

Dr. Ma Jun, outgoing chief economist of the Research Bureau at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has been appointed as UN Environment’s Special Advisor on Sustainable Finance. As Co-chair of the G20 Green Finance Study Group, for which the UN Environment Inquiry acts as secretariat, he has worked to bring green finance to the forefront of G20 decision-making. Ma – who is taking a position at Tsinghua University – will continue to work with the PBOC in the short-term; his part-time mandate as special advisor to UN Environment will be to explore and help implement new ways to deliver the trillions of dollars needed each year to make sustainable development a reality.
Melissa Platner has joined Pax World Management as Vice President, Institutional Business Development, a new role at the SRI firm. Prior to joining Pax, she was a vice president and Senior Consultant Relations Liaison with State Street Global Advisors and GE Asset Management, which was acquired by SSGA in 2016. Platner, who has had stints with Hartford Life and ING having begun her career with Morgan Stanley in 2000, is currently pursuing a Certificate in Sustainable Finance from Columbia University. Link
A new Danish institutional fund manager has been set up. Consulting firm Kirstein has set up Spektrum Fondsmæglerselskab, which will advise and manage portfolios for institutional investors. Jesper Kirstein is appointed CEO of Spektrum, Andreas Weilby is appointed Chief Operating Officer, and former Governor of the Danish National Bank Bodil Nyboe Andersen will become Chairman of the Board. Kirstein will continue to advise Danish and international asset managers. Anne Mette Lytzen has been appointed CEO of Kirstein A/S and Jan Willers is named as Chief Operating Officer.
Per Løken and Romain Veber have been named Chief Investment Officer US and Chief Investment Officer Europe, respectively, at in Norges Bank Real Estate Management.
Bridget Fitzpatrick has been announced as the new head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s trial unit after serving as Co-Acting Chief Litigation Counsel with David Gottesman since December 2016. She will now have sole responsibility for the agency’s national litigation program.
Charles Zegar, Bloomberg Co-Founder and philanthropist, has been named to the board of the SASB Foundation, the recently formed US non-profit supervisory body of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).
Denise Saber, former Head of Institutional Business Development, Europe at First State Investments, has been appointed Funding Consultant at OneFamily, a UK-based mutual fund. Saber is also the former Head of Institutional European Business Development at Insight Investment who had spells with Craigmore Sustainables and Osmosis Investment Management.
Charles Koons has joined corporate governance and proxy solicitation firm Morrow Sodali as Managing Director of its Activism & Contested Situations Advisory Group. He was most recently MD at MacKenzie Partners.David Smith, CEO at insurance specialist AXIS Specialty Australia, has been appointed CEO at Local Government Super, the A$10bn (€6.7bn) Australian super fund with a strong commitment to responsible and sustainable investment. He replaces Peter Lambert, who left the fund in March after 10 years in the role.
Andy Kinsella has been promoted to the role of group CEO at Mainstream Renewable Power, the Ireland-based wind and solar developer. He was previously Group Chief Operating Officer. Founder Eddie O’Connor becomes Executive Chairman. Sir Roy Gardner, currently non-executive chairman, becomes the senior independent non-executive Director. Announcement
Itske Lulof has been appointed Director Energy & Climate at Triodos Investment Management, the Netherlands-based fund manager with €3.3bn under management. Currently fund manager of Triodos Groenfonds, she takes over from Jacco Minnaar, who was appointed as Managing Director as of June 1. She will continue to manage Triodos Groenfonds until a new fund manager is appointed.
Maureen Beshar has been appointed head of Dutch asset manager Robeco’s US arm, Robeco Institutional Asset Management US Inc. She joins from Nuveen Investments, the Chicago based subsidiary of TIAA, where she was Executive Committee member and Head of Global Institutional Distribution, Client Service and Marketing.
Lex Verweij is taking over as CEO at pay data outfit Emolument.com from co-founder Thomas Drewry. Verweij joins from Aon Hewitt where he was a Partner and Head of UK and Europe for the Talent, Rewards and Performance division. Drewry has been named Chairman. Link
Eric Bennett has been named senior advisor at Impact Shares, the Dallas-based nonprofit exchange-traded fund (ETF) platform. Impact Shares, founded by Ethan Powell, is creating a series of single social issue investment strategies designed to improve engagement between nonprofits, companies and the investment community around specific social causes. All of the advisory profits of the individual ETFs will be directed back to the partner nonprofit organizations.
Real Desrochers, the former private equity chief at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, has joined CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co as a managing director, according to reports citing his LinkedIn page.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly appointed a new environment adviser, Sir John Randall. He is a former deputy chief whip and stepped down from parliament at the 2015 election, having been a member of parliament’s Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs committee and its environment subcommittee.
Sam Maule, Policy Advisor at E3G, is leaving the environmental consulting firm. Before joining E3G in January 2016, he worked at the Bank of England as a financial market analyst for three years.