RI People & Appointments, April 30: Canadian funds hire BP exec for forestry role

Brian Frank has been named as president and CEO of TimberWest Forest Corp., the timberland firm owned by the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. Frank was most recently chief executive of Global Oil Europe and Finance for BP in London. He takes over from interim CEO Bev Park at the Vancouver-based firm. Announcement

Alan Brown, the Chairman of the Board of the Carbon Disclosure Project and outgoing investment chief at fund firm Schroders, is to join the Board of Governors of the Wellcome Trust. He will take up his position at the £13.6bn (€16.7bn) charitable foundation on May 1, according to a statement.

Stephen Griggs, the former head of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, has stepped down from his role as chief executive at the C$13.7bn (€10.5bn) OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust) after less than a year, according to the Toronto Globe & Mail. UN Principles for Responsible Investment signatory OPTrust manages the pension assets of Ontario public sector workers who are members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Gregory Smith has been named as Interim Executive Director of Colorado’s $38bn Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA). Smith, currently Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel will assume his new role after the June 30 departure of incumbent Meredith Williams. Williams was recently named Executive Director of the National Council on Teacher Retirement. Link

Dag Gunnar Andresen has been named as the new Chief Financial Officer of Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish wind turbine maker. He was most recently CFO of energy firm Vattenfall AB and has held senior positions at Nordea, Den Norske Bank, the Nordic Investment Bank and Kvaerner. Link*New Hong Kong stock exchange* chairman Chow Chung-Kong has also been named to chair the bourse’s Environmental, Social and Governance Committee. Chow, the former chief executive officer of subway operator MTR, was named chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. last week. Link

Australia: Stephen Poucher has been elected Chair of the Sydney Diocesan Superannuation Fund. He has served on the board for more than 10 years was deputy Chair for the last two years, according to the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA). Link

Emmanuel Fages, head of European energy research at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, is to join consulting firm Roland Berger, according to Risk.net. Fages will join the group’s Paris office as a senior project manager.

Tae Jong Um has joined index and environmental, social and governance (ESG) firm MSCI as Head of Korea. He joins from Samsung Asset Management where he was most recently Chief Investment Officer for Public & Pension Investment and Chief Marketing Officer for Global Business Development.

The brother of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai has quit the board of Hong Kong-listed renewables company China Everbright International. Bo Xiyong, who had used the pseudonym Li Xueming at the company, resigned in the best interest of the company, a statement said. Link

INSEAD, the global business school, has advertised a vacancy for a Chaired position in Sustainability. The candidate “should have a strong research agenda and a proven track record in sustainability”. INSEAD will also consider the appointment of a more junior professor who can demonstrate a solid research background in sustainability and sustainable business development. For further information: Professor Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Chair of the Search Committee email. Job description