UKSIF Chief Executive Penny Shepherd to step down

Penny Shepherd, the chief executive of UKSIF, the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, is to step down after some eight years in the role.
She will remain in post until her successor is appointed and plans to remain a lay member of the Professional Regulation Committee of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, become a trustee of a community development charity and potentially take on further advisory or consultancy roles.
Shepherd has been CEO at UKSIF since 2005. She was a member of the government’s Advisory Group for the Green Investment Bank, the first chief executive of the London Sustainability Exchange (2001-2005) and was a member of the Mayor of London’s Sustainable Development Commission.

Shepherd has been one of the leading advocates for sustainable investment and finance in the UK and has taken a leading role in lobbying to enable responsible investment.
“We will be advertising the chief executive role inJanuary with the aim of interviewing in February and appointing as soon as possible after that,” Chairman Martin Clarke said in a message to UKSIF members.
Clarke is also set to step down after he completes his second two-year term. It’s hoped that a new Chair Designate will be in place by next summer to take over from Clarke in 2014.
“I’m sure you will join me in due course in thanking Penny for all that she has achieved for UKSIF,” Clarke wrote.
“Meanwhile, her role will remain unchanged for the next few months as together we all work to advance sustainable investment and finance in 2013.”
Shepherd told Responsible Investor: “As the world in general and the UK in particular continues to grapple with the challenges of reforming investment and finance following the financial crisis and in preparation for the challenges ahead, we both believe that UKSIF has a critical role to play and that we will be handing over the organisation in great shape to do this.”