People Moves: New Chair At €10.5bn Dutch Fund; Senior ESG Hires [updated]

SPH, SVVK-ASIR, SASB, LCP, DNB, Schroders, Wells Fargo, EB-Sustainable Investment Management, AXA IM, Willis Towers Watson, Aviva Investors

SPH – Bram Stegeman has started as chairman of the €10.5bn Dutch occupational pension fund for general practitioners (SPH). He succeeded Johan Reesink, who had been at the helm for six years.

Stegeman – a GP himself – has been treasurer at SPH since 2016. His former role has been taken over by Edwin de Vaal, also a GP. Before he joined the SPH board, Stegeman was trustee at SHV, the lobbying organisation for GPs.

Swiss Association for Responsible Investments (SVVK-ASIR) – Jacqueline Oh will be stepping down as managing director of SVVK-ASIR in June, with a successor to be announced “in due course”, the organisation has announced. 

SVVK-ASIR was established in December 2015 by a group of Swiss institutional investors, including some of the country’s largest pension funds. In a recent engagement report, Hubert Niggli, head of asset management at workplace accident insurer Suva, said its greatest achievement so far was that “we as an association are now perceived as experts in responsible investing across Switzerland”.

In a statement, Oh said: “Now that the key development goals have been achieved, it’s time for a change of leadership.”

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) – Else Bos, supervisory director at De Nederlandsche Bank, has been elected a board member of SASB Foundation, which oversees the sustainability reporting standard-setting organisation. Bos is a former chief executive and chief investment officer at PGGM, the €215bn asset manager and pensions provider for the Dutch healthcare scheme PFZW.

The foundation said Bos was joining at a critical time for the standards, which were recently codified.

Bos said they were the world’s first set of industry-specific sustainability accounting reporting standards and would have “a significant impact on global sustainability reporting, corporate disclosure and performance in the European and global capital markets in the years to come”.

LCP – The UK consultancy has hired Dan Mikulskis as a partner in its investment team. He joins from rival consulting firm Redington where he worked since 2012, latterly as head of defined benefit (DB) pensions. He previously worked at Macquarie and Deutsche Bank, and currently contributes to an industry working group on self-sufficiency, buyout and consolidation, as well as the UK Pensions Regulator’s funding and investment working group. 

Mikulskis said the DB sector was “at an inflection point” with “still a lot of work to be done to define things like ‘self-sufficiency’ and to support schemes to define and achieve their endgame”.

As well as expanding LCP’s DB client base, the company indicated that it wanted to add other long-term investment clients.

Schroders – The UK-listed asset manager has hired Stephanie Chang as environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration manager, a newly-created role. She joins from PwC, where she was an assistant director for sustainability and climate change.

Jessica Ground, global head of stewardship at Schroders, said: “Our clients are increasingly asking for ESG to be embedded into their portfolios and, in turn, we are also constantly seeking to improve how effectively we integrate ESG across Schroders’ investment desks.” 

Schroders has also announced the appointment of a global head of private assets. Georg Wunderlin will assume the role in May. He was most recently chief executive of alternatives manager HQ Capital, having been at one of the alternative manager’s predecessor firms, Audi International, since 2012. 

Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) – Hannah Skeates has been appointed global head of ESG for the US manager. She is based in London and joined WFAM in January from S&P Dow Jones Indices, where she was head of global ESG strategy. Before that she served in various roles at BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors in the US and Europe, including as iShares global head of sustainable investments. She is a senior associate at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

The asset manager has also established a head of stewardship role, which Jessica Mann is taking on in addition to her role as a senior ESG adviser.

EB-Sustainable Investment Management (EB-SIM) – The newly established sustainability asset management arm of Germany’s Evangelische Bank has expanded its portfolio management team. Ralf Müller-Rehbehn has been hired as head of portfolio management for equities. He was most recently co-CIO at an investment boutique focusing on high net worth private clients. He has also worked at Lazard Asset Management Germany, Union Investment and Deka Investment. 

Frank Laufenburg joins the €3.8bn investment house as senior portfolio manager for fixed income. He was most recently at SEB Asset Management in Frankfurt, and before that at Julius Baer Asset Management in Zurich. 

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) – Xavier Lattaignant will join AXA IM as head of its convertible bonds strategy in March. Based in Paris, he will also co-manage the Framlington Global Convertibles fund with Alexandre Fade. 

He joins AXA IM from SCOR Investment Partners where he was head of convertible bonds funds since 2011.

Willis Towers Watson  – Anne Pullum has been named head of western Europe at the consultancy, taking over from Paul Morris. Pullum was previously chief administrative officer and head of strategy and innovation at Willis Towers Watson. Prior to this, she worked at McKinsey, Greenspan Associates and Goldman Sachs.

Aviva Investors – The asset manager has created the role of global head of institutional marketing, appointing Micheal Ramirez as its first incumbent. He was most recently head of US iShares institutional marketing at BlackRock and has also spent eight years at Allianz Global Investors.