ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of new hires in the sustainable investing sector, including BNPP AM, Federated Hermes, Nuveen, Persefoni and Clarion Partners.
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has made a number of stewardship and sustainability research appointments within its Sustainability Centre. Rachel Crossley has been appointed Head of Stewardship in Europe, based in London. Crossley has more than 25 years of sustainability and stewardship expertise, working closely with organisations such as the Access to Nutrition Initiative and the Climate Group. She will report to Michael Herskovich, Global Head of Stewardship. Also based in London, Malika Takhtayeva has been appointed Sustainable Fixed Income Lead, EMEA. Takhtayeva was at Moody’s Investors Service for six years as an ESG Finance Credit Analyst. Before that, she was an Emerging Markets Credit Analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and worked in the Fixed Income Debt Capital Markets Ratings advisory team at ABN AMRO. She will report to Alex Bernhardt, Global Head of Sustainability Research. In Paris, Thibaud Clisson has been appointed Climate Change Lead. He joined BNPP AM in 2009 and has been working as Senior ESG Analyst, responsible for the utilities, materials, and energy sectors, as well as developing approaches to measure carbon risk and integrating ESG considerations within private markets. He will also report to Bernhardt. Robert-Alexandre Poujade has been appointed Biodiversity Lead, also to be based in Paris. Poujade joined BNPP AM in 2011 and has been an ESG Analyst since 2015, focusing on natural capital, ocean economies and biodiversity. He will also report to Bernhardt. Staying in Paris, Delphine Riou has been appointed Inclusive Growth Lead. She joined BNPP AM as an ESG Analyst in 2017, having held similar roles at Natixis and Covéa Finance. Her previous roles include Operations Officer at IFC and World Bank and Financial Controller at PSA Peugeot Citroen group. She will cover the industrial and automobile sectors. “The Sustainability Centre is at the heart of BNPP AM’s drive to improve the quality of, and access, to ESG data amid a challenging regulatory environment in which sustainability is growing in importance and coming under mounting scrutiny,” said Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Sustainability at BNPP AM. “These latest appointments strengthen our capabilities in order to deliver our roadmap.”
The International Business of Federated Hermes announced Olivia Lankester joined its global emerging markets equities team as Responsible Investing & Sustainability Director, reporting to Kunjal Gala, Lead Portfolio Manager. Joining this week, Lankester will work with the team on responsible investing, ESG integration and engagement efforts at a portfolio level. As part of this work, she will develop the team’s ESG analysis, determine whether portfolio companies are prepared for climate change risks and align companies to the UN SDGs. Lankester will work with EOS, the firm’s stewardship team with US$1.7 trillion assets under administration. Lankester has over 20 years of experience in sustainability, most recently as Senior Director of Social Impact & Responsibility at the Lego Group. She was also a strategic advisor on the Lego Group’s sustainability strategy, covering brand purpose, social impact investment, responsible sourcing and circular economy. She previously worked at Monsoon Accessorize as Head of Corporate Responsibility, responsible for developing and implementing responsibility strategy for the retailer, and was also at F&C Asset Management, covering pharma, food, retail, ICT and Emerging Markets, as Associate Director of Governance and SRI.
Global asset manager Nuveen has enlarged its real estate and real assets sales team with three new hires. Charlotte Daelemans has joined as a Managing Director in the UK sales team, and a further two new hires were made in Germany, Liora Walter, a Director, and Marco Stadler, an Associate. Nuveen recently announced it is enhancing its Real Assets platform, by bringing together its private real asset capabilities and launching two new business units. Prior to joining Nuveen, Daelemans was an Institutional Director at AMP Capital, where she spent five years specialising in fundraising, in both listed and private markets, and client relationship management. Between 2011 and 2016, Daelemans worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, most recently as an Executive Director in Institutional and Wholesale Distribution. The newly structured Nuveen Real Assets platform will consist of capabilities in real estate, farmland, infrastructure, timberland, agribusiness, and commodities. These will be organised under three pillars, including two newly launched units: Nuveen Natural Capital and Nuveen Infrastructure. Walter and Stadler both started at the Frankfurt office on 1st September and will cover Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. As Director and Real Estate Specialist for the Central Europe Global Client Group at Nuveen, Walter will support institutional investors in the region on identifying suitable investment solutions in the real estate segment. She previously worked at AIF Capital Group in institutional sales and business development. Stadler comes from DIC Asset AG, where he supported institutional investors in the real estate and infrastructure segments. At Nuveen, he will work as Associate and Real Estate Specialist for the Central Europe Global Client Group. All three hires report to Gabi Stein, Head of EMEA Real Estate and Real Assets Specialists for the Global Client Group.
Climate management and accounting platform Persefoni has announced its expansion into the UK, appointing Anne Reaney Co-Founder of Persefoni UK & Head of Sales, EMEA. As Co-Founder, Reaney will lead the firm’s growth across all go-to-market channels, including direct sales, solution development and partnerships, and ensuring regional product development and customer success. Prior to joining Persefoni, Reaney led European sales for TruValue Labs, where she worked with financial institutions on ESG integration strategies. Before that, she spent 12 years at hyper-growth financial services firm IHS Markit, where she most recently led Enterprise Data Management technology sales across the UK & Nordic regions. Reaney has also worked across numerous data and technology businesses, covering credit, private markets, and fixed income. “On the heels of our US$101 million Series B funding round, we are proud to be taking the next step in our global expansion with the establishment of our UK team,” said Kentaro Kawamori, CEO of Persefoni. “Anne’s expertise at the intersection of data makes her a natural fit to spearhead this journey to help build transparency into decarbonisation actions in the UK and EMEA.”
Karen Mahrous has joined real-estate-specialist asset managers Clarion Partners as a Senior Vice President and Head of ESG. Mahrous will be based in the firm’s New York office and report to Jeb Belford in his new capacity as CIO. Mahrous will work to implement the firm’s commitment to the Urban Land Institute’s Net Zero by 2050 Greenprint programme and strengthen Clarion’s alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, she will work with the asset management team to pursue carbon reduction programmes across all sectors in their portfolio and be responsible for supporting Clarion’s industrial team in implementing its new prototype for the US Green Building Council’s LEED certification programme for new industrial development. She will also work with the firm’s HR department to manage diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including supporting the PREA SEO and Christo Rey minority internship programmes. Mahrous joins Clarion from CodeGreen Solutions, an energy and sustainability consultancy firm specialising in the real estate industry, where she led a corporate sustainability team that provided ESG strategic reporting. “We are thrilled to welcome Mahrous to Clarion at this time as we seek to expand our rigour around the ESG space,” said Clarion Partners CEO Dave Gilbert.
