With thanks to Miriam Heale, Allen & York

 

Matthew Bell has been announced as the new chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Bell, who takes up his appointment in November, is taking over from David Kennedy, who stepped down earlier this year to take on a new role at the Department for International Development.

Bell joins from Frontier Economics, where he was most recently a director, looking after the firm’s public policy practice. His experience includes a secondment to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and advising the Environmental Audit Committee. He was also among the earliest advisers to the CCC – working on its approach to transport and the environment. In addition, Bell has led numerous projects for the Environment Agency, Defra, DECC and the Carbon Trust.

Lord Deben, chairman of the CCC, said of Bell: “He has the analytical qualities and determination to maintain and enhance the CCC’s international reputation for robust science and careful judgment.”

On his appointment, Bell said: “We are living in challenging times. Everyone is looking closely at their budgets and expenses, and businesses are focusing on their competitiveness. The CCC has established itself as the independent authority on climate change issues and I look forward to my new role heading up this authoritative body as it takes on these and other challenges in its advice to government and Parliament.”

The CCC is an independent statutory body, bringing together expertise from the fields of climate science and policy, economics, business competitiveness and financial management. It draws on information and undertakes its own analysis to provide expert advice to ministers.

International property and infrastructure group Lend Lease has appointed Paul King as managing director of sustainability for its European region. King, who will take up his appointment in February 2015, was formerly chief executive of the UK Green Building Council.

King started his working life as a salesman for Penguin books, where he spent his days “travelling the country, visiting bookshops and meeting some wonderful and famous authors along the way”. As a boy, he was passionate about wildlife and dreamed of working for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “After five years working in sales and marketing for Penguin, I saw an opening in corporate fundraising at WWF, and that was the start of a 13-year career that took me from fundraising to business partnerships to campaigning,” says King. He left his role as director of campaigns in 2007 to set up the newly created UK Green Building Council as its first CEO.

“After many years of working with a wide range of industry sectors at WWF, I was drawn into the built environment by the pioneering BedZED development, back in 2001,” he explains. “I realised the built environment is a great way to really ground sustainable development. In essence, sustainability is about meeting peoples’ needs in the future, and looking at the way the places in which we live, work and play can make it easier to live sustainably is at the heart of that.”

At Lend Lease, King will be responsible for the European region's overall sustainability strategy, shaping its implementation and future direction. “The new role will take me closer to the ‘doing’, and ensuring that we really walk the talk of sustainable development and regeneration,” he says. “Lend Lease has some very exciting plans to create some of the best places through major regeneration projects in cities around the world. Ensuring these plans are completely future proofed is a very exciting prospect.”

Sustainalytics, an independent environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and analysis firm, has hired Cheryl Gustitus to head its global marketing and to lead strategic initiatives. She was previously chief marketing officer at GMI Ratings, where she raised the firm’s global profile and launched several new risk identification products built on the foundation of ESG and forensic accounting data.

Gustitus spent the first ten years of her career in the institutional marketing department at asset management firm T. Rowe Price. “I was responsible for marketing our investment services to public and corporate pension funds, then working with clients to educate their employees about investment options available to them, including the potential risk and reward of each,” she explains.

Gustitus then headed up marketing for Calvert Investments. “I gained the understanding that making a positive difference in the world can be achieved in part through responsible investing,” she says. “Since then, I have headed global marketing and communications for a number of firms that serve institutional investors, spending the last ten years in the corporate governance and ESG space.”

Gustitus considers herself lucky to have found herself working in this sector. “I’m even more fortunate to be working for a company with such a strong commitment to sustainability and responsible investing. I hope to bring a lot more mainstream global investors under the ESG integration tent.”

 

 

In addition to its appointment of Cheryl Gustitus, Sustainalytics has also hired Gary Hewitt, former head of governance research at GMI Ratings. Hewitt will lead the development of an expanded suite of corporate governance research and data products designed to complement and integrate with Sustainalytics’ existing ESG research solutions.

Aldersgate Group, an alliance of leaders from business, politics and civil society that drives action for a sustainable economy, has appointed a new executive director, Nick Molho. Formerly head of climate change and energy policy at WWF, Molho is an environmental lawyer.

The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has a new CEO, Ashish Deo. Based in its London office, Deo joins RJC from The Fairtrade Foundation, where he has been commercial director for the past four years.

Impax Asset Management, a private equity infrastructure fund manager in the renewable energy sector, has hired two new people to its sales team. Meg Brown is now associate director, UK business development, while Harry Lambert has been appointed associate director, fund investor relations specialist in the global business development team. Brown had most recently been working as an independent sustainable investment specialist, following a role at Citi as an analyst in sustainable and climate-related investment. Lambert has previously worked for Pantheon Ventures, Hermes GPE and Coller Capital.


Shelley Frost is the new head of sustainability at Aggregate Industries. She joins the company from Lafarge, where she was regional director of environment and public affairs in Northern and Central Europe.

MP Greg Barker has been appointed to the new post of Prime Minister's envoy on climate change. Barker was formerly climate change minister, until this summer, where he quit ahead of a reshuffle.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd (DTTL) has appointed Eric Dugelay as global leader for sustainability services. Formerly a partner in Deloitte France and the EMEA regional leader for sustainability services, Dugelay will devote his full-time activities to the role previously held by Dave Pearson. Pearson becomes DTTL chief sustainability officer.

AxLoad, a leading provider of lifting, anchoring and cargo securing products and services in Europe, has appointed Lena Ekbom as sustainability manager. Most recently, Ekbom worked as environmental and sustainability strategist for the Port of Stockholm.

Bridges Ventures has appointed a new investment manager, James Hurrell, to join the firm’s sustainable growth funds team. Hurrell joins from ISIS Equity Partners, where he was an associate director.

Housing and regeneration specialist Keepmoat has appointed Carol McKay as sustainability manager. McKay’s previous experience includes head of sales and marketing at Energywise and key account manager at Carillion Energy Services.

Zevin Asset Management, an independent, socially responsible investment management firm in Boston, has promoted Sonia Kowal to the role of president. Kowal has been with the firm for five years, and was previously director of socially responsible investing. Previously, she headed the Ethical Investment Research Services' US office.

Anna Isaacson, the National Football League’s (NFL) vice president of community affairs and philanthropy, has taken on a new and expanded role as vice president of social responsibility. She will oversee the development of education, training and support programmes relating to domestic violence and sexual assault. The NFL has also retained the services of three senior advisers, Lisa Friel, Jane Randel and Rita Smith, to help lead and shape the NFL's aforementioned policies and programmes. Friel was formerly head of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the New York County District Attorney's Office. Randel is the co-founder of NO MORE, a national initiative to raise the profile of domestic violence and sexual assault. Smith is the former executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

people and careers  people on the move 

comments powered by Disqus