PRI board asset owner election candidates: Xander den Uyl, Trustee, ABP

Name: Xander den Uyl
Title: Trustee
Signatory organisation: ABP (the Netherlands)
Signatory organisation seconding your candidacy: PWRI (the Netherlands)

CANDIDATE STATEMENT
As a long time trade union (and nowadays pensioners) representative on several pension fund boards, I have been active in the field of responsible investment of pension funds since the nineties. I firmly believe that PRI has played and must play an important role in mainstreaming responsible investing for institutional investors. Especially for pension funds as they play such an important role in generating benefits for an aging population. As responsible investment continues to move towards mainstream acceptance, the key challenge for the PRI will be to remain relevant for an increasingly wide range of investors, investment styles and cultures. With my wide experience in this field I can contribute to addressing this challenge. ABP has among others played an important role in developing policies for responsible investment and getting more transparency in investments. I am proud to have been a part of this movement and I believe developments have to continue to find even better ways to responsible investment and in international cooperation of institutional investors. The financial world is truly international and so the drive for applying principles of responsible investment should be worldwide. That is my motivation for my candidacy for the PRI Board.BIOGRAPHY
As vice president of ABP, Xander den Uyl participated in the development of the responsible investment policy of one of the world’s largest pension funds that was adopted in 2007. He gained experience of the journey of integrating ESG into the investment process of a large institutional investor. He learnt about he challenges and the change the organization is going through by truly adopting the policy in the decision making processes and the corporate culture. Den Uyl graduated in economics from the University of Amsterdam in 1978. He joined the Dutch union of public service employees Abvakabo FNV in 1979 as a policy advisor. In 1990 he was elected as a member of the executive board of Abvakabo FNV. In this capacity he has done different jobs, among them; negotiator for the national contracts for employees in state and local government, chief union negotiator for the public service pension scheme and Treasurer of Abvakabo FNV. In 2001 he left the union to become a director of the Province of North Holland. In 2004 he returned to the union when he was elected General Secretary of Abvakabo FNV, a position he has held till 2010. He was vice president of the € 350 bn Dutch public sector pension fund ABP from 1993 till 1997 and from 2007 till 2013. Since April 1st he has returned to ABP as a trustee. He is currently also vice president of PWRI pension fund and overseer for two other Dutch pension funds. Xander den Uyl has a proven strong interest in responsible investment of pension funds. He has been an active member of the Committee on Workers Capital participant to several PRI in Person meetings and also worked as a part time external ESG consultant for APG. Den Uyl is also a member of the overseeing board of “De Samenwerking”, pension fund tor the butcher trade (since 1 July 2014) and President of the overseeing board of the pension fund for employees of notarial law offices.