RI People & Appointments, June 27: AP4, UBS, Broadridge, Arabesque, GIIN, SunPower

Niklas Ekvall has been appointed as the new CEO of the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4), the SEK310bn (€33bn) Swedish buffer fund, taking over from Mats Andersson. Andersson, one of the leading figures in the institutional investment response to climate change, will leave on July 12. Ekvall will join the fund on October 1 and in the interim, Per Colleen, AP4’s Head of Equities, will act as interim CEO. Ekvall has held leading positions at, among others, Nordea, Carnegie and AP3. AP4 Chair Sarah McPhee paid tribute to Andersson’s “outstanding contribution to both the returns created to the pension system and for his work, internationally and in Sweden, advocating the importance of including a long-term focus on sustainability issues within investments”. Announcement

Rina Kupferschmid-Rojas has joined UBS Wealth Management as global head of sustainable investing. An Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in the City of New York, she was previously chief executive of ESG Analytics, the Zurich-based consulting firm that was acquired by Sustainalytics last year.

W. Edings Thibault has been named as Vice President and Head of Investor Relations at Broadridge Financial Solutions, the investor services firm. He joins from MSCI, the index and ESG firm, where he was also Head of Investor Relations and, most recently, Global Head of Business Intelligence. Thibault, who joined MSCI in 2009, succeeds Brian Shipman, who has left Broadridge. Link

Ahmad Chatila has resigned as CEO of US solar-power company SunEdison, according to the Wall Street Journal. It said that John S. Dubel, who became chief restructuring officer on April 29, would take over the role at the firm which filed for bankruptcy in April. Dubel is a former CEO of bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., the Journal added.

Peter Malik has been named Director of Membership, focusing on Europe, at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the social investment body. He joins from the Nature Conservancy, where he was Managing Director for Corporate Engagements. Previously Head of Emerging Markets Structured Credit Financing for JPMorgan Securities in London, he was most recently Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Center for Market Innovation.

Douglas Hoffner, a former aide to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been appointed Interim CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), taking on the role on July 1 when incumbent CEO Anne Stausboll retires. Hoffner is currently CalPERS’ Deputy Executive Officer for Operations and Technology, having joined in 2012.Tensie Whelan, the former President of the Rainforest Alliance and the Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Business (at New York University Stern School of Business), has joined the Advisory Board of Arabesque, the boutique sustainable investment firm that is chaired by Harvard Professor Bob Eccles.

French energy giant Total SA has changed its designated board member at SunPower, the Nasdaq-listed solar photovoltaic firm where it holds a 66% stake. Denis Giorno, who represented Total Energies Nouvelles Activités USA, has stepped down to be replaced by Ladislas Paszkiewicz, Senior Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Total.

Sonia Consiglio Favaretto, press and sustainability managing director of Brazilian exchange BM&FBOVESPA has been named one of 10 2016 Local SDG [Sustainable Development Goals] Pioneers. She was recognized for her efforts that align with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2016 in New York.

Amanda Mackenzie has been named as the fourth chief executive of the Prince of Wales’ Business in the Community charity, taking over from current CEO Stephen Howard, who will stand down in October. She was most recently Chief Marketing Officer for Aviva and was a member of the Davies review to get more women on boards. During the past 18 months, she was on secondment from Aviva to Project Everyone, film director Richard Curtis’ initiative to bring the UN’s Global Goals to every person around the world.

Christiana Figueres, outgoing Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will announce her candidacy to be the next UN Secretary-General, according to unnamed sources quoted by E&E Publishing. Figueres declined to comment to E&E, but it said multiple sources have confirmed that she will formerly declare her interest in replacing Ban Ki-moon on July 7.

UK social investment body Big Society Capital has announced the appointment of Kieron Boyle, former head of social investment at UK government department the Cabinet Office, to its board. Boyle, who is currently chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, was the UK representative to the G8 taskforce on social impact investment.