Ian Kennedy has joined Hermes Investment Management, the fund manager owned by the BT Pension Scheme, as Chief Operating Officer. He will report into CEO Saker Nusseibeh, and will form part of the Hermes Executive Committee and Board. He is a former Interim Chief Executive at Fortis Private Banking steering it through its sale to BNP Paribas Wealth Management where he then became Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of BNP Paribas UK Wealth Management. In 2012, he co-founded Investme Financial Services LLC in Dubai.
Janos Pasztor of Hungary has been named as the first-ever UN Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change, acting as a Senior Adviser to Ban Ki-moon in the run-up to the Paris climate talks in December. He is a former Executive Secretary of Ban’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability (2011-2012). Link
Andrew MacLeod has joined Good Super, the new Australian retail superannuation fund focusing on socially responsible investment, as managing director, according to the Sustainability Report. Professor MacLeod is also a non-executive director at New York-based Cornerstone Capital, a Senior Adviser to Homestrings plc in London, Chair of the Advisory Board at Gravitas Capital and a visiting Professor at Kings College London. He was previously General Manager Community, Communications and External Relations for Rio Tinto (Copper).
Sally Bridgeland, the former CEO at BP Pension Trustees, has been appointed a non-executive director at Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company. Bridgeland, a former investment consultant, is a member of the 300 Club, the independent group of leading investment professionals founded by Hermes’ Saker Nusseibeh. She’s also senior adviser to governance consultancy Avida International as well as the founder of a charity called Executive Shift which works to create a change in senior staff working habits.
Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), is to retire in June – meaning the environmental think tank, formed in 2001, will close its doors. Brown said: “After careful consideration of my life at 80 years, and with profound appreciation to my staff, collaborators and supporters, I have decided to step down as president of the Earth Policy Institute and end its work as of July 1, 2015.” A former government worker, Brown helped set up the Overseas Development Council in 1969. In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, he founded the Worldwatch Institute. Link
Anne Wade, who sits on the board of Big Society Capital, the UK social investment body, and the New York-based FB Heron Foundation, is to become a non-executive director at infrastructure investment group John Laing which is launching an IPO this year to fund international expansion. Wade is also a non-executive director of Swiss-based global building materials Holcim.
The US National Advisory Board on Impact Investment (NAB), which is part of the G8 Global Impact Investment Taskforce, has named Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, as its new chair, joining a leadership team that includes Matt Bannick, Managing Partner at Omidyar Network, and Tracy Palandjian, CEO of Social Finance US. The NAB aims to catalyse the development of the impact investment market in the US. It was behind a report last June that recommended the modernising of fiduciary duty in the US to take account of ESG factors.
Mark Robinson, a veteran of the international development sector, most recently at the UK Department for International Development (DFID), has been appointed to lead environmental think tank the World Resources Institute’s Governance Center. He takes over from interim director Peter Veit, who will continue as project manager of the Land and Resource Rights Initiative.João Elek has been named as Director of Governance, Risk Management and Compliance at Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil firm racked by a bribery scandal. His role is to “ensure the compliance of processes and mitigate risks, including risks of fraud, corruption and ethical misconduct”. Elek, appointed through a selection process conducted by recruitment firm Korn Ferry, has been a member of the Brazilian Corporate Governance Institute’s Market Communication Commission since 2012.
US sustainability advocacy group Ceres is advertising for a Chief Operating Officer to oversee its programme areas (climate, energy, policy, water, investor, and corporate) as well as communications and events. It follows the departure of Lance Pierce late last year to join environmental data body CDP as president of its North America operation. Pierce had been with Ceres since 2008 and was Executive Director since 2011, overseeing programs, operations and strategic planning. Ceres has also advertised for managers to work on its Investor Network on Climate Risk and Investor Initiative for Sustainable Exchanges programmes. Link
Zhiguo Zhu has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Trina Solar, the China-based, Nasdaq-listed solar photovoltaic firm. Zhu, who joined in 2011, was formerly senior vice president. Sean Shao, CFO of the firm between 2006 and 2008, is named as an independent director. Announcement
Friends of the Earth chief executive Andy Atkins will step down in the summer, after seven years in the role. In a statement, he said with an election in the UK looming, it was time for a new person to lead the charity forward. Under his leadership, he secured commitments from companies over fairer methods of tin mining and bolstered the British solar power industry after successfully challenging the government’s attempts to cut the feed-in tariff. The recruitment process for a new chief executive is under way.
Dr Jem Bendell, director for leadership and sustainability at the University of Cumbria, is to undertake a three-month secondment at the United Nations in Geneva to work on the sustainable stock exchanges initiative. The scheme is bringing together more than 50 stock exchanges, including the London Stock Exchange, to learn “how to enable more responsible investment in public-listed companies”.
RobecoSAM is currently recruiting for a Client Specialist within its Governance & Active Ownership department in Rotterdam. Cndidates are invited to submit their application with reference to vacancy number 122236 to career@robeco.nl before February 13. Link
ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, has called for candidates for its consultative working group (CWG) for the Corporate Reporting Standing Committee. It comes as the two-year term of the current members has expired. ESMA added it would publish the composition of the new CWG on its website “in due time”. The deadline for applications is February 27. Email
A new foundation set up by Big Society Capital (BSC) to fill gaps in the social investment market is hiring an investment manager. Access – the Foundation for Social Investment was created by the Big Society Trust (an independent board overseeing BSC’s work) alongside UK government department the Cabinet Office, the UK Big Lottery Fund and BSC and will launch early this year. Link
The Social Investment Business Group, one of the largest social investors in the UK, is hiring a Director of Finance and Corporate services.
Nesta, an innovation charity in the UK, is seeking an Impact Analyst, to manage a loan fund that will target arts organisation delivering financial stability and social impact. Nesta runs the Big Society Capital-backed £25m Nesta Impact Investments fund.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: