RI People & Appointments, Oct. 22: UBS nabs Unilever pension’s Bail-Lancee

Karianne Bail-Lancee has left Unilever’s pension fund to become Director of Sustainable and Impact Investing at UBS Asset Management’s London branch. As Senior Pension Investments and Global Sustainability Manager at Unilever, she helped develop its Sustainable Impact Fund, exclusive to Unilever pensions.
Adam Kanzer, former Managing Director of Corporate Engagement at Domini Impact Investments, has become Head of Stewardship for the Americas at BNP Paribas Asset Management. Kanzer held his position at Domini for over two decades and will remain based in New York.
Calvert Research and Management’s ESG team has swelled with the hire of four senior analysts, including two former US Government advisors, Daniel Dorman and Daniel Rourke, who worked in the Treasury and Department of Agriculture, respectively. Hellen Mbugua, ex- Senior Associate at US giant State Street, and John Patrick Miller, an advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also join the Eaton Vance Management subsidiary. Based in Washington, all will report to Jessica Milano, Director of ESG Research.
Danielle Melis will replace Chris Hodge as Chair of the review of the Best Practice Principles for the Shareholder Voting Research. The review seeks to update the Principles, with a focus on accommodating the transparency requirements outlined in the new EU Shareholder Rights Directive. Melis is a member of the Board of the General Pension Fund and a non-executive board member at Kempen Capital Management Investment Funds, the Pension Fund for Medical Specialists and Blue Sky Holdings. She is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network’s Shareholders Responsibilities Committee and was Chair of the Nyenrode Corporate Governance Institute.
Specialist pension and benefits communications agency, Ferrier Pearce, has appointed Laura MacPhee as senior client relationship manager, joining two other new recruits as part of the firm’s development. Laura, recently short-listed for the ‘Rising Star’ at the ‘Women in Pensions Awards’ 2018, joins the London-based team at the end of October after three years at the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has named Laura Kelly as director of its Shaping Sustainable Markets research group, which drives the thinktank’s efforts to ensure that markets contribute to positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes. She joins from UK Department for International Development (DFID), where she most recently led work on business engagement; she is also visiting professor in practice at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics.Erik Thedéen, Director General of Swedish market regulator Finansinspektionen, is to chair a new Sustainable Finance Network at IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions. The network will provide a platform for IOSCO’s members to share their experiences and discuss sustainability-related issues, FI said – adding the new network was “formed at the initiative of Finansinspektionen”. Thedéen has previously been CEO for KPA Pension, State Secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Finance and President of Nasdaq OMX Nordic Stockholm.

The Pension SuperFund has reportedly named former rail pensions boss Chris Hitchens as its first board chairman. The SuperFund was set up in May to consolidate the UK defined benefit pension schemes into a “superfund” for employers “who need a more affordable way to fulfil their pension promises” by providing economies of scale. Hitchens was the CEO of RPMI Railpen, the rail industry-wide scheme, and is the current Chair of the £43.7bn (€49.5) local authority pension pool Boarder to Coast.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) Sustainable Ocean Initiative is looking to recruit an Expert Group and Advisory Network Liaison Officer, based in London or Washington DC. The successful candidate will develop and implement engagement and outreach strategies for the Expert Group and Advisory Network at the initiative’s High-level Panel on Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
The $24bn San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is recruiting an ESG Investment Analyst. Responsibilities will include analysing ESG risks and opportunities, preparing reports on emerging ESG trends, and performing ESG due diligence of managers.
Responsible business specialist Christine Kaufmann has been appointed Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct (WPRBC), replacing Roel Nieuwenkamp, who recently became the Dutch Ambassador to Argentina. Kaufmann, an academic and former co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Swiss National Contact Point (NCP), the country’s national ‘outpost’ to fulfil OECD commitments, will lead the WPRBC in promoting the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), a climate think tank, has announced a vacancy for a London-based Climate Finance Analyst. Candidates would need to have three years of experience with “climate policy, finance, regulation, and carbon markets”. The position supports the Climate Finance work stream and is concerned primarily with evaluating “national and international climate finance mechanisms and climate and energy policies”.