RI People & Appointments, January 28: Management reshuffle at GMI Ratings

There have been some management changes at GMI Ratings, the US-based governance research firm. Executive Director Howard Sherman, the former chief executive of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), becomes head of non-US operations, based in London. Sherman is a founding member of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. Lev Janashvili, who joined GMI last year as Director of Marketing, becomes Managing Director, heading up US sales and marketing. John Condon, Director of North American sales, becomes Vice President with a focus on the insurance market and the US-based client service team. Paul Hodgson, former chief research analyst and media spokesperson, left the firm at the end of last year. Announcement

Patrick Hynes of Oikocredit International has been appointed as the company secretary of the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) at the church-based investor coalition and membership organisation’s December 2012 Board meeting.

Professor Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of the Malaysian Professors’ Council, has been elected as the inaugural chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which held its first plenary meeting in Germany last week. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will provide the secretariat for the platform, which will operate from Bonn in Germany. The IPBES Secretariat should also be fully staffed and operational by the end of the second meeting of the panel, provisionally scheduled for the end of 2013.

Iohann Le Frapper, General Counsel of the networks group at France-based communications technology firm Alcatel-Lucent, has been appointed Vice-Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-corruption. He will work with Commission Chair Erik Belfrage, the Executive Chairman of Consilio International AB, and with Vice-Chair Francois Vincke, Head of ICC Anti-corruption work and member of the Brussels Bar.Jeremy Spira has joined the Thinking Ahead Group at investment consulting firm Towers Watson. He joins the more than 10-strong group headed by Tim Hodgson from rival firm Mercer. The Thinking Ahead Group looks at new ideas and seeks to challenge conventional wisdom in the investment industry.

Michael Tripp is to retire as chief executive of churches and charities insurance provider Ecclesiastical, according to a report in the Insurance Times. Tripp joined the company in 2007 and the company said the process for hiring a successor is underway.

The Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School is now accepting nominations for the annual Rising Stars of Corporate Governance award. Recipients may represent any of the many bodies that comprise the world of corporate governance: corporations, academic bodies, institutional investors, auditors, advisory firms, rating agencies, proxy services, professional associations, and others. The nomination deadline is March 31 and the Rising Stars will be acknowledged at the Millstein Governance Forum in New York City on June 24—25. Link

Deborah Yang has been named to head MSCI’s index business across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, according to reports. It follows the appointments last year of Diana Tidd and Theodore Niggli to head up the Americas and Asia Pacific index businesses, respectively. The trio reports to Baer Pettit, managing director and global head of the MSCI index business.

The Church of England has advertised a vacancy for an Ethical Investment Policy Specialist. “You will be responsible for developing ethical investment policy through desk research and synthesis of theological material to formulate policy options and to test the consequent investment implications,” the ad states. “You will also engage with relevant companies as part of policy development and implementation.” For more details on the London-based role, click here

Environmental consultants E3G are hiring a Climate Finance Policy Adviser to be based in London. It says: “E3G is now developing its programme on International Climate Finance, with a particular focus on Latin America, China and Africa.”