RI People & Appointments, January 15: Fidelity creates Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investing

Fidelity International has become the latest fund manager to create a head of sustainable investing. The firm has appointed Michael Gibb to the role of Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investing. Leading Fidelity’s ESG team, Gibb will oversee strategy and policies on engagement, voting, and ESG integration across the firm’s active product range. He will report to Paras Anand, CIO of European Equities. Prior to joining Fidelity, Gibb worked at several investment companies including Martin Currie Investment Management, Credit Suisse, and Gartmore Investment Managers. He has now completed an MBA focused on ESG engagement and influence between investors and investee companies
Tariq Fancy, founder of Canadian non-profit The Rumie Initiative, has reportedly been named Chief Investment Officer of Blackrock’s Sustainable Investing Group, according to P&I. In another newly-created role, he will be responsible for integrating ESG data, insights, and technology across BlackRock’s investment platform. Fancy will report to Brian Deese, Head of the Sustainable Investing Group, who joined Blackrock in October. Deese, a former White House climate change advisor to President Obama, helped negotiate the Paris Agreement on climate change. Blackrock’s 11-person sustainable investing team currently oversees $195bn in assets.
Pat Miguel Tomaino has been named Director of Socially Responsible Investing at Zevin Asset Management. Tomaino, who joined the US SRI firm in 2016, was previously Associate Director of Socially Responsible Investing. He told RI that he will take the “reins on ESG integration and research and setting the course for our shareholder advocacy, which creates positive impact on climate change, civil rights, and economic justice”.
Annie Bersagel, Acting Head of Responsible Investments at KLP, has joined Folketrygdfondet as a Senior Analyst for Responsible Investment. She replaces – as of 1 February 2018 – Tine Fossland, who becomes Portfolio Manager in the fund’s Equities Department. Folketrygdfondet runs the assets of the Government Pension Fund Norway. Bersagel took up her interim role at KLP following the departure of Jeanett Bergan to PwC Norway in March. In September, RI reported that Anne Kvam, the former Global Head of the Ownership Policy at NBIM had been named as KLP’s new Head of Responsible Investment. Lars Erik Mangset has been appointed Senior Advisor for Responsible Investments at KLP following Bersagel’s departure. He was formerly at WWF as Senior Advisor Sustainable Finance.Bob Collie, Chief Research Strategist at Russell Investments, has joined London risk management group Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute as Head of Research. He took up his new role at the not-for-profit investment research organisation, which has over 40 institutional investor members responsible for over $13trn, on 1 January. Collie is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. The Institute recently published a report on long-term investment premiums and has developed a ‘sustainability beliefs’ benchmarking tool to help identify cutting edge responses to SRI.
Hermes EOS, the engagement arm of London-based responsible investment house Hermes Investment Management, has expanded its North American presence with the appointment of Tim Youmans as Engagement Director for the region. Youmans was most recently Research Director at CEO Force for Good, the CEO-led coalition founded by actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, which focuses on socially-conscious business. He will report to Bruce Duguid, Head of Stewardship, in his new role. Brian Tomlinson, who has been working as a Fellow at the CEO Force for Good, will replace Youman.

The US SIF has elected four members to its board of directors: Diederik Timmer, Executive Vice President of Institutional Relations at Sustainalytics; Steve Freedman, Head of Sustainable Investment Solutions for Wealth Management Americas at UBS Financial Services; and Michael Kramer, Managing Partner at Natural Investments. Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, was re-elected for a second term. The new appointees replace Darragh Gallant, Managing Director of US Sustainalytics; Mark Regier, Vice President of Stewardship Investing at Praxis Mutual Funds; and Nancy Reyes Mullins, Founder of RI Strategy Consulting, who all step down after completing their term.
Danielle Carreira, a former Research Analyst with UK-based environmental data group, Trucost, has been appointed Senior Manager of Environmental Issues at the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI). Previously with the Natural Capital Financial Alliance – a joint project of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Global Canopy Programme, Carreira will lead the PRI’s work on deforestation in partnership with US sustainability group Ceres.
Jameela Pedicini has been promoted to Executive Director at New York-based asset manager Perella Weinberg Partners. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, she was the inaugural Vice President of Sustainable Investing at the Harvard Management Company. Pedicini currently serves on the Standards Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).

Note: This article was amended to correct the statement that Michael Gibb had formerly been an Investment Director at Fidelity International. Gibb is a new appointment to the firm.