RI People & Hires, Sept. 17: Eiris Head of Client Service leaves/APG hires for natural resources

Mairead Hancock, Head of Client Services at EIRIS, the London-based ESG research house, has left the firm. It is not known if she has taken a position elsewhere. A spokesman for EIRIS confirmed Hancock’s departure after more than 11 years with the company, latterly managing a 10-strong client services team. Eiris is currently in the process of identifying a replacement for Hancock.

Valéry Lucas-Leclin, SRI Analyst at Merrill Lynch and one of Europe’s top rated ESG analysts has returned to his native France after just over two years working out of Merrill’s London office. Lucas-Leclin returns to work for Merrill from Paris where he was previously based as co-head of the SRI research team at Société Générale with Sarbjit Nahal, who also joined Merrill in September 2010, but remains in London.

APG, the Dutch pension asset manager with around €311bn in assets under management, is seeking to hire a Senior Portfolio Manager Natural Resources. The Amsterdam-based role will be responsible for a global portfolio comprising agriculture, forestry, mining, energy and gas. “You will be joining a team that is currently under development,” APG says. The candidate must have a “strong affinity for sustainability”.

Meanwhile APG has named Petri Hofsté as chief financial and risk officer (CFRO). She will join from February 2013 – taking over from Peter Kok, who is in the role on an interim basis. Hofsté is currently director of banking supervision at the Dutch Central Bank.

Elizabeth Corrado has joined UK-based social finance intermediary ClearlySo as a senior director to take responsibility for capital raising and for providing financial advice to social businesses. She has had a 20-year career in investment banking. George Pickford joins from Royal Bank of Scotland and will be responsible for relationships with institutional investors and for raising capital from banks, funds, foundations and family offices. ClearlySo has been approved as a provider for the government’s new Investment and Contract Readiness Fund.

Ash Williams, executive director and chief investment officer of the Florida State Board of Administration, has been re-appointed to another term on the board of the Managed Funds Association (MFA). The MFA represents hedge fund and managed futures firms managing approximately seventy-percent of industry assets. William Goodell, chief operating officer of Maverick Capital was re-elected chair of the body. Link

Lindsay Tomlinson, the former chairman of the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and ex-Vice Chairman of Barclays Global Investors, has joined Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) as a non-executive director. He is a former director of the Financial Reporting Council and a retired Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.Thomas Lafarie, Head of partnerships at Paris-based Novethic, the ESG media and research company, part of the Caisse des Dépôts group, has left the company to join an entrepreneurial project in an unrelated sector. Lafarie had been with Novethic for 18 months.

Sustainability advocacy group Ceres and fund manager Trillium Asset Management are seeking nominations for the sixth annual Joan Bavaria Award. Submissions will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on December 31. The award is named after pioneering SRI figure Joan Bavaria who died in 2008. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2013 Ceres Conference taking place May 1-2 at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The 2012 award went to Tessa Tennant, President and co-founder of The Ice Organisation. Link

Carol Hawkey has been appointed as Head of Rural Asset Management at the £5.2bn Church Commissioners, which runs the assets of the Church of England. She will be responsible for overseeing more than 100,000 acres of investment farmland throughout England, together with the Commissioners’ mineral interests. She joins from property consultancy Bidwells, where she was a partner. Announcement

Andrew Beebe has resigned as chief commercial officer of New York-listed Suntech Power Holdings, the world’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic panels. It follows news that company founder Dr. Zhengrong Shi has stepped down as chief executive officer to become executive chairman and chief strategy officer. Link

Wesley McCoy has rejoined fund manager Standard Life Investments as an Investment Director in the Global Equities Team. Having joined Standard Life Investments in 1999, he left in 2008 to pursue charity work in Malawi with the Microloan Foundation. Since his return, Wesley has worked for Odey Asset Management.

Kara Hurst has been appointed Executive Director of the Sustainability Consortium, the group which creates sustainability standards for consumer products, according to reports. She is a former vice president at BSR and succeeds Bonnie Nixon, who stepped down in February after less than a year in the role.

Dutch health and social care pension fund PGGM is seeking to recruit a Senior Risk Manager and a Team Manager Listed Equities Bonds & Settlements. Link

A4ID, Advocates for International Development, is seeking a new Head of Communications and Policy. A4ID is a UK-based charity which aims to ensure that legal support is available for all those involved in the fight against poverty.