RI People & Appointments, February 4: New chairman at Trillium Asset Management

Deborah Widener has been named as the chairman of the board at Trillium Asset Management, the US sustainable funds firm with over $1bn in assets under management. She is a former Managing Director at several investment banks and vice president at General Electric Capital. Other new directors include: Peter Kinder, the co-founder of KLD Research & Analytics; Reginald Stanley, managing partner of consulting firm Sustainable Growth Strategies; and Paul Zettl, Managing Director, Retail and Social Media Marketing at TD Ameritrade. “This new slate of Directors brings with it a deep level of commitment to corporate sustainability,” said Trillium CEO Matthew Patsky.

Simon O’Connor has been named as the new chief executive of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA). He joins from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), where he an economic advisor. He takes over long-standing head Louise O’Halloran, who left at the end of last year. “We are thrilled that Simon is joining RIAA, and are particularly excited about Simon’s track record in linking civil society and the investment community,” said Pablo Berrutti, chair of RIAA’s board of directors.

Peer Stiansen, senior advisor in the Norwegian Environment Ministry, has been named as Chair of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) executive board. Hugh Sealy of Barbados, a professor at St. George’s University in Grenada, will serve as Vice-Chair. They take over from Maosheng Duan of China and Martin Hession of the UK.

Caroline Baldwin has joined sustainability communications firm Outreach Strategies as Regional Director, Europe. She was formerly Global Media Relations Director for KPMG International’s Climate Change and Sustainability division.

Ian Tyson has been appointed chief executive of the newly named Timberlink Australia, the former Bell Bay and Tarpeena softwood sawmills bought from receivers by timber investment firm New Forests. New Forests manages investments in sustainable forestry and associated environmental markets for institutional and other qualified wholesale investors.Daniel Just has taken over as chief executive at the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany’s largest pension fund and one of the country’s first investors to sign up to the UN-backed Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI). Just had previously served as chief investment officer at the BVK, which has more than €60bn in assets. He succeeds Lothar Panzer, who is retiring at 65. Just’s CIO position has, in turn, been handed to André Heimrich, who under Just had been in charge of the BVK’s asset management operations. During Just’s tenure as CIO, the fund diversified into into different asset classes – from hedge funds to timber – and embraced sustainable investing. Responsible Investor’s profile of the BVK’s sustainable strategy was published last November.

Elaine Dorward-King has been named as Executive Vice President of Sustainability & External Relations at New York-listed gold miner Newmont Mining Corporation. She joins from Rio Tinto, where she was for eight years the Global Head of Health, Safety and Environment. “Elaine is an accomplished leader in developing and implementing sustainable development, safety, health and environmental programs in the mining, chemical and engineering consulting sectors,” said Gary Goldberg, Newmont’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

Sahar Tieby is the new Executive Director of Sanabel – The Microfinance Network of Arab Countries. She has worked with a number of international organisations and will be relocating to Cairo as of the start of March. Link

A new Chair is being sought for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions. The group monitors implementation of the 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the only legally binding instrument globally to focus solely on the supply of bribes to foreign public officials. Link

Protection International, the not-for-profit group that protects those at risk over human rights, is looking for an Executive Director. The role is based in Brussels and the deadline for applications is February 10. The target starting date is April 2013.