ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of new hires in the sustainable investing sector, including AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Real Estate UK, Climate Solutions, Willis Towers Watson, Actis, and Persefoni.
AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has appointed Amit Singh Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Engagement, effective immediately. Based in London, he will drive the design, development, implementation and evaluation of AXA IM’s inclusion and diversity strategy globally, reporting to Pascale Demont, Global Head of Talent & Transformation. Singh joined AXA IM in July 2015 as Head of Human Resources for Asia and Japan, having began his career in 2002 at the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales. (AIESEC), a non-governmental non-profit organisation focused on youth development, where he ran the international internship programme. In 2005, he joined DHL and worked in a variety of roles, including Head of Talent Management for India, Head of HR for Sri Lanka & Bangladesh and Director of HR Performance & Programs for Asia Pacific.
BNP Paribas Real Estate UK (BNPRE) has appointed Donna Rourke to the newly created role of Director of ESG. She will be responsible for driving strategy, integrating and embedding ESG into the day-to-day business. She has extensive experience in real estate and sustainability, and will work across the bank’s commercial, residential and rural business lines, as well as with external industry partners. She joins BNPRE from the University College of Estate Management, where she led the marketing, communications and brand team. Before this she worked in a number of commercial real estate, residential property and student accommodation firms. “The real estate sector has a pivotal role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change and creating resilient communities,” she said.
Climate Solutions, the climate-focused capital raising and strategic advisory firm, has appointed Will Howard Davies as Chief Investment Officer. He joins the firm from the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where as Head of Financing Green he led work on the UK’s inaugural sovereign green bonds, green gilts and on the UK Infrastructure Bank. He also contributed to the drafting of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy and the upcoming UK Government Green Finance Strategy. “Achieving global net zero emissions requires an unprecedented flow of capital and stakeholder cooperation,” said Davies. “In government, I saw the vital role that proactively crafted policy and targeted investment plays in helping net zero sectors mature.”
David Singh has joined the consulting and technology business of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in the newly created role of Head of Climate Analytics and Exposure Management. Based in London, he will lead the company’s climate analytics and exposure management activities. Before joining WTW, Singh was Group Head of Exposure & Portfolio Management at global insurer MS Amlin, where he was responsible for the group’s risk aggregation and reporting activities across all its legal entities. Singh has also previously worked at Lloyd’s of London, managing the society’s catastrophe risk appetite and multiple regulatory filings to and from the market. During his time at Lloyd’s he devised and implemented a number of catastrophe model validation concepts and Solvency II returns still used in the market today.
Sustainable infrastructure investment manager Actis has promoted six staff members to partnerships. Scott Choi joined Actis Asia Real Estate in 2018, following the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank’s Principal Finance Real Estate group (PFRE). He has 18 years of experience in investing across property types and risk strategies, specialising in managing development opportunities in Korea. Alberto Estefan has been with the company’s Energy team since 2014 and has been involved with a number of deals in the Americas, including Actis’ investments in Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy, Energuate, Zuma Energia, Atlas Renewable Energy and Saavi Energia. Mauricio Giusti joined Actis six months ago from a number of private capital-backed digital infrastructure businesses, including Phoenix Fibre, PTB and BR Towers. He has extensive operating, consulting and investing experience within the digital infrastructure and telecoms industries. Shami Nissan, a member of the Actis executive committee, now leads Actis’ approach to responsible investment, sustainability and impact. Nissan is also an Advisory Board member of the World Bank/IFC’s Operating Principles for Impact Management and is an Advisory Panel Member of the G7 Impact Taskforce. Lisa Pinsley, who joined Actis in 2016 is Head of Middle East & Africa for Energy. She has more than 20 years’ global experience including prior positions at The AES Corporation, Globeleq and American Capital. Sumit Sen joined Actis’ Long Life Infrastructure in 2017 and is responsible for infrastructure activities in India and Southeast Asia. He has over 20 years of experience across accounting, investment banking and investing in energy, infrastructure and other sectors. Actis also committed this week to aligning its portfolio to net zero by 2050.
Kristina Wyatt has joined climate technology company Persefoni as Deputy General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Global Regulatory Climate Disclosure. She was previously Senior Counsel for Climate and ESG to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. Susan Koehler has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer at the firm, bringing more than 15 years in senior roles with global corporations including Microsoft as well as technology start-ups.
