she headed the clean tech/renewables sector. She has held senior equity research positions at ABN Amro, Cazenove and NatWest Markets.

Charles O’Malley, Head of Europe at AccountAbility, has been appointed one of 15 London Leaders for 2011 by the London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC). The Commission advises London Mayor Boris Johnson on making London a sustainable world city. Link

Publish What You Pay (PWYP), the global network which monitors the extractives industry, is seeking an International Director, to be based in London. Managing a small team, the successful candidate will have extensive experience in strategy development, fundraising and network management. The application deadline is April 4. Link

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