Raj Thamotheram leaves AXA IM advisory role

Raj Thamotheram, the respected RI specialist, is leaving his position as Senior Advisor for Responsible Investment at AXA Investment Managers. His last day at the company will be June 3. Axa said Thamotheram will dedicate himself to personal projects, notably authoring a book to be released shortly called Preventable Surprises on the lessons investors can learn from the BP oil spill and Fukushima nuclear disasters, and to develop the Network For Sustainable Financial Markets (NSFM), which he co-founded. Thamotheram was previously Head of Responsible Investment at AXA IM from 2006-2009 before he stepped back to the advisory role. Prior to joining AXA, he worked for nine years as a senior adviser for RI at the Universities Superannuation Scheme. He is a well-known figure in RI circles, having helped launch the Institutional Investor Group for Climate Change, Pharma Futures, the Enhanced Analytics Initiative and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. Thamotheram said the Preventable Surprises book reflected his desire to bring together experience from his time working both with an asset owner and an asset manager and the lessons learned that can practically push forward responsible investment.Axa IM recently announced that it had hired Matt Christensen, former Executive Director of the Paris-based European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), as Global Head of Responsible Investment based in its Paris headquarters in La Defénse. Christophe Coquema, member of the AXA IM Management Board and Head of Markets & Investment Strategy, commented, “I want to thank Raj for bringing his energy and vision to AXA IM throughout his time with us. Responsible Investment is now a major, visible and integrated part of our offering, an achievement which we owe largely to him. I wish him the best of luck for the future”. Thamotheram said: “I have a strong sense of confidence about the future of the project that I helped develop: it is in great hands with the arrival, earlier this month, of Matt Christensen. This illustrates senior management’s determination to make RI part and parcel of AXA IM’s investment philosophy practices.” At Axa, Thamotheram created and co-ordinated the fund manager’s “RI Inside” strategy aiming to integrate ESG criteria into all investment decisions and processes and launched new funds including the AXA WF Framlington Human Capital fund.