RI People & Appointments, May 30: ACSI, Hermes, Alecta, Fidelity, Vigeo-Eiris, HSBC

Ian Silk, CEO at A$100bn (€66.8bn) Australian superannuation fund AustralianSuper, has been announced as the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors’ (ACSI) next President, effective August 2017. Silk, who was appointed as a Director of the ACSI board in Feb 2017, replaces Gerard Noonan. ACSI has also announced that Antony Thow, Chief Operating Officer at industry fund LUCRF, will become Deputy President, replacing Trish Donohue of Cbus.

Orla Murphy has been named as Research Director at Hermes Investment Management, the £30.8bn (€35.5bn) asset manager that is owned by the BT Pension Scheme. She joins from Russia-focused VTB Capital and will report into the Head of Investment, Eoin Murray.

Kristina Svanteson has been named Head of Scandinavian Market at Vigeo-Eiris, as the ESG research provider announces the opening of its first office in Sweden. Svanteson, who has been with Vigeo and VigeoEiris for more than 9 years, will head the new team out of Stockholm.

Per Frennberg, CIO at €72bn Swedish pension giant Alecta, has quit following a disagreement with CEO Magnus Billing over the firm’s digitalisation strategy, IPE reports. Alecta’s Head of Bonds and Strategy, Tony Persson has been appointed temporary CIO until a replacement for Frennberg has been found. Frennberg has worked at the fund since 1995, and has been CIO and a member of the leadership group since 2009.

Fiona Frick, CEO of Unigestion, the $23bn Swiss investment manager, has joined the 13-strong committee for Strategy and Surveillance of Sustainable Finance Geneva, the organisation for promoting Geneva as a sustainable investment hub. Frick said: “Responsible investment is at the heart of Unigestion’s philosophy and is a priority for us because we are convinced that the integration of ESG criteria in our investment decisions is a duty.”

Dominic Rossi, UK-based Chief Investment Officer for Global Equities at Fidelity International, will step down from his role from January (2018) after a decade with the asset management giant to take a part-time advisory role with the firm, Investment Week reports.

Dan Concannon, former Chief Executive at governance firm GMI Ratings, has joined US predictive analytics firm Versium as Chief Revenue Officer. Concannon, who oversaw the sale of GMI to US index provider MSCI, most recently served as a strategic sales and business development advisor to The London Stock Exchange (LSE).HSBC has confirmed the appointment of former Newton Head of RI Sandra Carlisle (reported by RI last week). Carlisle is one of three new appointments to HSBC Global Asset Management’s expanding Responsible Investment team along with Stephanie Maier, Head of Responsible Investment Strategy & Research at Aviva Investors, and Helene Winch, former Director of Policy and Research at the PRI. All three will report to Melissa McDonald, who leads the asset management group’s equities product and its global initiatives on sustainability.

Niall O’Shea, Head of Responsible Investment at UK fund manager Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), has stepped down from the role after three years, RI has learnt. O’Shea, formerly Head of Responsible Investment at The Co-operative Asset Management (TCAM), joined RLAM in 2013 when it acquired TCAM in a £219m deal. Mike Fox, Head of Sustainable Investments, and Ashley Hamilton Claxton, Corporate Governance Manager, have taken over O’Shea’s responsibilities at the fund manager. According to O’Shea’s LinkedIn page he is currently seeking a new role.

Tim Elliott has been named CFO at Australia’s A$55.4bn First State Super. He was previously chief operating officer and CFO at StatePlus.

Poppy Allonby, UK based Senior Portfolio Manager at Blackrock, has stepped down from her role managing the investment giant’s $2.2bn BGF World Energy and $1.1bn BGF New Energy funds to assume the role of Head of Strategic Product Management for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at the group, Citywire reports. Allonby, who is also a World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, has managed both funds since 2002.

Guy Sears, former interim CEO of the Investment Association, the UK industry trade body, has been appointed Non-Executive Director at UK based Marlborough Group’s independently owned fund house Marlborough Fund Managers and its financial services arm Investment Fund Services Limited.

The US city of Detroit has reportedly named its first Director of Sustainability as Joel Howrani Heeres. Heeres, who was chosen from a field of more than 200 applicants, previously served in the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology. 

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s bank, is recruiting for an Investor Relations Officer to join its Luxembourg based team to conduct analysis, marketing, and briefing to support EIB’s funding.