RI People & Appointments, Nov. 21: GPIF investment chief Mizuno elected to board of PRI

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Hiromichi Mizuno, Executive Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund has been elected to the board of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) as an asset owner representative. The PRI Board elections closed on November 11 and the other open owner position went to Eva Halvarsson, Chief Executive Officer of Andra AP-fonden, the Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2). Peter Webster, Director of International Affairs at ESG research firm Vigeo Eiris was elected to the one open service provider slot. The three elected Board directors start their three-year terms on January 1.

Caroline Le Couteur, Executive Director at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) has left the campaign group having been elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Anna Georgieva has joined the PRI from Trucost. At the PRI she will be Manager, Investment Practices – Fixed Income where she manages the PRI’s fixed income workstream. She was previously a Senior Analyst at the environmental data company that’s now part of S&P Global. Georgieva was part of a team delivering the Natural Capital Protocol Food and Beverage Sector Guide on behalf of the Natural Capital Coalition. She has also co-authored a number of publications for organisations including the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC).

Mark Fawcett, Chief Investment Officer with NEST Corporation, the UK workplace pensions provider, has been appointed Chairman of EDHEC-Risk Institute’s International Advisory Board. The 35-strong board advises the relevance of the institute’s research programs. Fawcett said he will aim at continuing to deliver actionable insights for asset owners and managers with a view to generating better returns for investors. Fawcett succeeds Tomas Franzén, former Chief Investment Strategist with AP2 and Founder of Franzen Advisory.

Anna Borg has been appointed Senior Vice-President for Business Area Markets at Vattenfall, a Swedish state owned energy company. She is currently as Senior Vice-President and head of Klarna’s commercial operations in the Nordic markets. She succeeds Stefan Dohler, now CFO at Vattenfall. Announcement*Joe Keefe, CEO of Pax World Funds*, will be named the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise 2016 Social Innovator of the Year at its annual event held on December 1. The event will include a discussion from Keefe and Deborah Merrill-Sands, dean of the Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics on the substantial body of research showing that where women are empowered, economies perform better, and where women are better represented in corporate leadership, businesses perform better. Link

The former CEO of US renewables giant First Solar has taken the helm at the board of an energy storage firm. Jim Hughes, who headed First Solar for four years, is now chairman at EOS Energy Storage, a company that works on low-cost battery storage.

BESTrustees, the UK independent trustee firm, has hired Peter Esam, Bob Hymas and Christopher Wheeler for its executive team. Esam retired earlier this year from law firm Travers Smith, where he worked for two decades focusing on pension schemes. Hymas was most recently Chief Finance Officer of the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund. Wheeler has been a pension trustee for seven years, as well as holding finance director and HR director roles. Link

The UK Treasury’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has appointed Matthew Vickerstaff as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Project Finance. He joins from impact investor ClearlySo where he was Head of Impact Investment Banking. He has also held roles at Society Generale. In a statement the Treasury said the move reflected the importance the government places on securing private sector investment to fund the country’s infrastructure.

Paul Gill is joining the pension-backed Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) as an Investment Manager. PiP is owned by industry body the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association and Gill, who was previously with Lloyds Banking Group Asset Management, will report into Chief Investment Officer Ed Wilson.

Investment Managers are being sought by the European Investment Fund for its Innovation & Technology Investments department. They operate within the EU Private Equity sector, across the segments of Impact Investment, Business Angels, Technology Transfer and Venture Capital.