RI People & Appointments, October 13: New role for World Bank climate change director Miller

Stephanie Miller, the World Bank Group Director for Climate Change, focused on supporting its IFC arm’s “climate-smart investments” and private sector engagement has been appointed Director of the Western Europe Department at the IFC. The role, which covers relations with 20 Western European countries, the European Union, and Israel, is based in Paris and took effect on October 1. During her tenure, the IFC’s share of climate-friendly business in developing countries reached a record $2.5bn in fiscal year 2013. Christian Grossmann, the former Director of the Corporate Strategy Department at the IFC, is now World Bank Group Director, Climate Change.

Justine Sefton has been named Senior Analyst, Responsible Investment at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Sefton, who was previously Managing Consultant – International Energy & Climate Change at sustainability consultancy Ricardo-AEA, is a former Senior Policy Analyst at New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment.

Chris Verhaegen, the former Secretary General of European pension federation PensionsEurope, is the new chair at Institute for the Equality between Women and Men (IGVM/IEFH), the Brussels-based group, founded in 2002 which researches gender and equality issues.

Henrik Heideby is leaving his role as chief executive of PFA Pension, the Danish life insurance and corporate pension plan provider at the end of the year after 13 years in the post. He plans to expand his portfolio of directorships and consulting services. Chairman Svend Askær said PFA’s Supervisory Board has initiated a process to look for Heideby’s successor, and expects to announce a new CEO “before the end of 2014”.

Martin Davies has been named chief executive, Europe, of Westchester Group, the global farmland asset manager that is majority owned by US financial services giant TIAA–CREF. He will report to CEO Randall Pope and be based in the UK. Davies will be responsible for managing Westchester’s platform in Europe, as well as building the firm’s direct farmland investment business in Europe. He joins from Insight Investment, where was head of farmland investments for the past five years. Link*Professor Yoshihiro Fujii of Tokyo’s Sophia University* Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies in Tokyo has been named a member of the Climate Bonds Advisory Board of industry group the Climate Bonds Initiative. Fujii is also Chair of the Ministry for Environment’s Committee on Market Creation for Promoting Green Investment and Corporate Auditor of Taiyo Life under the umbrella of T&D Holdings. He is a former senior finance journalist at Japan’s leading financial newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and a former visiting scholar at Oxford University.

Dalila Wilson-Scott has been appointed Head of Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase & Co. She will continue as President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. She succeeds Bruce McNamer, who joined last year from TechnoServe, a not-for-profit that links information, capital and markets, where he was president and CEO for nine years. Announcement

David Connor has been named as Director of CSRwire, the corporate social responsibility newswire service. CSRwire was acquired by 3BL Media this past September following its previous acquisitions of Justmeans and SocialEarth. Conner is the founder of CSR consulting firm Coethica. Link

Mary A. Francis has been named as corporate secretary and chief governance officer of oil major Chevron, effective May 1 2015. She succeeds Lydia Beebe, who is retiring after 37 years with the company. Francis, who joined Chevron in 2002, has been chief corporate counsel since 2012. Announcement

Menno Derks has been made a partner at Sarona Asset Management, the boutique frontier and emerging markets private equity firm that was spun out of Mennonite Economic Development Associates Inc. in 2011. Derks, formerly with Dutch pension investor PGGM and development bank FMO, will continue as Managing Director Fund Investments. Link