RI People & Appointments, December 8: Robeco’s global private equity chief Musters leaves

Andrew Musters, Global Head of Private Equity at Robeco and RobecoSAM and Member of the Executive Committee of RobecoSAM, is leaving the firm at the end of the year to “pursue other professional goals”. Reto Schwager will become the new Global Head of Private Equity and Executive Committee member as of January 1, joining from €30bn private markets investment firm Partners Group. “We thank Andrew for his contribution over the past years,” Robeco said. Musters took a lead role as Robeco moved into sustainable private equity fund of funds.

Meanwhile, RobecoSAM is recruiting a Head, Equity Research (link) to reinforce its international Equity Research team in Zurich “with a pronounced interest to shape buy-side research in the field of Sustainability Investing (SI)”. There is also a vacancy for Sustainability Operations Manager, working in the Sustainability Application and Operations department, which oversees and manages RobecoSAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. And the firm is recruiting a Senior Sustainability Investing Specialist and an SI Research Sector Analyst – Industrials.

Molly Betournay has joined Federal Street Advisors, a Boston-based investment consultant and wealth management firm for individuals, families, foundations, as an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Research Analyst. It said she was most recently Head of US Research at EIRIS, the UK ESG research house. Betournay joined EIRIS in 2009 after five years with Pax World Funds.

Jigar Shah, founding CEO of SunEdison and the Carbon War Room, has emerged as president and co-founder of a new San Francisco-based resource efficiency finance firm called Generate Capital. Others involved include Chief Executive Scott Jacobs, a co-founder of McKinsey & Co. global CleanTech practice and co-founder of resource-focused investment firm EFW Partners; and Chief Investment Officer Matan Friedman, a former venture capitalist and the co-founder and Managing Partner of Resource Efficiency Finance. Chairman of the new firm is Jason Fish, who co-founded both Capital Source and Alliance Partners.

Peter Boonman, the former Head of Partnerships at the UN- supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), is now Director of Philanthropic Development at Rahms Ltd., where is responsible for supporting charities in their fundraising and sustainability efforts.

Luis Neves of Deutsche Telecom has been elected Chairman of the Global E-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), the information and communications technology body focusing on sustainability challenges. GeSI also set up four new committees. Gabrielle Giner (BT) will chair the Climate Change Committee. Chris Lloyd (Verizon) will chair the Human Rights & Empowerment Committee. Microsoft’s Susan Seutter will chair the Cross-Sector Engagement Committee. Andreas Harker (Swisscom) heads up the Industry Responsibility Committee.

Hugh O’Reilly has been appointed President and CEO of OPTrust, Canada’s C$16bn (€11.4bn) OPSEU Pension Trust. O’Reilly, who currently leads the Pension Benefits and Insolvency Practice Group at Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish, takes the post in January. He takes over from Bill Hatanaka who resigned earlier this year after less than two years in the role. Announcement*The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the sustainability* standards organization which recently amended its governance structure, is seeking new members for its Board of Directors. The open call for nominations runs until January 31. There is one casual vacancy commencing in April 2015 and ending on 31 December 2016 and two full-term vacancies commencing in January 2016.

Jean Turmel has been appointed chair of the board at the C$140.8bn Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP). She will replace Eileen Mercier who is retiring. Joining the board are John Murray, the recently retired Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, and former BlackRock Canada CEO Bill Chinery. OTPP has also named Jo Taylor as Managing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and head of its London office. Link

Elly Irving is now an ESG Analyst at Schroders, the UK-based asset manager, where she is responsible for analysis and company engagement across the global consumer sector. She was previously an ESG Investment Analyst at Newton Investment Management for four years.

Win Neuger, the former Chief Investment Officer of AIG, is chair of a new US-based fund manager called EcoAlpha Asset Management, which invests in firms “providing solutions to the global problems of burdened resources”. EcoAlpha opened for business in October and is headed by CEO Matthew Fitzmaurice. EcoAlpha grew out of predecessor firm AWJ Capital Partners. Link

Brigid Janssen, Director of Global Communications at campaign group Oxfam International, has joined extractives industry body the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) as Director of Communications. She was previously with the OECD, the World Bank’s IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Bank of Canada.

Alex Bush has re-joined Renewable Energy Holdings, the UK listed environmental investment vehicle that is disposing of its assets and returning cash to shareholders, as a board director and Finance Director. He was with the firm before, as Financial Controller from 2008 to 2010 and subsequently as Finance Director and Company Secretary until 2013, before becoming Group Finance Director of Knox Group PLC. He continued working for Renewable Energy Holdings on a part time basis until he re-joined on November 10. Announcement

Nigel Stapleton has been appointed chairman of the National Grid UK Pension Scheme, the UK electricity grid fund. An Independent Trustee at the scheme since December 2013, he is currently also Chair of Trustees for the Mineworkers Pension Scheme. He takes over from Adam Wiltshire who stood down at the end of October. Link

Profundo, the Dutch sustainability consultancy which advises NGOs, financial institutions, governments and the media, is seeking to hire a Responsible Investment Advisor to “expand our SRI advisory capacity”. The deadline for applications is January 5.

A new chief executive is being sought by Social Accountability International (SAI), the New York-based worker’s rights standards group that created the SA8000 (Social Accountability 8000) voluntary standard for workplaces. Link. SAI is also looking for a Director of Strategic Programs.