RI People & Appointments, June 9: SRI industry veteran Emma Howard Boyd leaves Jupiter

Emma Howard Boyd is leaving her role as Director of Stewardship at Jupiter Asset Management, the UK-based fund manager, to focus on her external interests in stewardship, governance and sustainability. She joined Jupiter in 1994 and she has recently taken on non-executive roles at the Environment Agency and the 30% Club’s Investor Group, which promotes female representation on corporate boards. She is Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge’s Programme for Sustainability Leadership and a Director of Aldersgate Group; she chaired UKSIF, the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, for eight years until 2006 and was on the board of Triodos Renewables until 2012. Jupiter said there would be “no change” to the current structure of its sustainability and corporate governance teams, which were revamped last year when its sustainability analysts became part of environmental fund manager Charlie Thomas’s team and its corporate governance team became part of its Middle Office.

Lesley Alexander has been appointed as the new Chair of UKSIF, taking over from Martin Clarke who is stepping down after completing his second two-year term. Alexander is CEO of HSBC Bank Pension Trust (UK) Ltd. She said: “Coming from an asset owner background, I see real value in pension funds and corporate sponsors working together on sustainable and responsible investment (SRI).” She sees the emergence of global “mega-risks” such as climate change and resource depletion as meaning that sustainable investment must move up the agenda of everyone involved in pensions- trustees, administrators and sponsors. She also said she was keen to partner with “like-minded organizations”.

Tom Powdrill, the former Head of Communications at PIRC, the London-based proxy voting advisor, has left the company to become Responsible Investment Co-Ordinator at the International Transport Workers Federation where he will focus on developing trade union capital stewardship capacity. Powdrill, who had been at PIRC for six years, recently took a six-month sabbatical from PIRC to write a forthcoming book on capital stewardship with Lord Myners. Powdrill has a background in working for trades unions in corporate governance and sustainability issues and was formerly a Senior Policy Officer at the UK’s Trades Union Congress for five years.Gordon Noble has reportedly left his role as Director of Investments and Economy at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) to join Inflection Point Capital Management (IPCM), the sustainable fund manager started by Matthew Kiernan in 2009, according to the Financial Standard in Australia. It is understood that Noble’s new role will involve supporting IPCM’s communication, research, product development and business development. ASFA said it had not yet replaced Noble. IPCM, which is based in London last year signed a joint venture to start advising on $1bn in assets on behalf of La Française, the €39bn Paris-based funds house, in exchange for a half share in IPCM.

Donald Gautier has joined Juwi, the project developer for renewables energy as its Business Development Manager based out of Singapore and covering the Asia Pacific region for solar and wind. Gautier was formerly Business Development Manager at Agrienergy, the renewables developer in Singapore.

Susan Ebenston has joined Aviva Investors, the UK fund management house with of £241bn in assets under management, as Chief Operating Officer from Australia’s Westpac Group where she was Chief Compliance Officer. Prior roles include board positions as Head of Global Fund Services for J.P. Morgan Bank and Chief Operating Officer, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.

Hallvard Granheim has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Statkraft, the Norwegian power company that is Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy. Granheim was formerly the company’s Head of Financial Reporting, Accounting and Tax.

Charity Bank, the UK-based social purpose lender which recently received a commitment from Big Society Capital, is seeking to appoint a new Non-Executive Director, who is a qualified accountant and will be a member of the Board’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee.

Operation Noah, the UK church-based fossil fuel divestment campaign group, is seeking a campaigner to help its Bright Now campaign. “If you are a bright, dynamic self-starter, who is passionate about building a positive fossil free future in response to the climate crisis, then we want to hear from you,” the group said.