RI People & Appointments, June 4: Amundi, PPF, SEB, Natixis, Charles Schwab

The latest ESG movers and shakers

Amundi Asset Management has announced the appointment of Stanislas Pottier to the newly created role of Chief Responsible Investment Officer. Pottier was formerly Global Head for Sustainable Development at Crédit Agricole SA, a position he took up in September 2011, as well as being a member of the Group’s Management Committee since 2017.
The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) has elected new trustees. The are: Giovanni Melandri, chair of the Human Foundation; Darren Walker, chair of the Ford Foundation; Rosemary Addis, chair of Impact Investing Australia; and Uli Grabenwarter, head of strategic development-equity at the European Investment Fund. In a tweet, GSG chief executive Amit Bhatia also said GSG’s board will be nine members in total, with Nick O’ Donohoe, chief executive of the CDC Group, as deputy chair. GSG, which is seeking to catalyse individual country action on impact investment, is chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen.
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the UK’s £30bn pension lifeboat fund, has confirmed that Stephen Wilcox has joined the organisation as its new Chief Risk Officer (CRO), replacing Hans den Boer. Wilcox was previously with Allianz Insurance for 21 years, where he set up its first comprehensive risk team and implemented its approach to the EU’s Solvency II, after which he took an eight-month career break.

Nordic corporate bank SEB has appointed Ben Powell to lead its Climate & Sustainable Finance business in Norway, moving from his position as Senior Banker in the same department. Before joining SEB in December 2017, he was Head of Funding for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, where he led many high profile bond offerings, managed the IFC’s Green and Social Bond issuance programmes and played a central role in launching IFC’s first Indian rupee green bond programme worth US$1bn.

Natixis CFO Nicolas Namias has been appointed to the Management Board of its owner, Group BPCE. He will be in charge of finance, strategy and legal affairs; a position previously held by François Riahi, the newly appointed CEO of Natixis.

Lesley Titcomb, Chief Executive of the UK’s Pensions Regulator (TPR)* – a noted ESG advocate – has decided to step down at the end of her four-year contract in February 2019. It comes two weeks after a parliamentary committee-led report into Carillion’s collapse suggested a change in leadership at the regulator, calling TPR’s response to the contractor’s underfunding of its pension scheme “feeble”. Titcomb said it was the “appropriate moment” to leave. Titcomb had been vocal in her support for ESG, saying in 2016 that, despite confusion in the area, ESG “can’t be ignored”.

Carbon data solutions developer Carbon4 Finance, a subsidiary of carbon analytics company Carbone4, has appointed David Smith as a Data Analyst. Smith. Smith was previously Research Analyst with Trucost, from 2016 to 2018.The Chief Auditor of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Martin F. Baumann, will leave the Board at the end May after 12 years of service it was recently announced. During his tenure, he undertook landmark standard-setting projects to improve the usefulness of audit reports to investors. As chief auditor, Martin chaired the PCAOB Standing Advisory Group, which provides advice to the Board on future standard-setting activities. Prior to joining the Board, Martin was the EVP of Finance and CFO of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and PwC prior to that.

Prestige Fund Management Limited (Prestige Funds) clean energy expert Phil Gerrard has been appointed to the new Advisory Board of the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), a UK-based energy industry-driven lobbying association.

German airline Lufthansa has appointed Bernhard Dietrich as Head of Environmental Issues. He takes over from Dr Karlheinz Haag, who retires after 16 years of service. Dietrich will manage all group-wide environmental programs and policy positions, involving “continuous improvement of the environmental balance sheet and the representation of the Group’s environmental policy interests”.

Legal & General Head of DC Emma Douglas has been appointed Chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA)’s Policy Board, a new body at the UK pensions industry association. In other changes, Simon Sarkar becomes Head of Research, having previously worked at the Financial Conduct Authority for over 13 years. Economist and pension policy specialist Tiffany Tsang also joins as Policy Lead within the Governance & Investment team. She was formerly a Policy Adviser for the Association of British Insurers.
Nixon Joseph is now President and Chief Operating Officer at SBI Foundation, the State Bank of India (SBI)’s CSR arm, moving from his previous position as Vice President.

US investment services firm Charles Schwab has appointed Marian Macindoe to Director – Proxy Governance, based in San Francisco. Prior to this, she spent five years with Chevron Corporation as Advisor, Global Issues and Policy.

Daniele Gatti has been named CFO at Ambienta, the Italy-based private equity firm. Principals Giancarlo Beraudo and Francesco Lodrini are promoted to Partner, effective immediately. Since joining Ambienta in 2012, Gatti has supported the development and implementation of Ambienta’s best practice policies in terms of reporting to LPs, compliance, regulatory, and ESG.