RI People & Appointments, January 16: US SIF names four new board members

The US SIF, the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, has named four new board members. They are: Darragh Gallant, Managing Director, US, at Sustainalytics; Reginald Stanley, Chief Marketing Officer, Calvert Investments; Curtis Ravenel, Global Head, Sustainability at Bloomberg; and Tim Brennan, Treasurer and CFO, Unitarian Universalist Association. David Wood, Director of the Harvard University/Initiative for Responsible Investment and Betsy Zeidman were re-elected.
Betsy Zeidman has left her position as director of the RFK Compass Program at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The RFK Compass Program engages institutional investors to explore and advance the connections among investment performance, fiduciary duty, and public interest issues. Before joining the RFK Center, Zeidman served as director of the Center for Emerging Domestic Markets at the Milken Institute.

Governance for Owners, the governance partnership, has made two appointments. Mark O’Connor becomes Partner, Marketing & Business Development while Eric Tracey is named Consulting Partner on the Investment Team. O’Connor was previously Head of Institutional Business Development at Ecclesiastical Investment Management. Tracey, a former partner at Deloitte & Touche, is the Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee at Chloride Group.

Robert Talbut, chief investment officer of Royal London Asset Management, has been made chairman of the Association of British Insurers’ investment committee. He replaces Alain Dromer, chief executive of Aviva Investors, who has stepped down. “We need to drive the highest standards of corporate governance and appropriate remuneration and maximise our influence with the companies we invest in, the government and regulators,” Talbut said of his appointment.

Ingrid Bonde, chief executive at UN Principles for Responsible Investment signatory AMF, the Swedish pension provider, has been named deputy CEO and chief financial officer of Vattenfall. She will join the energy company from July 1 at the latest. Announcement

Kristel Verhoef, ESG Analyst at SNS Asset Management N.V., has left the company to go travelling for a year. She joined SNS in 2008.Steve Newnham has been appointed Executive Director, Business Development at fund manager and superannuation provider Australian Ethical Investment, which has A$600m (€488m) under management. In addition the firm has advertised for a Sydney-based ‘Global Smart Energy’ equities analyst. Link

Ivka Kalus-Bystricky has taken over as manager of the Pax World Global Women’s Equality Fund. The $35.9m (€28.3m) fund invests primarily in large-cap companies that promote gender equality and women’s advancement. It was launched in 2003 and currently holds 72 stocks; its top three holdings are Statoil, BlackRock and Vodafone. Announcement
Matthias Altieri has been named as Head of Solar Energy at ThomasLloyd, the renewables and cleantech merchant banking group with over $2.4bn in assets under management. Altieri joins from solar photovoltaic company Q-Cells, where he was Vice President of Origination.

Anders Berntell has been appointed Executive Director of the 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG), a consortium of public and private sector and civil society entities that is helping countries to address the challenge of water security. Berntell was formerly Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute. From January 26, the WRG will be housed at the World Bank’s IFC following a two-year incubation period at the World Economic Forum.

John Petzold, deputy chief investment officer and director of investment management at the $146.2bn California State Teachers’ Retirement System, has retired, according to a report in Pensions & Investments citing the fund. Petzold had been in the role since 2010, having joined CalSTRS in 1980. Michelle Cunningham, director of fixed income, has been named as acting deputy CIO.

Joshua Kendall, Communications Manager at the UN PRI, has left to join Deutsche Bank. His new role will be in communications and engagement at the bank.

NEI Investments, the Canadian funds firm, is hiring a new Senior Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Analyst to support the implementation and ongoing refinement of its ESG Investing Program. The role is based in Montreal and the application deadline is January 27. Link