RI People & Appointments, January 22: Stephen Hine leaves Vigeo Eiris

Stephen Hine, Director of External Affairs at Vigeo Eiris, has left the ESG research firm, the company has confirmed. Hine joined Eiris in 1989, before its merger with Vigeo in 2015. According to his Linkedin page, he is currently “looking for new challenges and opportunities in responsible investing”. Hine is also currently a Director at the Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR), the global, non-profit organization.

Anne Sheehan, Director of Corporate Governance at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has announced that she will retire from the $225.3bn pension giant on 30 March 2018, after ten years at the helm of the division. She was hired in 2008 as CalSTRS’ first director of corporate governance by Chief Investment Officer Christopher Ailman, in the wake of the financial crisis. She was board chair of the Council of Institutional Investors and served on the boards of the International Corporate Governance Network and the NASDAQ Listing Council. She is currently the chair of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee. She was a also a founder of the Investor Stewardship Group that launched the Framework for U.S. Stewardship and Governance principles. CalSTRS will now begin the search for Sheehan’s replacement.

Arie Koornneef has been named Chairman of the Board at Dutch sustainability bank, ASN Bank, part of de Volksbank. He succeeds Ewoud Goudswaard, who retired in July 2017 after more than fifteen years as Managing Director. Koornneef and Joyce van der Est, who form the management team of ASN, have announced their objective to make ASN Bank the first bank to be “climate-positive” by 2030. Koornneef was formerly Director of Marketing Strategy & Innovation at Volksbank, before joining ASN Bank in 2017.

Ciarán Barr, Investment Director at RPMI (Railpen), will leave the company during the first half of 2018. He joined the £28bn UK rail pensions body in 2009 and has had a number of positions, including Head of Strategy and Investment Director. Earlier this month RPMI published its Voting Policy for 2018; its three key themes are board composition & effectiveness, remuneration, and shareholder rights & disclosure. A key focus of this policy is integrating climate considerations into Railpen’s voting and engagement approach.

Lin Chew has been named Business Development Director, Asia Pacific at Hermes Investment Management, the £30bn London-based responsible investment house. Chew, formerly with investment management firm, Winton Capital Asia Limited, will report to Jakob Nilsson, Head of Business Development, APAC.Priya Mathur has been elected President at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), becoming the first woman to hold the position. Mathur, who has also served as a member of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Board, is serving her fourth term as a board member of the $358bn giant Californian pension fund. She also Chairs CalPERS’ Pension & Health Benefits Committee, which oversees the $8bn Health Benefits Program on behalf of 1.4m members and their beneficiaries.

Christina Johansen, Senior Analyst, Responsible Investment Danske Capital, the asset management arm of Denmark’s Danske Bank Group, has joined ATP, Denmark’s largest pension fund, in the same role. She took up her new role in January. She does not replace anyone at the fund, RI was told.

Hugh W. Brown Jr. has joined US sustainability non-profit Ceres as Senior Manager, Investor Engagement on Water. He joins from the Florida State Board of Administration, the $150bn state pension fund, where he was focusing on ESG and water risk integration. Brown will now help lead Cere’s Investor Water Hub, a water focused working group supported by 90 institutional investor, representing $19tn in asset under management. Prior to joining the Florida pension fund he previously worked for Morgan Stanley and Northwestern Mutual.

Julian Pendock has resigned as chief investment officer of the London Pension Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV), according to reports citing a company spokesperson. London CIV was set up in 2015 as the investment vehicle of choice for local authority pension funds. Its founding members are London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. The departure follows that of CEO Hugh Grover in November last year.

Yasmine Svan, Account Executive at UK based PR firm, ESG Communications, has been named Sustainability Analyst at Legal and General Investment Management, the UK based fund giant.

Nordea is looking for a Head of Responsible Investment. The position, which is open for applications until February 4, will involve managing ESG activities for the bank’s asset management platform, including research, ratings, corporate engagement, product development and stewardship. Nordea said it was “building a better bank that fulfils a meaningful role in society”.

The Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), the UN-supported multi-stakeholder group, is looking to recruit several positions for its Geneva based office.