RI People & Appointments, July 30: New CIO at leading US responsible investor

Vicki Fuller has been named as the new chief investment officer for the $150.3bn (€122.6bn) New York State Common Retirement Fund, the third largest US pension fund and a leading responsible investor. Fuller was most recently a senior portfolio manager at fund manager AllianceBernstein in New York and takes over from Raudline Etienne, who has joined former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s Albright Stonebridge Group. Marjorie Tsang had been acting as been interim CIO. “I am thrilled to have an executive of Vicki’s caliber lead our team of investment professionals,” said State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Announcement

Jean Laville, former Deputy Director at Ethos Foundation in Geneva (Switzerland), the research firm owned by 130 Swiss pension funds, has taken up the post of Vice-President at Sustainable Finance Geneva, whose mission is to promote sustainability and responsibility within the Geneva financial community.

Robert Walker, vice president of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Services and Ethical Funds for NEI Investments, has been named as the new Chair for Canada’s Boreal Leadership Council. The council comprises conservation and Aboriginal groups, resource companies and financial institutions which have an interest and a stake in the future of Canada’s forests. As part of its corporate engagements, NEI’s Ethical Funds arm has urged oil and gas companies and banks to support the Canadian Boreal Initiative.

Bob Maynard, Chief Investment Officer for the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI), has joined the 300 Club, the recently launched group of investment professionals chaired by Saker Nusseibeh, CEO of Hermes Fund Managers. The 300 Club (named after the legendary 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae) aims to raise awareness about the potential impact of current market thinking.The Rt Rev William Kenney, Auxiliary Bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in the UK, has been named as the new patron of the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR). And Maranda St John Nicolle, coordinator of Christian Concern for One World, has joined the ECCR board.
Christine Berry is now head of policy and research at FairPensions, the campaign group. She joined in 2010 as a Policy Officer, having previously worked as a parliamentary researcher. She has also overseen a variety of environmental and investment-related campaigns.
Alison Carnwath has resigned from her non-executive director role at beleaguered UK bank Barclays, where she chaired the remuneration committee. It follows the departure of Chief Executive Bob Diamond in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal. Carnwath, who also chairs property group Land Securities, said she could no longer devote sufficient time to the role given her other commitments. Separately, Barclays has appointed Freshfields lawyer Anthony Salz to conduct a review of its business practices.

Wolfgang Landl has been named as Chief Executive of BlueOrchard Finance SA, the microfinance specialist. He was formerly founder of his own investment consulting firm and is a former partner at Investcorp and head of institutional sales, Middle East, at Man Investments. The announcement follows the decision in March to separate fixed income specialist BlueOrchard Finance from private equity-focused BlueOrchard Investments into two distinct companies. Link

The European Investment Bank has advertised a vacancy for a Local Finance and Impact Investing Officer. The Luxembourg-based job calls for experience in investment fund management (including non-profit/socially responsible/impact funds). On offer is a fixed term contract until the end of 2014. The EIB is also seeking Environment and Social Specialists. Link