RI People & Appointments, April 23: South Africa investment chief joins Global Compact board

Elias Masilela, the chief executive of South Africa’s R1.032trn (€100bn) state investor the Public Investment Corporation, has joined the board of the UN Global Compact. He is among 14 new members appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The new appointments bring the total number of board members to 31; the expanded board holds its first meeting on June 21 in Rio de Janeiro at the Rio+20 summit. Announcement

Peter Ellsworth, the former managing director of FTSE KLD Indexes, has joined US investor network Ceres. He will work with asset owner and asset manager members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) as relationship manager, said Ceres’ Director of Investor Programs Christopher Davis.

Dana Dillon, an intermediate grade school teacher, has been elected chair of the board at the $152bn (€115.6bn) California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS). Dillon has been a board member since 2003 and has had stints as chair and vice-chair. Harry M. Keiley, a high school teacher, was named vice-chair.
Dr. Barbara Buchner has been named as the Director of Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) Europe following a consolidation of the low carbon advisory organisation’s Venice and Berlin office. Former Berlin head Dr. Karsten Neuhoff has left has left CPI but remains at work on climate policy issues at Germany’s DIW. Link

Henrik Poulsen, currently CEO at Danish telecoms firm TDC, has been named as the new chief executive of Danish energy firm DONG Energy. He will take over from the ousted former CEO Anders Eldrup no later than November 1. CFO Carsten Krogsgaard Thomsen, will continue as Acting CFO in the interim.

Professor Gordon Clark has been appointed as Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University where he will be leading research into the role of institutional investors in corporate engagement and environmental management. He will take up the new position in January 2013 succeeding founding director, Professor Sir David King.Dominique Biedermann, the director of the Ethos Foundation, has won the 2012 Award of the Landis & Gyr Foundation. The prize honours his pioneering achievements in implementing good corporate governance and sustainability principles in asset management. The award will be made at a ceremony in Bern on June 22.

Veteran investor activist Evelyn Davis would appear to be entering semi-retirement, according to an interview with Reuters. The 82-year-old skipped last week’s Citigroup annual meeting and will also miss the forthcoming AGMs of Goldman Sachs, American Express and others, the report said.

Rob Cameron, the former chief executive of Fairtrade International has joined consulting firm SustainAbility as Executive Director in its London office. Specific areas of emphasis will also include UK team leadership, growth and profitability; business development and client servicing.

Brendan Barber has announced his retirement as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, the umbrella body for the UK’s labour unions. He will step down at the end of the year after 10 years in the role. Announcement

Jan F. Wagner has joined Responsible-investor.com (RI) as its new Correspondent for the German speaking countries. Based in Frankfurt, Jan will be writing about the burgeoning sustainable finance industry in those countries and corporate/shareholder engagement issues. Jan was previously Chief Online Editor at portfolio Verlag in Frankfurt and before that, the German correspondent for Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE) and The Banker. Jan can be reached at jan@responsible-investor.com and +49 172 389 8009