With thanks to Miriam Heale, Allen & York www.allen-york.com

APPOINTMENT OF THE MONTH

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has hired Liz Goodwin as senior fellow and director, food loss and waste. She will join WRI in September, and will be based in the UK.

Goodwin was previously CEO of the UK-based Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap).

Goodwin credits her stepfather with first making her aware of environmental issues. “He and his father were passionate about wildlife and environmental issues in general,” she says. “I was very lucky that I was able to find a job which matched my own personal interests.”

A chemist by background, Goodwin’s first job was at chemical company ICI, where she worked for a decade as an environmental adviser in various roles before joining Wrap in 2001. “I was the first director of materials programmes responsible for market development for recycled materials,” she recalls. When the CEO departed in 2007, Goodwin took the helm. “I found out about the great work that WRI does through Wrap's work on food waste and we worked together on the Food Loss and Waste Protocol,” she says.

In her new role, Goodwin will tackle the issue of food loss and waste at the global level. “I really want to drive the reduction in food waste globally,” she says. “My goal is to see global food loss and waste halved by 2030. It is appalling that we waste and lose so much food – the impacts are enormous.”

Liz Goodwin
 

Tanya Cox, chair of the Green Building Council of Australia, has been appointed to the board of the World Green Building Council. An experienced chair and director of both commercial and not-for-profit boards, Cox is also a member of the NSW Climate Change Council.

While still at school, Cox worked part-time for her father, who owned his own business. “He taught me many important essentials, including to have aspirational goals,” she recalls.

After high school she travelled internationally for three years, securing a role with Bankers

Trust on her return to Australia. Roles in a number of international financial institutions followed, and in 2003 she was appointed chief operating officer of DEXUS Property Group, a $17bn  listed property trust. As a sustainability advocate, she was invited to join the board of directors of the Green Building Council of Australia in 2013 and is now a full-time non-executive director.

“If globally we could find a way to share the carbon reduction technologies and practices known to us, we could significantly reduce the rate of consumption of the world’s finite natural resources,” says Cox. “I am passionate about helping organisations understand how they contribute to this objective and influencing their pace of change.”

Tanya Cox
 

UBS Asset Management (UBS AM) has hired Michael Baldinger as head of sustainable and impact investing, a newly created role. Baldinger joins UBS AM after seven years at RobecoSAM, the international sustainability investment company.

Eric Hespenheide has been appointed interim chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, following the departure of chief executive Michael Meehan. In line with governance procedures, Hespenheide has stood down as chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board. The organisation is conducting a search for a new chief executive.

Marcus Gover is the new chief executive of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap). Gover, who was formerly operations director at the charity, replaces Liz Goodwin, who has stepped down to join the World Resources Institute.

Marcus Gover
 

The Carbon Trust has appointed Soffia Alarcon-Diaz as the new director of Carbon Trust Mexico. Alarcon-Diaz joins from Mexico’s Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources.

Soffia Alarcon-Diaz
 

Thorhild Widvey has been elected chair of the board of directors of Statkraft, Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. Widvey, who has extensive board experience from various companies, has also held a number of ministerial positions, including state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Statkraft is wholly owned by the Norwegian state.

Thorhild Widvey
 

The board of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change has appointed Philippe Desfosses as its new vice chair. Desfosses is CEO of French superannuation fund ERAFP.

Anglo-German sustainable investment firm Arabesque has appointed Tensie Whelan to its advisory board. Whelan is founding director of the Center for Sustainable Business at the New York University Stern School of Business. She was previously president of the Rainforest Alliance.

Tensie Whelan
 

UBS Wealth Management has appointed Rina Kupferschmid-Rojas global head of sustainable investing. Kupferschmid-Rojas was previously chief executive of investment consultancy ESG Analytics.

Savills has hired Jonathan Hale as a senior sustainability consultant in the firm’s Finsbury Circus office in London. Hale previously worked within the energy and carbon consultancy division at energy consultant Inenco.

Jonathan Hale
 

The World Resources Institute has hired Paula Caballero as the new global director for its Climate Programme. She will work across a number of issues related to international climate action, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and implementation of the Paris Agreement. Caballero has held senior positions with the Colombian government, UN Development Programme and the World Bank. Most recently, she was senior director for the environment and natural resources at the World Bank.

Reto Schwager will become interim CEO at sustainable investment specialist RobecoSAM when CEO Michael Baldinger steps down to join UBS. Schwager is currently head of private equity.

Index provider MSCI has appointed Remy Briand, the firm’s managing director and global head of research, to lead the firm’s ESG and real estate product lines.

people on the move 

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