RI People & Appointments, June 17: Baillie Gifford chief heads UK investor forum working group

The latest ESG movers and shakers

James Anderson, partner at Edinburgh-based £90bn (€106bn) fund manager Baillie Gifford, is to head the working group for the UK’s planned Investor Forum, according to the Financial Times. Anderson was on the panel led by Professor John Kay which recommended the formation of the group, which is backed by trade bodies the Investment Management Association, Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds. Investors backing the initiative include the Wellcome Trust, Schroders, Legal and General Investment Management, APG, Capital International, the Strathclyde Pension Fund and Royal London Asset Management, the FT added. It follows the formation of a panel to oversee research into long-termism announced by the government last week.

David Waskow has joined the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Washington-based environmental think tank, to lead its International Climate Initiative, within the WRI’s Climate and Energy Program. He joins from Oxfam America, where he was the program director for climate change. He was formerly international program director for Friends of the Earth.
Cathie Lesjak, chief financial officer at US computer giant Hewlett-Packard, has joined the board of Nasdaq-listed solar technology firm SunPower.

David Lane has been appointed as Chief Finance Officer at the Pensions Trust, the £5.5bn occupational pension fund for the UK’s not-for-profit sector. He was most recently CFO at legal services business Minster Law.

Standard Life Investments, the asset manager, has announced some sales appointments. Dirk Tiemann, a former Sales Director at Fidelity, becomes Investment Director for wholesale sales in Germany. Frank Richter was appointed in January this year as Investment Director for institutional sales in Germany and Austria. Alan Simpson becomes Business Development Manager for Germany and the Nordics. Abilio da Rocha takes the same role for Switzerland and Southern Europe.Lisa Hayles, Head of Client Services (North America) at ESG researchers EIRIS, is leaving to join Boston Common Asset Management, the US sustainable fund management group.

Nick Tapp, formerly Head of Agri-Business for real estate consultants Bidwells has joined Craigmore Sustainables as Head of Client Advisory. Craigmore is the fund manager for the Craigmore Farming Partnership, which specialises in agricultural investment in New Zealand.

Fund manager RobecoSAM has two job vacancies in Governance and Active Ownership: Junior Engagement Specialist and Voting Analyst. The former will conduct active dialogues with international companies on environmental and/or social topics while the latter will be jointly responsible for the execution of the proxy voting process. The application deadline for both posts (vacancy numbers 110794 and 110793) is June 28 at career@robeco.nl.

The CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) has a vacancy for a Technical Manager, Scoring. The London-based role involves managing a team that delivers the annual scoring process.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is seeking new members for the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG), as the current members’ term expires at the end of 2013. The 30-member group’s aim is to facilitate ESMA’s consultation on its work with relevant securities markets stakeholders from around the European Union. The deadline for applications is July 22.

A Head of Finance is being sought by the Social Investment Business, the largest social investor in the UK. The deadline for applications is July 12. Link