Schroders’ RI Head to leave the company

Richard Stathers, Head of Responsible Investment at Schroders, the £300bn UK fund manager, is leaving the company, RI understands. Stathers has been with Schroders for 15 years.
He is on gardening leave prior to his departure from the fund manager, according to sources.
Stathers could not be reached for comment.
A Schroders spokesperson said: “Rick Stathers is an employee of the firm and we do not comment on our relationship with individual employees.”
Stathers joined Schroders in 2000 to develop its responsible investment process as an analyst before being promoted to the RI lead.
Over that time, Schroders’ RI focus expanded from UK equities out to its global product range. Stathers has oversight of the firm’s global ESG integration and corporate engagement process. A well-known figure in UK responsible investment circles, he has a background in the development and implementation of ethical screens and is a member of Schroders’ internal Corporate Responsibility Committee.
He was also integral to the launch in 2007 of Schroders’ Global Climate Change fund and was a specialist researcher on the fund. In 2014, the fund was merged into Schroders’ QEP Global Core Fund,a broad equity strategy run by a dedicated investment team.
Schroders has continued to produce strategy documents around climate change. Last year, Keith Wade, Chief Economist at Schroders, wrote a series of four articles on the impacts of climate change with a look at its impact on growth and inflation and strategic asset allocation. The article series was a relative rarity from a senior figure within a leading funds house: Link to RI story
Seperately, Schroders is reportedly planning several senior staff changes, including the retirement of Michael Dobson, its CEO. Dobson is set to announce his retirement role after 15 years at the firm on March 3, when the company unveils its latest results, The Times said this week.
The favourite to take over Dobson’s role is Peter Harrison, Head of Investments. Harrison joined Schroders in 2013 after seven years as Chief Executive Officer at fund manager RWC, which is 49% owned by Schroders. During his time at RWC, Harrison oversaw the buy-in to RWC of the Hermes Focus Funds business, which at the time ran $800m for institutional clients via one of the UK’s pioneer activist corporate governance strategies. Harrison was a former Chief Investment Officer at Deutsche Asset Management and JPMorgan Asset Management.