RI People & Appointments, Aug. 19: OMERS, Öhman Fonder, Cornerstone Capital, Just Share

Katharine Preston has been named Vice President, Sustainable Investing at Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), the C$97bn (€65.9bn) Canadian public pension scheme. She was previously the Director of Responsible Investment at Toronto-based OPTrust, where she spent more than a decade.

Lauren Burnhill has been appointed to the board of Just Share, the South African shareholder advocacy body. Burnhill is a responsible investment professional specialising in impact investing. She is Managing Director of finance consultancy One Planet Ventures (OPV) and a non-executive director at environmental think tank Shared Assets. The full list of appointments to Just Share’s board can be found here.

Sam Gardner has been appointed as Head of Climate Change and Sustainability at energy firm ScottishPower, a subsidiary of Spanish utility Iberdrola. Gardner, formerly the Deputy Director of WWF Scotland, will oversee initiatives to support the company’s transition to carbon neutral operations. Scottish Power has shifted to wind power generation after selling its remaining gas plant in 2018.

Steven Barg, head of Goldman Sachs’ activist defence advisory business, has left the firm to join hedge fund Elliott Management as Global Head of Corporate Engagement according to Bloomberg News. In his previous role, Barg advised companies on protecting themselves against attacks by activist hedge funds, often facing off against Elliott, one of the most prolific activist funds globally.Jamal Abida Norling has been promoted to chief executive at Swedish asset manager Öhman Fonder, from his role as portfolio manager. He said that the firm will continue to focus on “long-term and responsible investments” as it develops its offering. Norling replaces outgoing CEO Pablo Bernengo who is to join buffer fund AP3 as CIO in November.

Brenda Boone has been appointed to the board of Cornerstone Capital, the sustainable boutique founded by former UBS executive Erika Karp. Boone founded Human Solutions, a design and engineering company which worked for the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.

Kristina AtKisson has left her role as Secretary General of NMC Nätverket för Hållbart Näringsliv, the Swedish network for sustainable businesses, after three years. According to a LinkedIn post, Lovisa Lönegren will take on the role in the interim. AtKisson is a sustainability specialist and has worked at engineering company ÅF and Swedish university Karolinska Institutet.

Australian Ethical, the ASX-listed fund manager with A$3.42bn (€2bn) under management, is seeking an Executive Officer to oversee operations and the development of its Superannuation Fund. The deadline for applications at the certified B Corporation is August 30.

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), an initiative evaluating corporate SDGs performance, is seeking Research Analysts (Sustainability/ESG) to support its benchmark development processes and data collection among others. Candidates must have 1-5 years’ experience analysing corporate ESG or sustainability performance and will have the option to work remotely.