RI People & Appointments, August 20: Allianz’s new ESG structure (Clarified)

(Recasts to clarify Allianz ESG board and committee)
Allianz ’s new executive board for environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues will be supported in its efforts by a separate ESG committee. The committee will be headed by Katharina Latif, a business manager at Allianz Climate Solutions (ACS). A spokesman said that beyond Latif, the committee would have up to three other members. ACS is the German insurer’s competence centre for climate change and renewables. The ESG board is comprised of Clement Booth, chief administrative officer at Allianz, Maximillian Zimmer, chief financial officer and Jay Ralph, head of asset management.

Sustainability standards group AccountAbility has formed a new nominating committee that will select its planned AA1000 Standards Board. The members are: Alice Tepper-Marlin, President & Founder, Social Accountability International (SAI); Sasha Courville, the former Executive Director of the ISEAL Alliance, the global association of sustainability standards systems; James D. Meade, Partner at law firm Proskauer Rose LLP; and Ted Grant, Director and Global Head of Research and Development, AccountAbility.
William Low has been named as Director of Equities at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), the UN Principles for Responsible Investment signatory asset management firm. Low will report to Managing Director Dean Buckley and will oversee the Global Equity, Specialist Equity, Dealing and Governance teams. Low, who joined from BlackRock in 2011, succeeds Andrew November, who becomes Investment Propositions Director. Announcement

Sarah Arkle has been named as a non-executive director at Henderson Group, the UN PRI signatory funds firm. She recently stepped down as Vice Chairman of funds firm Threadneedle, where she was Chief Investment Officer until December 2010. She is a non-executive director of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust plc and has been an advisor to the South Yorkshire Pension Fund. Link

Lee Raymond, the former chief executive of oil major Exxon Mobil, is reportedly to lead an enquiry into the “London Whale” trading losses at the Chief Investment Office arm of J.P. Morgan, where he is an independent director. The bank also named Johnson & Johnson Chairman William Weldon to the panel, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Kimberly Tara and Liane Luke are standing down from the board at London-listed timberland investment vehicle Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd.Sharmila Nebhrajani has been named as a non-executive director of the Pension Protection Fund, the UK’s pension lifeboat scheme which has £12bn (€15.3bn) under management. Nebhrajani is currently Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities.

Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of China-based solar firm Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., is to be replaced by Chief Financial Officer David King. Shi will become executive chairman and chief strategy officer. It follows disclosures last month that Suntech had probably been defrauded by a partner, Reuters reported.

Nick Hodges, the former vice president for Philanthropic Services at the San Francisco Foundation, has joined the US not-for-profit Tides group as Chief Operating Officer (COO). He is a former COO at Schwab Charitable and vice president at Charles Schwab & Co.

David Cowling has been appointed head of the Center for Innovation at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). Cowling, who takes over from CFI Interim Chief Trina Gonzalez, joins the fund from the California Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Control Program. Release

Stephen Hayes has been appointed Head of Property Securities at First State Investments (Colonial First State Global Asset Management), the UN PRI signatory asset management company with £97.6bn in assets under management. Andrew Nicholas has left First State to pursue new opportunities.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the corporate human rights site, is recruiting. It is seeking a multilingual Legal Researcher and an Office Administrator and Outreach Coordinator. Both roles are full time and based in London. The closing date for applications is September 11 and August 30 respectively.

Ceres, the Boston-based advocacy group, is seeking a Manager, Communications. The position will handle day-to-day media relations for Ceres and its Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) and reports to the Director of Communications.

DEG, the German development finance institution, is seeking a Senior Expert, Social and Environmental Risk Management. The role is in the Sustainability Department at the Cologne-based institution. Link

Link to RI Jobs Pages