RI People & Appointments, Oct. 7: TIAA-CREF’s governance director Wilson leaves

John Wilson has stepped down as Director of Corporate Governance at TIAA–CREF, the US provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields which has $523bn (€385.3bn) in assets under management. Wilson, who leaves after more than five years, was formerly Director of Socially Responsible Investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services. He is also a past Vice-Chair of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and was a founding advisory committee member of the International SRI Working Group. He is available for project work via email

Simon Romijn, the former Mercer and Sustainable Asset Management (now RobecoSAM) executive, has been named as Australia and New Zealand representative of GES, the engagement services provider
 for institutional investors. Sydney-based Romijn, who heads ESG firm Transcap, is a director of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).

Brianna Murphy has joined the Shareholder Advocacy team at Trillium Asset Management. Murphy, who joined the sustainable fund firm’s client service team in 2010, was previously a portfolio administrator at US Bank in trust services. Her appointment follows the departure of former Vice President of Shareholder Advocacy and Corporate Engagement Natasha Lamb, who has joined Arjuna Capital. Link

Joseph Jelincic and Michael Bilbrey are the preliminary winners to fill two Member-At-Large seats on the Board of Administration for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) according to unofficial results. They will serve four-year terms that begin on January 16, 2014.

Bernd Würfel, deputy chief executive of Swiss private bank J. Safra Sarasin’s German business has resigned, according to a report in Handelsblatt citing industry sources. He was working under Nils Ossenbrink, who took over as CEO of the German business following the departure late last year of Frank Niehage. Handelsblatt did not give a specific reason for Würfel’s departure. Sarasin declined to comment to RI.

Gunilla Nyström has been named as the new chief executive of Swedish fund company AMF Fonder, part of the AMF pension group co-owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. She joins from SEB and takes over from Anders Oscarsson.Nancy Adler has been named Head of Marketing at corporate governance advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). She reports to ISS’s Head of Business, Stephen Harvey. She joins from Crain’s New York Business, where she was Head of Sales and Marketing; she also had senior roles in nine years at Dow Jones & Co. She takes over from Cheryl Gustitus, who recently joined rival firm GMI Ratings. Link

The Social Impact Investment Task Force, the body launched by UK Prime Minster David Cameron at the G8 meeting in London in June 2013, has announced the members of the US National Advisory Board (NAB). The board will be chaired by Matt Bannick, managing partner of Omidyar Network, and Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder of Social Finance US.

Bill McNabb, chairman and CEO at US fund giant Vanguard, has been elected chairman of the Investment Company Institute, the fund industry lobby group, for a one-year term. The ICI was formed in 1940 to encourage adherence to high ethical standards by all industry participants, advance the interests of funds, their shareholders, directors, and investment advisors and promote public understanding of mutual funds and other investment companies.

Jean Huby has left his role as CEO of Areva Wind, the wind arm of French nuclear power group Areva, after two years, according to reports. He has been replaced by Arnaud Bellanger who was a vice president for purchasing in the nuclear division of the company.

Bruce McNamer has been named as the new Head of Global Philanthropy and chief executive of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. He was most recently President and CEO of TechnoServe, a nonprofit organization that works with people in the developing world. Dalila Wilson-Scott, Managing Director of Global Philanthropy at the bank, has been appointed president of the foundation. Announcement

The Big Local Trust, the UK community charity with a National Lottery grant of around £200m (€237m), is seeking co-opted investment sub-committee members. The trust’s fund manager is CCLA and the application deadline is November 29.