RI People & Appointments, February 6: RobecoSAM’s Greenwald joins UBS Asset Management

Christopher Greenwald has left his role as Head of Sustainability Investing (SI) Research at RobecoSAM to join UBS. A RobecoSAM spokesperson, confirming the departure, said Jacob Messina has taken over Greenwald’s role, adding: “Our investment processes and client services continue to be stable and reliable as in the past and we will continue to shape the Sustainability Investing landscape.” According to his LinkedIn page, Greenwald’s new title is Senior Research and Development Manager, Sustainable and Impact Investment at UBS Global Asset Management, where he will work again with former RobecoSAM CEO Michael Baldinger, who joined the Swiss asset management giant recently as head of sustainable and impact investing. It comes as UBS has also recruited former PRI Executive Director James Gifford – and earmarked $5bn towards Sustainable Development Goals-related impact investing.

Christopher Knapp has joined MSCI ESG Research as an associate in the ESG client consulting team based in Frankfurt. Prior to MSCI, Knapp was a client relations manager at Oekom Research AG and an associate of institutional sales at Golding Capital Partners GmbH, both in Munich. Andrew Young has joined the MSCI ESG Research team as a senior analyst, covering the telecoms industry. He is based in MSCI’s London office and reports to Aurelie Cambier in Paris. He completed his MBA with a specialisation in entrepreneurship and innovation at HEC Paris in 2015, after which he interned with Standard Chartered Bank’s Africa Private Equity team in Johannesburg.

Remy Briand is now the full-time Head of ESG and Real Estate at MSCI. Peter Zangari, who has headed the Analytics product line since February 2015, has been named Global Head of Research and Product Development. Briand held the Global Head of Research title since February 2015. Zangari joined MSCI in 2011 from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he was head of risk. Jorge Mina will succeed Zangari as Head of Analytics. All three report to Baer Pettit, MSCI’s Chief Operating Officer.

MSCI has also named Jacques Perold, the former president of Fidelity Management & Research Company, to its board. Perold, who retired from Fidelity in 2014, was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative in 2015 and 2016 and is currently a director of Allstate Insurance Corp., a trustee of New York Life Insurance Company’s MainStay mutual funds, a director of World Music, Inc., a director of South Africa Partners and a trustee of Boston University.

Peter Chase has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Nasdaq-listed cleantech firm Clean Diesel Technologies (CDTi), reporting to CEO Matthew Beale.Swedish bank SEB has hired a new Head of Sustainability to replace Cecilia Widebäck West, who will leave the firm this month. Widebäck West will not take up an active position elsewhere, according to a spokesman for SEB, but will hold board member positions at some unnamed organisations. Marie Baumgarts will take the reins at SEB, leaving her role as Director of Corporate Responsibility at European telecom firm Tele2. Baumgarts has also worked within climate and sustainability at EY, and been project manager on “major infrastructure projects” in Sweden.

Ian Mackintosh, the former vice-chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), has been named as the new Chair of Corporate Reporting Dialogue. He takes over from Huguette Labelle, former Chair of Transparency International, who chaired the Dialogue since inception in 2014. The Dialogue is an initiative designed to promote comparability between corporate reporting frameworks. It is convened by the International Integrated Reporting Council and brings together CDP, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative, the IASB, the International Organization for Standardization and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).

VicSuper, the A$16.4bn (€11.7bn) default super fund for public servants in the Australia state of Victoria, has reportedly named Christine Stewart as its new chair and Wayne Kayler-Thomson as deputy chair. Investment Magazine said the appointments follow a review into former deputy chair Bill Lyons, who until recently was expected to succeed Bruce Hartnett as chair. Lyons will remain a director.

Irena Prijovic has been named as the new chair of the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa). She is Executive Director of the Slovenian Directors’ Association (SDA) and takes over from outgoing chair Turid Elisabeth Solvang.

The European Securities and Markets Authority is seeking candidates for its Consultative Working Group advising its Investment Management Standing Committee. The work mostly covers directives on UCITS and Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMD), regulations on European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA), European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEF), European Long-term Investment Funds (ELTIFs) and money market funds. Interested experts are asked to send their application to ESMA by February 28.

Canada’s SHARE (Shareholder Association for Research and Education) is looking for a qualified Proxy Clerk. The role is responsible for creating and maintaining clear and accurate records and undertaking basic research under the supervision of the Manager, Proxy Voting Services and providing support to the SHARE’s proxy voting team.