RI People & Appointments, Nov. 24: Former F&C governance director Dallas joins ICGN

George Dallas has joined the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), the investor-led organisation of governance professionals established in 1995, as Policy Director. Tom Rotherham-Winqvist has been contracted as Education Advisor. Dallas will coordinate ICGN’s governance polices and committees, and will also take an active role in ICGN’s “regulatory outreach”. He has been a member of ICGN since 2000, and chair of its Business Ethics Committee since 2009. He was formerly Director of Corporate Governance at F&C Investments, the UK-based fund firm. Rotherham-Winqvist will explore “strategic partnerships” for the body’s education initiative. He was previously Director for Private Markets Policy at Hermes Equity Ownership Services and its owner, the BT Pension Scheme.

Aviva’s Maurice Tulloch has been appointed Chair of ClimateWise, the insurance industry group focusing on climate change risk. Tulloch, who is Chairman of Aviva Global General Insurance and CEO of Aviva UK & Ireland General Insurance, succeeds John Coomber, the former Group CEO of Swiss Re. Aviva was a founding signatory to the ClimateWise principles in 2007 and has been represented on the Management Committee ever since. ClimateWise is hosted by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

Kevin Uebelein has been named to succeed Leo de Bever as CEO of Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). De Bever announced he was stepping down in April this year. Uebelein, former CEO at Fidelity Investments’ Pyramis Global Advisors and ex-Global Head of Investment Solutions at Fidelity, joins on January 5 and will be relocating to Edmonton. AIMCo, which invests on behalf of 27 pension, endowment and government funds, is part owner, with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, of proxy firm Glass Lewis. Link

Otto Thoresen, acting director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the UK trade body, is to be appointed chairman of workplace pension operator National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). He will replace Lawrence Churchill, who is to step down in February 2015 after five years in the role. Thoresen has led the UK’s insurance lobby group since 2005, and he was chief executive at Aegon Group from 2005 to 2011.

Vladimir Kristijan, President of the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), has been elected as the new Vice President of the European Long-Term Investors Association (ELTI) at the body’s recent general assembly in Prague. Kristijan, who took over at Zagreb-based HBOR in July this year, was previously Supervisory Board Member at Erste Factoring.

Olivier Fortin, Director of Asset Management at CDP Capital France, a subsidy of Canadian public pension fund manager Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ), has joined the board of UK utility South East Water. The company is co-owned by CDP Capital France and Utilities of Australia Pty Ltd. Former Carillion Group Finance Director Chris Girling also becomes a director.

Kurt Holder, who has been serving as interim Chief Executive of KGAL, a Munich-based provider of renewable funds, is leaving the firm at the end of the year for “personal reasons”. He joined KGAL in 2007 as Chief Financial Officer; he will be succeeded by Gert Waltenbauer, who joined KGAL in 1993 and has served as a Managing Director at the company since 2007.Investment consulting firm Mercer is recruiting a Senior Responsible Investment Consultant to lead its Responsible Investment (RI) business in the US. “This person will be experienced in the fields of finance and Responsible Investment, and bring enthusiasm, leadership and industry knowledge to the position,” Mercer says. The role will be based in either Boston or New York and the closing date is November 30. Mercer job site

Barbara Krumsiek, Chair, President, and CEO of Calvert Investments, the US SRI firm, has received the 2014 SRI Service Award at the SRI Conference (the former SRI in the Rockies). The award recognizes one individual each year who demonstrates a range of contributions to the Sustainable, Responsible, Impact (SRI) investment field, including: industry leadership, significant innovations, high standards of ethical conduct, cooperation and communication, and success in expanding the influence of investing for a sustainable future. The award was presented by 2013 recipient, Geeta Aiyer, President and Founder of Boston Common Asset Management. Announcement

Dan Geiger has joined the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the US non-profit organization that provides sustainability accounting standards for use by listed corporations, as Chief of Market Strategy, a new role. Geiger will focus on identifying the services and support that companies, investors, lawyers, and accountants need to use and implement SASB standards. He was formerly Executive Director of the Northern California Chapter of the US Green Building Council, helping companies to adopt the LEED green building certification standard. Most recently, he developed the Building Health Initiative.

Juan Bonifacino has joined CamberView Partners, the recently established San Francisco-based firm which provides engagement services to corporations, as a Principal. He was formerly a senior member of Institutional Shareholder Services’ Mergers & Acquisitions and Proxy Contest Research team. The company is run by Executive Chairman Frank Yeary and Managing Partner Abe Friedman, the former Global Head of Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment at BlackRock. Other figures involved include senior industry figures such as Ken Bertsch, Andrew Letts, Peter Michelsen, Naozer Dadachanji and Blake Grossman. The company is also seeking a Director of Marketing & Communications. Link

Kirsty Collins, Investor Relations Director at GlaxoSmithKline, is leaving the pharma giant to go on sabbatical after nine years at the company. Formerly Global Corporate Responsibility Performance Director, she led engagement with investors that look to integrate ESG and corporate responsibility performance into their investment strategy. Balbir Kelly-Bisla will now take the lead in the department.

Megan Clark, chief executive of Australia’s national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has been appointed to the board of extractives firm Rio Tinto as a non-executive director. A geologist by training, she will join the nominations and sustainability committees.