Who’s moved and to where

Appointment of the month

Francis Maude, UK cabinet office minister, has appointed William Shawcross as the new chairman of the UK Charity Commission, which regulates the administration and affairs of registered UK charities. Shawcross is a renowned writer, broadcaster and royal biographer, who has contributed to a wide range of publications, including the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and Sydney Morning Herald.

Maude says that Shawcross “has long been involved in the charity sector, particularly in human rights and international aid. His writings have helped shape the debate on the accountability of humanitarian organisations. He brings strong leadership skills, broad knowledge and experience of the sector, and intellectual ability to the Charity Commission, which acts as the independent and impartial regulator of the charity sector.” Shawcross took up his post on October 1 2012.

Jim McClelland has been appointed head of sustainability at international property and construction consultancy Stradia.

McClelland started out as an editor, working on regional business and construction magazines back in the 1980s, before his focus changed. “With commercial interest in environmental and ethical matters growing, I began specialising in sustainability and green issues,” he recalls.

To develop his understanding of these issues, he spent time discussing infrastructure and utilities projects with international engineers and consultants active in developing countries. “Resource constraints were not yet really on the radar in the UK and the regulatory regime was in its infancy,” he says. “Nevertheless, it seemed only a matter of time before the same considerations and concerns would begin to apply here, albeit on a different scale."

In his new role, his aim is to move the discussion forward at a strategic level, integrating particulars of project management and specification within a broad decision-making framework. This will entail “making sustainability make sense for a multi-stakeholder, mainstream audience,” he explains.

Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales has appointed David Fitzpatrick as its first chief executive. He joins from Hertfordshire-based SD Consultancy.

After completing his degree, Fitzpatrick was a community worker in Cardiff working within VCS, an organisation run by the United Nations Association. “It was a great role, working with really good people from whom I learnt a lot,” he remembers. “It is strange coming back to Wales now.

Having started several charitable organisations, or helped them develop, the latter part of Fitzpatrick’s career has been focused on sustainable development. Most recently, he ran an endowed foundation – the largest non-statutory grant maker in its area.

“I wanted to make a difference, knowing that – if you do a good job – people’s lives are changed for the better,” he explains.

His new role will see him helping the Welsh government achieve its sustainable development goals and developing an extensive cross-sector network committed to implementing sustainable development.

“We will publicise best practice,” he says, “and ensure that Cynnal Cymru is the partner of choice for anyone developing sustainability within Wales, and the first port of call for anyone wishing to know anything about sustainability.”

Sustainalytics has made two new appointments in its Frankfurt office. Dr Hendrik Garz is the new managing director, Germany, and Claudia Volk is senior manager of the research team. Both joined from WestLB – Garz was formerly executive director of extra-financial research and Volk was an extra-financial equity analyst.

During the early 1990s, Garz was assistant professor, banking and financial markets, at the University of Erlangen-Nürnburg. He joined WestLB in 1997.

“My first interest in this area was raised about 10 years ago, when thinking about alternative investment styles from the perspective of an equity strategist,” he explains. “Against the market background of that time, there was a lot of disappointment and frustration about traditional investment styles. So I was looking at something that makes more sense economically, ie in terms of investment returns and risk, but also beyond.”

In his new role, he will have to slightly shift his perspective. “As a financial analyst I was a user of the information provided by special environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and rating providers such as Sustainalytics. I will now have the opportunity to capitalise on my experience and support the development of products that help investors to better integrate ESG into their investment decision processes.”

The University of Calgary has appointed Joanne Perdue as its first chief sustainability officer (CSO) – the first Canadian university to establish a CSO position. Perdue will lead the university towards its goal of becoming a North American leader in sustainability in higher education.

Perdue joined the University of Calgary in 2007 as the founding director of the office of sustainability. She has been instrumental in integrating sustainability into university policy, planning and reporting frameworks. Perdue has devoted more than 20 years to advancing green buildings and sustainable community design and for the past 10 years, she has specialised in organisational strategy and change management for sustainability.

International materials technology company Ceram has announced the appointment of Dr Andrew Smith as head of sustainability. Prior to his new appointment, Smith held the position of principal consultant, sustainability and construction materials at Ceram.

Philippe Le Gall is now sustainability systems and reporting manager at Nestlé S.A. He was formerly business development manager at First Climate.

Biofuel producer Nandan Cleantec has appointed three new directors to its board: Kishore Gupta, who joins from SpiceJet; Surendra Ajjarapu, who currently manages a private investment firm; and Sandesh Pandhare, currently head of private equity at Istithmar World, the investment arm of Dubai World. With these appointments, Nandan Cleantec has expanded its non-executive representation from two to five.

Estelle Brachlianoff is now CEO of Veolia Environmental Services (UK).  She succeeded Jean-Dominique Mallet, who will become senior vice-president of Veolia Environmental Services, based in Paris. Prior to joining the company in 2005, Brachlianoff was in charge of waste management in the greater Paris area.

Farooq Ullah is the new executive director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, an international organisation working to advance sustainable development. Ullah joined Stakeholder Forum as head of policy and advocacy in 2011, following five years with the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission. He is also a specialist adviser to the UK parliament’s environmental audit committee, a member of the Alliance for Future Generations and a founding member of Brighter Future, a climate-change action group in London.

The Australian government has confirmed the appointments of Jillian Broadbent as the chair of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) board and of Michael Carapiet, Ian Moore, Anna Skarbek and Andrew Stock as members of the CEFC board, each for a five-year term.

Broadbent is a member of the board of the Reserve Bank, serves on the boards of Woolworths Limited and ASX Limited and is the chancellor of the University of Wollongong. The commercially orientated CEFC will facilitate greater private sector investment in renewable energy, low-emissions technology and energy efficiency and is a key part of the Canberra government’s clean energy future package.

Dow Corning Corporation has named Dan Futter as vice president of its solar and wind solutions businesses. Futter joined Dow Corning Corporation in 1994, and most recently served as business vice president of the company’s business and technology incubator.

Damon Buffini has joined the Wellcome Trust’s board of governors. He is a founding partner of European private equity firm Permira and under his leadership, the company’s funds under management grew from €1.9bn to over €20bn . Buffini is also a co-founder of Social Business Trust, an initiative to grow social enterprises by using the knowledge, skills and capital of UK businesses.

Lord Deben (also known as former UK cabinet minister John Gummer) has been confirmed as chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), as approved by UK energy secretary Ed Davey. Deben will be responsible for steering and developing the overall work of the CCC, which advises the UK government on setting and meeting carbon budgets and on preparing for the impacts of climate change. Lord Deben’s ministerial experience includes being secretary of state for the environment and minister for agriculture, fisheries and food. He was twice awarded the title “parliamentarian who did most for the environment internationally” by the BBC, and described as “the best environment secretary we've ever had” by Friends of the Earth. 

With thanks to Miriam Heale, Allen & York



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