RI People & Appointments, May 12: Three new board members at Germany’s Oekom Research

Lucia Reisch, Alexander Bassen and Antje Schneeweiß have been appointed to the advisory board of German ESG research firm Oekom. They replace five members of that board, including three founding members – Johannes Hoffmann, Manuel Schneider and Bernd Wagner. Professor Reisch specialises in consumer studies at the Copenhagen Business School, while Professor Bassen lectures on capital markets and corporate governance at the University of Hamburg. Reisch and Bassen are also members of the German government’s advisory panel on sustainability. Schneeweiß, meanwhile, is in charge of socially responsible investments at Südwind, a German NGO. Oekom’s advisory committee currently has a total of nine members. Announcement (German)

ATP, the DKK618bn (€82.7bn) Danish pension giant, has announced the appointment of four new members to its supervisory board. They are: Jan Walter, a director at Arbejdernes Landsbank; Anne Jaeger, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Danish insurer Codan; Finn Larsen, Chairman of the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC); and Anne Broeng from the Confederation of Danish Employers. In a statement, ATP said Walter replaces Ingerlise Buck, an economist, while Jaeger is the successor to Niels Gotfredsen, a Danish finance ministry official. Larsen replaces Erik Jylling, who is also from the AC, while Broeng fills a vacant seat. ATP’s board is comprised of six labour and six employer representatives plus an independent chairman. Announcement (Danish)

Daniel Bruderer, Head of Business Development Global Thematic – Sustainable Investments at Vontobel Asset Management, says he has decided to pursue a career in sustainable banking outside of Vontobel. His role will be taken by Marc Bindschädler with immediate effect. Bindschädler joined Vontobel two and a half years ago. Bruderer joined in 2010; he was previously Head Business Development Asia Pacific at what was then SAM Sustainable Asset Management.

Three new members have joined the Climate Bonds Initiative’s Low-Carbon Transport Technical Working Group. They are: Danang Parikesit, President of the Indonesian Transport Society, Professor of Transportation at Universitas Gadjah Mada and a transport policy advisor to the Indonesian Government; Carol Lee Rawn, Director of the Transportation Program at Ceres; and Nick Owen, principal consultant at E4 tech transport consultants in London. The group is developing eligibility criteria for transport investments under the Climate Bonds Standard. Link*John Wilson has been appointed to the newly created* position of Head of Corporate Governance, Engagement & Research at Cornerstone Capital Group, the new firm founded by Erika Karp, the former Head of Global Sector Research for UBS Investment Bank. Wilson, a former Director of Socially Responsible Investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services, was most recently Director of Corporate Governance at US finance giant TIAA–CREF; he is currently Assistant Adjunct Professor for Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Advisory Council to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and is a past vice chair of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).

Maria Eugenia Casar of Mexico has been named Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She succeeds Rebeca Grynspan, who has taken up a new assignment as Secretary General of SEGIB, the Ibero-American General Secretariat. Casar currently serves as Assistant Secretary-General, Controller and Representative of the Secretary-General for the investments of the assets of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund. Announcement

Alex Gracian, chief investment officer at the £4.8bn (€5.8bn) multi-employer, public sector London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA), has reportedly left to pursue other opportunities after just under two years in the role. He joined the fund in 2012 having previously been head of equity portfolios at the Gulf International Bank.

Matthew Gubb, Senior Chemicals Advisor at the United Nations Environment Programme, has died at his home in France. A New Zealander with a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and Master’s degrees in Political Science and Strategic Studies, he joined UNEP in 2001.

Oxford University Professor Gordon Clark has teamed up with Ashby Monk, Executive Director of Stanford University’s Global Projects Center, to form an institutional investment consulting firm called Clark+Monk Associates. Clark is Director and Professor of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, an Oxford University institute that fosters environmental sustainability among major corporations. Monk is also an advisor to Canadian pension fund AIMCo (Alberta Investment Management Corp.). Link