RI People & Appointments, February 8: Standard Life names new ESG/Stewardship head

Euan Stirling has been named Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment at Standard Life Investments, the global investment manager. He takes over from Guy Jubb, whose retirement was announced in October last year. Stirling joined the firm in 2001 from Schroder Investment Management. As a senior fund manager and investment analyst in the UK Equity Team, he has managed a range of institutional UK equity portfolios for both public and private sector pension schemes. Announcement

Magdalena Håkansson has been named Head of Client Relations for the Nordic region at GES, the Stockholm-based ESG engagement agent. She was formerly Business Development Manager for GES, responsible in particular for the Swedish and Norwegian markets. Developing engagement business with investors in Finland and Norway will be a key priority for Håkansson in her new role. GES’ other Head of Client Relations is Charlotte Mansson, who is responsible for the UK and Continental European markets.

Bart le Blanc, who chairs the supervisory board at Dutch asset manager APG, has been appointed as a member of the new investment committee of UNOPS, the Copenhagen-based UN organisation for humanitarian, peacekeeping and development missions. Also joining the committee is former Norges Bank Investment Management CEO Knut Kjaer.

Julie Hutchison, previously Consumer Finance Expert at Edinburgh-based life and pensions group, Standard Life, has been appointed Charities Specialist at Standard Life Wealth, the UK-based discretionary fund manager. Hutchison, who will report to Patrick Trueman, Head of Charities, will act as the dedicated resource for the Charities Team.

Jose Minaya, Head of Private Markets Asset Management at TIAA–CREF, has been named President of the US-based investment giant’s newly created Global Real Assets Division. TIAA–CREF will reportedly move $100bn in assets and 900 employees, including Heather Davis who will act as Chief Investment Officer, to the new stand-alone business, which will operate within the firm’s global money management business. Tom Garbutt, Head of Global Real Estate, and Philip McAndrews, Chief Investment Officer Global Real Estate will both reportedly leave the firm after a period of transition.

The UK government has appointed Sir Philip Hampton, the Chair of GlaxoSmithKline and former Chair of RBS and Sainsbury’s, to lead an independent review on increasing representation of women in the executive level of FTSE 350 companies. Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of UBM, will take on the role of Deputy Chair of the review. Sir Philip’s new review will continue on from Lord Davies’s Women on Boards Review, a voluntary business led initiative, which saw female representation on boards in the FTSE 100 rise from 12.5% to beyond the target of 25%.Daniel Paillé, a former Quebec Minister of Economics, is joined by internal candidates Guy Cormier and Robert Ouellette as candidates to become president of Desjardins, the Canadian cooperative financial group. Voters, composed of 256 elected leaders of the cooperative networks and members of the regional councils of Quebec and Ontario, will elect the replacement to incumbent Monique Leroux on March 19. Link

Zineb Bennani, Head of Governance Research and Engagement at Mirova, is now Portfolio Manager/ SRI Financial Analyst at the responsible investment firm and subsidiary of France-based investment bank Natixis. Bennani was the author of a review in 2014 of Mirova’s stakeholder engagement in Europe. Link

Jan van Zijl has been appointed vice-chairman of ABP, the €357bn Dutch civil service scheme. He takes over from Cees de Veer, who is retiring.

Social Finance UK, pioneer of the world’s first social impact bond, in collaboration with The MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, a Canadian social finance organisation are seeking a consultant for a three-month assignment, based out of Douala, Cameroon. The consultant will be responsible for supporting a new social finance initiative that seeks to scale a low-cost method for neonatal care.

Chris Perceval, former Head of Strategy & Partnerships at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Director of Corporate Relations at the World Resources Institute, has been named Director Sustainable Services at Zurich-based South Pole Group. John Davis, formerly with environmental investment firm CF Partners UK also joins the global provider of climate solutions as Director of Financial Industry. Guillaume Goton and Melanie Wilneder join as Key Account Managers, from Credit Agricole Suisse and the CDP respectively.

The UK government’s Cabinet Office is seeking a Head of Social Investment and Finance Team to develop policy around impact investment.