ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of new hires in the sustainable investing sector.
John Galloway has been named the Global Head of investment Stewardship by Vanguard Group, succeeding Glenn Booraem who will remain a senior advisor. Galloway heads a 35-strong team, one of the largest stewardship units globally. “Over the coming months, we will make clear our expectations for board and workforce diversity, climate change risk, and will engage with companies to better understand how Covid-19 has shaped their views of systemic risk,” said Galloway. According to a company statement, Booraem will take on additional responsibilities, helping the firm “understand changing client perspectives and navigate the evolving regulatory and disclosure environment”.
Aberdeen Standard Investments has hired Alexis Crusey as Investment Director for ESG and impact investment solutions with the firm’s private markets business. Crusey joins ASI from LeapFrog Investments, an impact investing private equity manager, where she spent seven years, culminating in the position of Senior Manager. She has ten years’ experience in ESG and impact investing, with a focus on investor relations, business development and product design and distribution. ASI’s private markets team over £18 billion in assets.
Matt Christensen has joined Allianz Global Investors as Head of Sustainable Impact Investing. Christensen’s responsibilities will include growing impact investments in private markets and the integration of ESG across the range of Allianz’s products. Christensen joins Allianz from AXA Investment Managers where he spent almost a decade as Global Head of Impacts and Responsible Investment, implementing and developing an impact investment programme and integrating ESG criteria across asset classes and multi asset solutions. Christensen was the founding director at Eurosif, the European responsible investment think tank.
John Kisenyi has joined Mirabaud Asset Management as Senior ESG analyst in the firm’s global equity team. Kisenyi will work alongside Anu Narula and Paul Middleton to further develop Mirabaud’s sustainable global equity strategy. Prior to the move, Kisenyi spent ten years as an investment consultant, most recently with Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.
Goldman Sachs has re-hired Ken Pontarelli to lead a group focused on investment opportunities in clean energy, waste and other sustainability-related industries. Ponterelli had previously left Goldman in 2017 to start investment firm Mission Driven Capital Investment (MDIC). Goldman has also recruited Lelita Webster and Jeff Possick, former managing directors at MDIC. Webster was the Chief Sustainability Officer and Partner at MDIC while Possick led investments in food, waste and water sectors. The new group has been created as part of a ten-year commitment by Goldman to invest US$750 billion in sustainable finance.
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has appointed Tony Rooke to the new position of Head of Climate Transition Risk at the firm’s Climate and Resilience Hub. Rooke was previously Global Director for Disclosure at CDP, where he was responsible for the world’s leading environmental disclosure platform. In his new role, Rooke advise clients on how to navigate and thrive in the transition to a low carbon economy and contribute to the innovation of new services and products across WTW’s investment, risk and human capital businesses. Rooke said: “The low carbon transition is a huge opportunity for all to invest in and adapt business models with the financial services sector at the heart of making this transition happen.”
