With thanks to Miriam Heale, Allen & York - www.allen-york.com
Appointment of the month
Paul Shrivastava has been appointed executive director of Future Earth, a new 10-year global research initiative providing knowledge and support to accelerate transformation to a sustainable world. Shrivastava was previously the David O’Brien distinguished professor of sustainable enterprise, and the director of the David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
Based in Montreal, Shrivastava will lead a globally distributed secretariat composed of five hubs in Montreal, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm and Boulder, Colorado.
“I am honoured by this appointment to lead the Future Earth Executive Secretariat,” Shrivastava says. “Future Earth is an organisation of thousands of volunteer scientists working in hundreds of locations around the world. The secretariat will strive to be the glue that holds the organisation together.”
Global bank Citi has appointed Brandee McHale as president of the Citi Foundation and director of corporate citizenship. She will oversee the Foundation’s work to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world.
One of McHale’s first jobs was as a project assistant for the 20th anniversary celebration of Earth Day, where she says she learned an invaluable lesson. “People don’t support causes simply because they believe in the issue,” she says. “Instead you have to make it easy for them to engage and drive a meaningful experience.”
After joining Citi in 1991, she started as an intern with the Foundation, where she discovered that her job “wasn’t simply to help administer grants, but to engage the bank as a creative community problem solver in the communities where we do business”.
After a decade in the private sector, McHale joined the Ford Foundation as a programme officer in its economic development unit. “My time at Ford expanded my global view of the world and honed my ability to make a business case for social change,” she says. “I came full circle six years ago when I returned to the Citi Foundation as chief operating officer.”
Of her new role, she says: “Through our work, we enable a richer understanding of the most pressing issues of today, while also creating lasting partnerships that effect change.”
Dinah A Koehler has joined UBS Global Asset Management as director of sustainable equities. A recognised researcher on sustainability, Koehler has worked in and advised global corporations, national governments and international organisations on sustainability issues.
Before joining the UBS team, she worked at Deloitte.
Bruce Douglas has joined the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) as chief operating officer, while Michael Schmela has joined as an executive adviser. Douglas was formerly chief operating officer of the European Wind Energy Association and brings more than 15 years of experience in the renewables sector. Schmela is a co-founder of the Photon Publishing Group and was the editor of industry news outlet Photon International – The Solar Power Magazine.
F&C Investments has formed its new Responsible Investment Advisory Council, which will help the group maintain the standards by which the ethically screened funds in its Responsible Fund range are run. The council’s president will be Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and is chaired by Howard Pearce, the former head of pension fund management for the Environment Agency Pension Fund. New members of the council include the Rainforest Alliance’s Annemieke Wijn, Sedex Co-founder Rosey Hurst, former Norwegian Council on Ethics member Ylva Lindberg and F&C’s head of product management, Martin Smith.
The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has appointed a new chief financial officer, Peter Knott, and a new non-executive director, Laurence Mulliez. Knott was formerly chief risk officer at GIB and will join chief executive Shaun Kingsbury as the only other executive director on GIB’s independent board. Mulliez has more than 20 years of experience in a range of industries and firms. Most recently, she was chief executive at Eoxis Renewable Energy. Mulliez will also sit on GIB’s Investment Committee.
Electronic Recyclers International (ERI) has named Allen Hershkowitz as senior sustainability adviser. Hershkowitz is the co-founder and current president of the Green Sports Alliance and served as senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council for 26 years until 2014. Headquartered in California, ERI is the world’s largest privately held recycler of electronic waste.
Steve O'Neil is the new chief executive officer of Oslo-based solar energy firm REC. Previously, O'Neil’s served as the CEO of Tyden Group, a provider of specialised security, identification and electrical utility products.
Adam Woodhall has joined sustainability consultancy Carbon Smart as an associate director. He was previously director with CSR consultancy Abundance.
European Environmental Markets, a new environmental commodities exchange platform operator, has announced the appointment of Adrian Rimmer as chief executive officer, effective from April 2015. Rimmer joins from The Gold Standard Foundation, the international certification body for climate and sustainable development activities, where he has been chief executive since June 2010.