RI People & Appointments, August 19: former UBS research head Karp starts own firm

Erika Karp, the former head of global sector research at UBS Investment Bank and one of the global broking community’s leading voices on sustainability, has launched a new advisory company called Cornerstone Capital Inc. The strategy of the firm is to bring “sustainable finance” to the mainstream of the capital markets through consulting to financial institutions and corporations. Karp will be CEO and the board will be chaired by Derek Yach, senior vice president of the health and wellness provider Vitality Group and former Director of Global Health at the Rockefeller Foundation. Karp is a founding board member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), a member of the US SIF Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing and sits on the working group of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Link

Tom Joy, Director of Investments at the Church Commissioners for England, has been named as a non-executive board member at the £15bn (€17.6bn) UK pension lifeboat scheme the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). He was formerly Schroders’ Head of Multi-Manager Investments and Chief Investment Officer at RMB Asset Management. Alan Jenkins, former chairman at law firm Eversheds, also joins the PPF board. Joy and Jenkins replace Ann Berresford and Tony Holland.

Mike Taylor is retiring as chief executive of the £4.6bn (€5.4bn) London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA), one of the UK’s leading responsible investment institutions. Taylor will be succeeded on an interim basis by Deputy CEO Susan Martin. Taylor’s departure follows the appointment of private equity executive Edmund Truell as LPFA chairman in December last year.

Mark Cannon has been named as senior vice-president for Finance and Administration at the $900m, St. Louis-based Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation. He succeeds Wayne Price, who retired in May after working for the foundation for 19 years. Cannon will oversee the organization’s financial operations and liaison with investment managers, among other duties. He is a former vice president/controller at Commerce Bancshares and was most recently director of financial reporting at technology consulting firm Technisource.Ross Hamilton has been appointed director of the newly combined Environment and Climate Change work program at the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). He joins the extractives industry body after five years at BHP Billiton in Perth, Australia where he was variously manager of sustainability strategy, community development and, most recently, government relations. Announcement

Jean-Michel Gires, the former President and CEO of Total Canada, has joined cleantech venture capital firm, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital as a Venture Partner in Calgary. It said he would use his experience in heavy oil, mining, and sustainable development to help “identify and develop better solutions for their challenges”. Gires was Co-Chairman of the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI) and Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA).

Gavin Templeton, currently head of international marketing at Moscow-based investment firm VTB Capital, has been appointed head of sustainable finance at the UK’s new Green Investment Bank (GIB). Templeton, who begins his new role in October, was formerly with BP, Rabobank and Morgan Stanley.

The British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), the more than C$100bn (€72.6bn) Canadian investor, is recruiting an Equity Analyst, Shareholder Engagement. The role is to gather data, conduct analysis and generate reports related to bcIMC’s shareholder engagement program in line with its overall commitment to Responsible Investing. These responsibilities include analysis related to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of the equity portfolio, proxy voting and analysis, and quarterly reporting to clients.

The World Wildlife Fund, the US arm of environmental campaign group WWF, is seeking a Senior Program Officer, Climate Change Adaptation, based in Washington DC. Link