RI People & Appointments, November 7: UN PRI marketing chief steps down

Surinder Hundal, Director of Communications and Marketing
 at the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) has resigned after just four months at the initiative. At the PRI Hundal worked closely with the leadership team to support PRI’s strategy and initiatives world-wide. A spokeswoman for the PRI said Hundal had left for personal reasons and that a replacement was likely to be announced later this year. Prior to joining PRI in July 2011, Hundal led communications at the International Business Leaders Forum.

Falko Paetzold, Senior Sustainability Analyst at Vontobel, the Swiss fund manager, has taken a new position within the firm’s in-house consulting team for strategic issues. Paetzold had been involved in a project to integrate ESG across the fund manager, which has now been finalized.

Gerald McEntee is retiring from his role as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Mentee, 76, told members in a letter he would not be standing for re-election at its annual convention next year. He will also step down as chairman of the $850m AFSCME Employees Pension Plan. Link

Diana Noble has been named as the new chief executive of CDC, the UK’s development finance institution. She was most recently Executive Vice President at the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative and is a former partner at Schroder Ventures (later Permira). She takes over from Richard Laing. Link

Geoff Burnand and Adam Frost have been elected to the board of UKSIF, sustainable and responsible investment organisation. Burnand is chief investment officer at Charity Bank and Frost heads governance and environmental and social research at Sarasin & Partners.
Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, has named Chairman of the Financial Stability Board, the international agency dedicated to building a more resilient and efficient global financial system. The three-year appointment was confirmed at the G-20 meeting last week.Michele Burns, the former chairman and CEO of consulting firm Mercer, has joined Goldman Sachs’ board of directors. She will sit on the investment bank’s Audit, Risk, Compensation and Corporate Governance and Nominating committees. Burns is already on the boards of Cisco Systems and Wal-Mart. She is also Treasurer of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Announcement

Christopher Elias has been named president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program. Elias is currently president and chief executive officer of PATH, a Seattle-based NGO focused on health issues. Announcement

Jack Ehnes, CEO of the $146.6bn California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has been awarded the 2011 Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) Lillywhite Award. “Jack is a tireless advocate for the long-term security of retirement benefits and responsible investing,” said Teachers’ Retirement Board Chair Dana Dillon. Link
Gerard Mertens, corporate governance specialist and Dean of Faculty of Management Sciences at the Open Universiteit Heerlen, has been appointed a director of Expert Corporate Governance Service Ltd., according to a filing at Companies House. ECGS is the governance network that recently changed its name from European Corporate Governance Service.

Claire Thomas, the senior vice president responsible for GlaxoSmithKline’s environmental sustainability strategy, has been appointed a non-executive director of the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change. Announcement

Norges Bank Investment Management has advertised vacancies for Senior Researchers – Financial Economics. “We are especially interested in financial economists whose research focus on Empirical Asset Pricing, Market Microstructure and Corporate Finance/Corporate Governance.” The positions will be based in Oslo, London or New York. Meanwhile, the Norwegian Finance Initiative (NFI) has introduced a PhD scholarship programme in areas relevant to the long-term management of the Government Pension Fund. Link