RI People & Appointments, June 13: South Africa’s King to chair integrated reporting committee

Professor Mervin E. King, Chairman of the King Committee on corporate governance in South Africa and Chairman of the Global Reporting Initiative, is to take over as chairman of the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) from Prince Charles’ aide Sir Michael Peat when the latter steps down later this year. The IIRC is a high-level initiative of the GRI and Charles’ Accounting for Sustainability Project. Link
Stuart Wilson, the former chief executive at the Australian Shareholders’ Association, has been appointed environmental, social & governance (ESG) manager at Australia’s one-million-member A$17bn (€12.5bn) Sunsuper, a new role. He left the association at the end of 2010 and was succeeded by Vas Kolesnikoff.

UK ethical investment pioneers Charles Jacob and Lee Coates were awarded honours by Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honours list at the weekend. Jacob was the first Investment Manager of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church and was key in the creation of the Friends Provident Stewardship Fund and the Church Investors Group. Coates is founder of Ethical Investors Group and chair of the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR).

Ashley Hamilton, the former research analyst at Canada’s Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) who set up her own firm last year, is to join PIRC. She will take up the role of Shareholder Engagement Executive at Pensions Investment Research Consultants in London next month.

Dinusha Peiris has been named head of research at the RI Academy, the online initiative of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA). She has had stints at AMP Capital Investors, Citigroup and most recently at ING Investment Management. Her research ‘The Relationship between Environmental Social Governance Factors and US Stock Performance’ was nominated for the 2010 Ethical Investor research award.Paul Matthews has been named as chief executive of Standard Life’s UK business. He takes over from David Nish, who will concentrate on his role as Group CEO at the £198.4bn (€225.1bn) savings and investments firm, a UN Principles for Responsible Investment signatory.

Cristina Lage, CEO of Nordea Invest, has been named managing director of UNPRI-signatory Unipension, the DKK80bn (€10.7bn) Danish pensions administration company. She will take over from retiring chief Erik Adolphsen in September. Meanwhile, Mette Carstad has been named chairman of the Arkitekternes Pensionskasse (Architects’ Pension Fund), taking over from Jean-Pierre van Tittelboom.

Keith Ambachtsheer, Director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management, an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Rotman School of Management, and publisher and editor of the Rotman International Journal of Pension Management, has been granted the Award for Professional Excellence at a special reception following Toronto CFA Society’s Annual Pension Conference.

Michael McNicholas has been appointed chief executive of NTR plc, the Dublin-based renewable energy group. He takes over from Jim Barry, who has stepped down to concentrate on his role as Chief Investment Officer of BlackRock’s renewable power investment platform, following a strategic partnership deal between NTR and BlackRock announced in February this year.

The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, UNJSPF, has advertised for a Chief Financial Officer. The New York-based role reports to the UNJSPF’s CEO and the Representative of the Secretary-General for the Investments (RSG) on their respective substantive responsibilities. The closing date is July 26.