Kempen Capital Management, Sarona Asset Management, Putnam Investments, Honeybee Capital, Fidelity Investments, Hermes EOS, BlueBay Asset Management, UN Joint Staff Pension Fund

Kempen – Kempen Capital Management has appointed Narina Mnatsakanian as director of impact and responsible investment as of 1 June, tasked with further shaping Kempen’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitment. Mnatsakanian has worked for the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), where she helped developing best practices and building local networks for PRI investors. She also supported PRI signatories integrating ESG in their investment processes.

Mnatsakanian joins from Sarona Asset Management, a private equity boutique focusing on impact investment in emerging markets, where she was responsible for investor relations, impact management, and ESG. She has also worked at the €115bn asset manager MN and accountancy firms KPMG and EY.

Putnam Investments – The $160bn (€146bn) asset manager has appointed Katherine Collins to the newly created role of head of sustainable investing. She will report directly to Aaron Cooper, Putnam’s chief investment officer for equities. Collins was previously CEO of Honeybee Capital, a research firm focused on ESG issues that she founded in 2008. Before that she worked for Fidelity Management and Research Company for 18 years.

Collins will lead a new sustainable investing team that will include Stephanie Henderson, a fundamental analyst who has joined the firm from Fidelity Investments, and Alexander Rickson, “a Putnam veteran who will be providing quantitative analysis”, the company said.

Hermes – Emma Hunt, co-head of Hermes EOS, Hermes Investment Management’s stewardship team, is leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. Hans-Christoph Hirt, who shared the role with Hunt, has become sole head of Hermes EOS.

Hunt joined Hermes EOS in September 2015 as director of strategic client management and business development, and reported to Colin Melvin, the then-chief executive of Hermes EOS. Before joining Hermes, Hunt was global co-head of sustainable and responsible investment at Towers Watson. Hermes thanked Hunt for her contribution and wished her well for the future.

BlueBay Asset Management – Erich Gerth this week started his new role as CEO of the specialist fixed income manager. He succeeds Alex Khein, who will stay on as an adviser until the end of the year. Gerth joined the firm in 2012 as global head of business development. He was previously chief executive of Aviva Investors’ Asian business, and was CEO at Janus Capital International – the international arm of the US asset manager – for six years until 2009.

UN Joint Staff Pension Fund – Karl-Ludwig Soll has returned to the United Nations’ $54bn staff pension fund as chief financial officer (CFO). He served as the fund’s first CFO between 2012 and 2014, before leaving to become deputy director of finance for the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees.

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