RI People & Appointments, Sept. 9: Unitarian Universalist Association, Healthcare of Ontario, Danica Pension, Morningstar

Tim Brennan has stepped down as CFO and Treasurer of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), a US-based faith organisation which manages the Unitarian Universalist Common Endowment Fund, a $200m SRI mutual fund open to UU congregations. Under Brennan’s leadership, the UUA engaged portfolio companies over high-profile issues such as corporate climate lobbying and bank account fraud. Brennan will remain with UUA until the end of September, and will subsequently establish a responsible investing consultancy.

Sarah Takaki has been named the Senior Director of Responsible Investment at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), one of Canada’s largest defined benefit schemes, which grew its assets by 2.2% last year to C$79bn (€54bn). She was formerly with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Andy Clarkson has been named Head of Market Operations at Project Heather, which is developing an impact focused exchange in Edinburgh. Formerly Head of Market Operations at Aberdeen Standard Investments, he will work with Helen Webster, Chief Operating Officer. The initiative is headed up by Tomás Carruthers, the former CEO of Interactive Investor and the Social Stock Exchange.

Michele Lemmens, a sustainability specialist at Tata Consultancy Services, will head the new Singapore office of the Global Reporting Initiative, the Amsterdam-based sustainability reporting standards provider.

Karina Litvack, a former Head of Governance and Sustainable Investment at F&C Asset Management (now BMO Global Asset Management), has been named to the 15-strong board of the CFA Institute, the career development network for investment professionals. Litvack, a corporate governance specialist, also sits on the board of Italian oil and gas producer Eni.

Pratima Divgi will join environmental data body CDP as Director of its ASEAN, Hong Kong and ANZ operations. Divgi, an investment manager, joins from Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), where she was most recently involved in developing ESG policy for private equity investments in Asia Pacific, and will be based in CDP’s Hong Kong regional office.

Sara Anzinger has joined ESG real estate software start-up Measurabl from Fitch, where she was Director of Sustainable Finance. She will lead Measurabl’s capital market division. She was previously Managing Director of Real Estate Debt & Fixed Income at GRESB, a green real estate data body. Fitch is actively recruiting for Anzinger’s former role.Dorte Eckhoff, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Denmark’s Danske Bank, has been named Head of Societal Impact & Sustainability at Danica Pension, the €60bn pension subsidiary of Danske Bank.

Libby Bernick has joined data provider Morningstar to lead its ESG team as Head of Sustainability, reporting to research head Haywood Kelly. She will support the recently launched Morningstar Sustainability Rating and Carbon Risk Scores. She was formerly at the S&P-owned analytics company Trucost, where she was Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate Business. Morningstar has been making inroads into the ESG sector with the purchase of proxy-tracking firm Fund Votes last year and the acquisition of a 40% stake in Sustainalytics in 2017.

Tom Steffen has been hired by sustainability specialists Osmosis Investment Management as a Quantitative Environmental Researcher. The London-based Osmosis, which manages $1.5bn in client assets, invests in companies selected on the basis of resource efficiency performance. Steffen will be primarily tasked with refining the efficacy of this framework.

Xiaofei Guo is leaving her role as Vice President of Sustainable Finance at Dutch banking group ING to take up an ESG-related role based in Hong Kong. Guo has been with ING since 2013, including a stint at its Singapore offices. The business unit she headed up recently delivered the world’s first derivative linked to sustainability performance in a controversial deal.

Anna Irmisch has joined Engagement International as Engagement Manager. She joins from ShareAction. Copenhagen-based Engagement International was co-founded in 2014 by Erik Alhøj, the former Managing Director for GES Investment Services in Denmark.

The Office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is seeking a Sustainable Investment and Climate Solutions Program Director for the $210.5bn New York State Common Retirement Fund. The role reports to Fund CIO Anastasia Titarchuk, and will oversee a climate solutions program to which the fund has pledged to allocate $10bn.

Irish Life Investment Management (ILIM), a subsidiary of North American insurance group Great-West Lifeco with over €80bn in assets under management, is seeking a Head of Responsible Investment. The newly created role will be responsible for establishing an organisational “responsible investment culture, strategy and investment processes” at ILIM.