RI People & Appointments, Dec. 18: UCA Funds Management, Social Stock Exchange, FMO, ClearlySo, ISS (Amended)

(Amends ISS item below)

Mathew Browning has been appointed as the new CEO and Executive Director at UCA Funds Management, the Australia-based ethical fund manager that is a social enterprise of the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Most recently with Myer Family Company (MFCo), Browning takes over from Michael Walsh who is retiring.

Paul Burniston, Chief Financial Officer at the Social Stock Exchange (SSX), the UK impact investing initiative co-founded by Carbon Tracker’s Mark Campanale, has left his role, according to a filing. RI was told by SSX’s Managing Director Debbie Ryan that it has outsourced the CFO role. Burniston’s departure follows that of Managing Director Tomas Carruthers and Chair Colin Melvin, the former Hermes executive. It’s also emerged that corporate responsibility expert John Elkington is no longer a director, though he remains Chair of the Admissions Panel.

Jürgen Rigterink is stepping down after nine years with Dutch development bank FMO, the last as CEO. He is leaving in April next year to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as First Vice-President. Rigterink said the decision to leave “was not taken lightly”. He continued: “We have just launched a new strategy that will deliver an even higher impact portfolio and deepen our relationships. Every day, I see the positive difference FMO makes in emerging markets.” While a search for a new CEO is underway, Linda Broekhuizen and Fatoumata Bouare will continue to lead FMO as CIO and Chief Risk and Financial Officer respectively.

William Connelly has been elected as the next chair of the supervisory board of Aegon, the Dutch provider of life insurance, pensions and asset management that has a strong focus on sustainability. He takes over from Robert Routs, who will step down at the next AGM in May 2018.

Chris Parsons has been named head of investment banking at ClearlySo, the UK-based ‘impact investment bank’. He joins from KPMG where he was a Director in the Power and Utilities Advisory team. Before that he was at environmental specialist Climate Change Capital and has had stints at N M Rothschild and Arthur Andersen.

Three new board members have been named to Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC): Philip Coffey, Laura Reed and Andrea Slattery. The five-year terms of board members Martijn Wilder and Paul Binsted are coming to an end.

David Smith, the former president and CEO of the Society for Corporate Governance (the former Society of Corporate Secretaries), the US body, has died. He headed the organisation for almost two decades between 1991 and 2010. Link

Martin Blessing, currently President Personal & Corporate Banking and President of UBS Switzerland has been appointed President of Wealth Management at UBS. He succeeds Jürg Zeltner.

Torben Andersen has been named as the new chair of ATP, Denmark’s largest pension fund, to replace Jørgen Søndergaard. Andersen, an economics Professor at Aarhus University, is also a member the Danish Systemic Risk Council, Chairman of the Economic Council for Greenland, member of the Economic Policy Council of Finland, and the European Economic Advisory Group.Warren Chen has been named Head of Asia ex-Japan Research at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). He will start in January and be based in Singapore. He was at rival Glass Lewis until late 2015 in the role of Managing Director of M & A and Proxy Contest Research, having joined GL in 2004 at start-up stage (amends to say Chen is not joining ISS directly from Glass Lewis).

Gregory Smith, Executive Director of the $48bn Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA), has died unexpectedly while vacationing in Hawaii. The offices of Colorado PERA will close at 2:30 p.m. on December 20, to allow staff to attend the celebration of his life. The fund said that he served as chair of the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) and was on the Board of Directors for the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). “He was passionate in his work and is widely recognized nationally for his work in holding companies accountable for their financial reporting.”

Sustainability specialist Caroline Ruter, previously with pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has joined Hg, the £8bn London and Munich based private equity house, as Head of Responsible Investing.

Ash Ray has reportedly been named Head of Governance Research at Jupiter Asset Management, a new role. Ray, who has been with the UK-based firm for 10 years, will report to CIO Stephen Pearson. Link

William D. Duhnke III, currently the Staff Director and General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, has been appointed chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the US agency which oversees audits at public companies and broker-dealers. Robert Brown, Kathleen M. Hamm, James G. Kaiser and Duane M. DesParte become board members.

Therese McCarthy-Hockey has been named to the new role of Executive General Manager, Strategy and Chief Risk Officer at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the regulator which has started to flag up climate change risks.

Marco van Daele has been appointed Chief Investment Officer at SUSI Partners, the Swiss sustainability specialist, replacing co-founder Otto von Troschke. Van Daele joins from the London renewables team at Brookfield Asset Management. Von Troschke will remain on the SUSI board.

Margaret Brown has been elected to the Board of Administration at CalPERS for a four-year term beginning January 16. Brown is a California school district administrator who ran on a ticket of holding the fund’s professional staff accountable for investment performance.

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is seeking a Senior Analyst – Sustainable Financial System. It said: “This new position will play a key role in delivering the PRI’s Sustainable Financial System Programme.” The vacancy for the 12-month, fixed-term role closes on January 12.

Environmental consulting firm ERM: Environmental Resources Management is seeking Senior/Principal Consultants – Climate Financial Risk, saying it is “experiencing a rapid uptake in client demand for our services in climate-related financial risk assessment”.