RI People & Appointments, July 11: Global Reporting Initiative CEO Meehan departs

Michael Meehan, chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the corporate sustainability reporting body, is leaving after two years in the role to “pursue other opportunities”. The GRI said it would conduct a thorough search for a replacement; in the meantime Eric Hespenheide has been appointed Interim CEO and will stand down from his position as Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB). “Eric has a deep professional commitment to global sustainability reporting, previously leading Deloitte’s practice, and I have the utmost confidence in Eric’s ability to lead the organization at this time,” said GRI Chair Christy Wood. Teresa Fogelberg, who leads GRI’s strategic work on Policy, International Relations and Sustainable Development, will continue as Deputy Chief Executive.

Éric Loiselet, former member of the board of directors and chairman of the Investment Policy Monitoring Committee at France’s €23bn ERAFP pension fund, has become advisor to Jean-Pierre Costes, President of Ircantec, the €9.2bn French public sector pension scheme. Loiselet was previously an administrator at Ircantec. He will now advise the fund on investment and responsible finance. The move comes after Loiselet joined the board for retirement and solidarity at France’s Caisse de Dépôts sovereign wealth fund, which oversees the management of Ircantec.

Mark Fawcett, Chief Investment Officer at workplace pension scheme NEST, is to chair a new panel that will advise the Investment Association, the UK funds body, on disclosure for investment costs. The Advisory Board will ensure the project delivers on its aim to create a standardised, fully Comprehensive Disclosure Code for asset managers to disclose investment costs. Also on the panel are the likes of Andy Agathangelou (Transparency Task Force), Yvonne Braun (Association of British Insurers) and Chris Hitchen (RPMI) among others.

Corli Le Roux, Head of Sustainability at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, has replaced Evan Harvey, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Nasdaq, as chair of the World Federation of Exchange’s Sustainability Working Group. The vice-chairs of the working group are Sonia Favaretto, Sustainability Officer at Brazil’s BM&FBOVESPA and Medhat Nafei, Chief Risk Officer at the Egyptian Exchange

Chief Investment Officer David Adkins is leaving the Pensions Trust, the £7bn (€8.2bn) multi-employer pension fund for the charitable and voluntary sector in the UK, according to reports. IPE.com said he had been in the post since 2010, joining from what was then Towers Watson.

Ian Petty, Director Group Operations and member of the executive management team at P&O Maritime in Australia and Dubai, has been named General Manager of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), the body aiming for a “truly sustainable shipping industry” by 2040. SSI was started by environmentalist Jonathon Porritt’s Forum for the Future; current CEO Alastair Fischbacher becomes Co-Chair with Stephanie Draper. The first director of the initiative, Helle Gleie, who was in post from 2013-2014, is now head of the Blue Valley initiative.Inflection Point Capital Management (IPCM), the London-based sustainable asset management firm, has hired Roland Rott as managing director, global head of research. Rott was previously a partner and senior investment manager at GO Investment Partners, the engagement funds manager, also based in London. Rott, a CFA holder and experienced portfolio manager, who had been with GO for 10 years, takes over the research role from Andy White, who has become associate director at IPCM. Matthew Kiernan, founder and chief executive IPCM said Rott would be focused on working with the house’s Paris-based portfolio managers, while White will now be leading a year-long review of the firm’s analytical models.

Professor Kunio Ito of Hitotsubashi University in Japan, the author of the Ito Review of corporate governance, has been appointed to the Governance and Nominations Committee of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Also joining the committee is Maria Helena Santana, former Chair of IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions. They join figures such as Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International, Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Corporate Governance at BlackRock and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, the former Shell chief, on the committee.

Christiana Figueres, the former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has been nominated by her native Costa Rica to succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General of the United Nations. It makes her the 12th candidate to enter the race ahead of the first Security Council secret ballot later this month.

Richard England is retiring from Atlanta Capital Management Company, subadvisor to the Calvert Equity Portfolio, as of October 31. Joseph Hudepohl, Lance Garrison, Jeffrey Miller and Robert Walton will remain on the portfolio management team for Calvert Equity Portfolio, according to a filing.

Wolf Martin Waldow, member of the High Consistory of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover, has joined the advisory board of the Global Challenges Index, the German sustainability index. Together with another five independent council members, he will be responsible for monitoring and compliance with the rigorous criteria for selecting the stocks that make up the Global Challenges Index (GCX) and bonds contained in the Global Challenges Corporates (GCC). Having been responsible for supervising the assets of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover’s church bodies since 2008, he will replace Dr. Rolf Krämer, Vice President of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover. Krämer wants to dedicate more time to his duties on the NORD/LB Asset Management AG supervisory board.

Inés de Dinechin has been named chief executive of Aviva Investors’ French business. De Dinechin, a former CEO of Société Générale’s Lyxor Asset Management, succeeds Jean-François Boulier.