RI People & Appointments, March 17: RobecoSAM names new client specialists

Lucas van Berkestijn and Cécile Churet have been named as Sustainability Investing (SI) Client Specialists at RobecoSAM, the sustainability boutique. The new roles will act as a “bridge” between institutional clients looking for new ways to integrate financially material ESG factors across all asset classes and RobecoSAM’s research and product development. Prior to joining RobecoSAM, van Berkestijn spent three years at index firm STOXX Ltd. He was at ASSET4 before that. Churet joined the firm in 2008; before that she was an SRI Analyst at HSBC Global Asset Management in London.

Bartlin Schöpflin has been named as a managing director at Swiss private bank Notenstein’s new German unit based in Munich, where he joins fellow MD Frank Wettlauffer. They have joined from the German unit of J. Safra Sarasin. At Sarasin, Schöpflin was a sales executive, responsible for pension funds and insurers, and before then he was institutional sales head at Baring Asset Management in Frankfurt. According to an official filing, Notenstein was given permission to open its Munich office late last December.

Achim Steiner has had his term as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) extended for two years. Before joining UNEP, Steiner was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from 2001 to 2006, and prior to that as Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.

Richard Gray has been named as chief client officer at activist investment house Engaged Capital. Gray was formerly a managing director at JPMorgan Asset Management, responsible for business development in its global alternative investments business.

Paul Richings has joined Bridges Ventures, the UK-based social investment firm with £340m (€407m) under management, as Chief Financial Officer. He joins from Langholm Capital. Bridges’ Sustainable Growth Funds team has been expanded with three appointments: Oliver Wyncoll (Partner), Khidhr Shafiq (Associate) and Mark Blower (Director).

Michael Fein has joined Okapi Partners, the US-based proxy solicitation and investor response firm, as Senior Managing Director. Fein, who joins from Midway Management Partners, will lead business development.

Valborg Lie, the former Special Adviser on Asset Management at Norway’s Ministry of Finance, where she was chiefly responsible for coordinating and developing the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s responsible investment activities, has now launched her own sustainable investment consulting firm called Borg Consulting Ltd.Danish labour market pension fund ATP has welcomed the appointment of Thomas Thune Andersen as the new chairman of DONG Energy. ATP has a 5% stake in DONG, the world’s largest offshore wind park builder and operator.

Jennifer Stillman has been appointed as Director, Consultant Relations, at Hermes Fund Managers, the asset manager that’s owned by the BT Pension Scheme. Based in London, she will report into Harriet Steel, Global Head of Business Development. She was previously Head of Business Development for Nightscape Capital.

Nicole Favretto has been named as Marketing Manager at voluntary carbon credits platform Carbon Trade Exchange. She was formerly Corporate Marketing Manager at Coutts & Co in the UK. Announcement

Elisa de Wit and Andrew Grant have been appointed to the board of the Carbon Market Institute, the Australian membership-based not-for-profit organisation. De Wit is the leader of Norton Rose Fulbright Australia’s climate change practice. Grant was most recently chief executive of CO2 Group Ltd. Link

Stuart Palmer has been named as the new Head of Ethics at Australian Ethical Investment, the listed sustainability investment specialist. His role will include working with the company’s ethical advisers CAER and the investment team to further develop the company’s ethical investment frameworks. He was most recently with the St. James Ethics Centre. He is a former partner at law firm Middletons Moore & Bevins and Head of Asset Securitisation at ABN AMRO Australia.

Catherine Howarth, CEO of campaign group ShareAction, has been named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2014.

David Styles has been appointed Director of Corporate Governance at the Financial Reporting Council, the UK watchdog. He joins from the government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where he has worked in the Corporate Law and Governance Directorate and led implementation of departmental policy on directors’ remuneration, shareholders’ rights and corporate governance.

The St Pauls Institute, the initiative of St Paul’s Cathedral in London which focuses on engagement with the financial services sector, is seeking a Director to lead it in the next phase of its development. “We are looking for someone who wishes to take a thought-leadership role in … the relationship between finance, economics and the common good,” the job ad states. The closing date is March 24.