ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of moves and appointments in the sustainable investing sector, including Aviva Investors, T Rowe Price, EQT, Nuveen, M&G, ICI Global and SBTi.
Sam Tripuraneni has been appointed Head of Sustainable Outcomes at UK-based global asset manager Aviva Investors. In the role, Tripuraneni will oversee the firm’s Stewardship and Sustainable Outcomes franchises, encompassing its climate transition, social transition and natural capital transition suite of products. He will also take the lead on enhancing the existing sustainable funds’ philosophy and processes, related data and quantitative research models, and the quantification and delivery of sustainability impacts. In addition, he will be responsible for overseeing ESG thematic research and its integration across liquid market asset classes, and will contribute to the development of new sustainability and impact strategies. Tripuraneni spent seven years at BlackRock, most recently as a director in its sustainable investing team. Based in London, he will report to Mirza Baig, Aviva Investors’ Global Head of ESG Investments, and manage a team of eight sustainability specialists.
Poppy Allonby will join T Rowe Price as Head of ESG Enablement in June from BlackRock, where she was Head of Global Product, EMEA and APAC. In the newly created role, Allonby will join the Baltimore-headquartered asset manager’s ESG Leadership Committee and help execute its ESG strategy, driving cross-functional consistency and coordination of the strategy. She will oversee the firm’s corporate ESG positioning, global ESG product range, regulatory engagement, and go-to-market approach, in alignment with T Rowe Price’s business strategies and ESG investing capabilities. Based in London, Allonby will report to Eric Veiel, Head of Global Equity and member of the management committee with oversight responsibility for the firm’s ESG investing, corporate, and operational activities. At BlackRock, Allonby was also responsible for product strategy, product development and structuring, and ongoing investment oversight for more than 1,000 funds with US$970 billion in assets under management.
Stockholm-based private equity firm EQT has expanded its global sustainability team with the appointments of Tinna Nielsen as Equitable Transformation Lead for Social and Human Sustainability in Copenhagen and Angela Jhanji as Managing Director for Sustainability Integration at EQT Private Capital in New York. Nielsen is an organisational anthropologist with more than 16 years of expertise in helping companies drive social impact and sustainable change. Previously, she worked at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the United Nations, and as a consultant across multiple industries. In her new role, Nielsen will be responsible for overseeing human rights, and diversity, equity and inclusion, and for accelerating initiatives across EQT’s global network of advisors and portfolio companies. Jhanji joins EQT from Grant Thornton, where she was ESG Director and played a pivotal role in launching and leading its US advisory services in ESG and sustainability. At EQT, she will work closely with EQT’s investment professionals, driving integration across the investment lifecycle including advising on potential investment opportunities and due diligence, and accelerating the ongoing sustainability transformations across EQT Private Capital’s 200 portfolio companies.
Nadir Settles will serve as Global Head of Impact Investing and Pamela West as Senior Portfolio Manager, Impact Investing, at Nuveen Real Estate’s new global impact investing sector. The new unit will provide strategies that address some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges in the US, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, supporting growth goals of up to US$15 billion in real estate AUM by 2026. According to Nuveen, the mandate is designed to improve communities by providing supportive services, enhancing residents’ quality of life and financial outcomes, and ensuring affordable, sustainable and climate safe housing, while supporting its commitment to making its global property portfolio net zero by 2040. Reporting directly to Global CIO and Head of Investments Carly Tripp, Settles will lead an international team in identifying and pursuing relevant real estate impact investments, while growing the overall sector. West has 25 years of industry experience, including nearly a decade dedicated to deploying capital into affordable housing strategies and addressing social and environmental issues. She will report to Shawn Lese, CIO and Head of Funds Management, Americas at Nuveen Real Estate.
Rana Modarres has joined M&G Investments as Impact Director within the firm’s Catalyst team. Modarres, who has nine years’ experience in social and impact investing, will be responsible for implementing the Catalyst impact strategy across its focus sectors and geographies. Joining from Oxfam GB, where she was Director of Investing and Social Impact, she will work with M&G’s investment teams and portfolio companies to deliver impact in line with fund objectives and measured and reported in line with the highest market standards. M&G’s Catalyst strategy, led by Alex Seddon, is investing up to £5 billion into innovative privately-owned global businesses working to create a more sustainable world. The strategy has three core focuses – climate, healthcare and inclusion. Prior to Oxfam, Modarres worked at Lehman Brothers Investment Management and Barclays Wealth within the private wealth management business.
Eurosif Executive Director Victor van Hoorn is to lead the European operations of ICI Global, the international arm of the Investment Company Institute, a representative body for investment funds. Van Hoorn has led Eurosif, which represents European institutional investors and financial service providers on sustainable investment issues, since 2020. “Victor’s experience in advocating before European policymakers will be invaluable as ICI Global expands its presence in Brussels and broadens its engagement in the EU on behalf of our members and investors around the world,” said Michael Pedroni, Chief of ICI Global. “We are excited to benefit from Victor’s sustainability expertise and his thought leadership across a range of financial policy areas when he joins our team in Brussels this autumn.” Previously, van Hoorn headed financial services public affairs for an international communications firm and has worked on capital markets issues in commercial law practice.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has announced the departure of two of its co-founders, Cynthia Cummis and Heidi Huusko. In a blog post, recently appointed CEO Luiz Amaral said that Cummis had played a “critical role” in designing the SBTi and its core functions, noting in particular her contribution to the development of the SBTi’s target validation criteria. He added that the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign – which encouraged firms to set stiffer emissions reduction targets – “could not have been realised” without Huusko’s dedication. Fellow co-founder Alberto Carrillo Pineda moves to the role of Chief Technical Officer. SBTi was founded by CDP, the UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature to validate and advise on the setting of science-based emissions reduction strategies by corporates and financial institutions.
