RI People & Appointments, Jan. 28: HESTA, Royal Bank of Canada, UKSIF, National Australia Bank, Lazard, BlackRock

Joanne Saleeba, Investment Manager, ESG at HESTA, has left the A$47bn ($33bn) Australian superannuation fund. Saleeba, who also sits on the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment’s (PRI) Private Equity Advisory Committee, does not yet have a new role. HESTA is currently recruiting for a Responsible Investment Manager, the deadline for applications passes on the 29 January.
Judy Cotte has left the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to set up her own ESG advisory firm. Cotte’s new company, ESG Global Advisors, will advise boards of directors, institutional investors and other market participants on ESG-related issues and opportunities. She is contactable via email. In December Ron Homer, Managing Director, Institutional Portfolio Manager and President, Access Capital Strategies was named to the new role of Chief Strategist of Impact Investing for the US at RBC Global Asset Management. And Catherine Banat, Institutional Portfolio Manager, took on the new role of Director of Responsible Investing in the US.
David Jenkins has been appointed Head of Sustainable Finance at the National Australia Bank (NAB). Jenkins has expertise in advising on and developing sustainable solutions and investment products, for example having worked on Australia’s first domestic green bond as well as the country’s first social bond.
Joanne Segars resigned from the board of the Environment Agency (EA) in December last year, RI has learnt. Segars, a former head of the UK Pension & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) was also Chair of the EA Pensions Committee, in which role she has been succeeded by Robert Gould an ex-leader of Dorset County Council. In a separate move earlier this month, she took a post as a member of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) at Legal & General, the UK insurer. Segars is also currently Chair of LGPS Central, the UK pension pool. An EA spokesperson confirmed Segars’ departure from the board, but said the agency was not in a position to comment further.

Stéphane Honig has been appointed Head of Strategy and a member of the Executive Committee at Natixis, where he reports to CEO François Riahi. Honig has nearly two decades of banking experience from a long stretch at BNP Paribas and at Natixis part of his role will be overseeing “growth through acquisitions and partnerships”.
Jo Iwasaki, formerly Head of Corporate Governance at the UK-headquartered global body, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), has joined Helsinki Capital Partners, a Finnish PRI-signatory and Certified B Corporation. Iwasaki has joined the asset management firm’s investor relations department.

The CalPERS Board has elected Henry Jones as President, making him the first African American to take the role. Jones, who joined the board in 2008, was CFO of the Los Angeles Unified School District, California’s largest public school system, before he retired in 1998. Theresa Taylor, who joined the board in 2015, was elected Vice President. She chairs the Finance and Administration Committee and serves as vice chair of the Pension and Health Benefits Committee.

Eliza Mathews has joined Westpac’s Institutional Bank as Director, Sustainable Finance, a newly created role for the Australian bank. Mathews was previously at ANZ for nearly 10 years, most recently as Associate Director, Sustainable Finance, providing green, social and sustainability bond structures and products to issuers.The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has appointed Ben Nelmes as its new Head of Public Policy and Programme Director. He replaces Fergus Moffat who joined ShareAction as Head of UK Policy last year. Before joining UKSIF, Nelmes worked in the UK Parliament, most recently for Mary Creagh MP, who chairs the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, advising on media and policy issues relating to the environment and sustainable development.
Nikita Singhal has been appointed co-head of sustainable investment & ESG at Lazard Asset Management, according to her LinkedIn profile. She joins from ClearBridge Investments where she held the role of VP, ESG & portfolio analyst, Sustainability Leaders Fund. She has also held roles at the Heron Foundation and IFC.
BlackRock has appointed Amar Gill as new Head of Investment Stewardship for Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Gill will lead a team of 12 and report to Global Head of Investment Stewardship Michelle Edkins. He moves from a 22-year career with CLSA, where he was most recently Managing Director for Corporate Finance and Capital Markets.
Louise Davidson, Chief Executive of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), has been recognised in the 2019 Australia Day honours list, being named a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the superannuation and funds management sectors.
The £40.8bn (€47bn) Northern LGPS has named councillor Paul Doughty as chairman, replacing Ian Greenwood who died in November. Councillor Doughty is also chairman of the £9bn Merseyside Pension Fund and acting chairman of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, where Greenwood had also been chairman until his death. Greenwood had taken over both roles from Kieran Quinn, who died while in post in December 2017.
Adam Frost has left his role as Head of Impact+ and New Strategy Development at Bridges Fund Management to join Generation Investment Management as a Director in the client team, where he is working with LPs in the Non-US region. Bridges has yet to find Frost’s replacement.

Ulrike Decoene has been appointed as AXA’s Group Head of Communications and Brand, replacing Emmanuel Touzeau, who has been appointed Director of Human Resources and Communications of AXA Partners
Kimberly Lewis has joined Hermes EOS as Engagement Director, charged with further building the stewardship and engagement firm’s work in North America. She moves over from leading the Global Corporate Responsibility/Social Investment team at US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Based in London, she reports to Hermes EOS Head of Stewardship, Bruce Duguid.
Brunel Pension Partnership is looking to hire a Project Support Officer to support the Programme Manager in documenting and coordinating projects at the MiFID investment firm.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management is recruiting an ESG Analyst for its Global Balanced Risk controlled (GBaR) team in London.
Schroders is recruiting a Product Executive – ESG to join the product group within its sustainability team.