Dr. Wolfgang Engshuber, Chair

Wolfgang Engshuber was elected chair of the PRI Advisory Council as well as the PRI Association Board in January 2011. He is an ex officio Board member of the UN Global Compact. After a career spanning 25 years, he retired formally from his executive position at Munich Re in October 2011, although he will continue as a senior advisor. As President, Corporate Centres, Munich Re America for 13 years, he oversaw key corporate departments, including Investments, Integrated Risk Management, Human Resources, IT, Claims, Legal, Internal Audit and Marketing. Dr. Engshuber served as a director of MEAG New York, a company that manages North American assets of Munich Re. Before moving to the United States in October 1998, he was employed by Munich Re where he was a member of the executive management responsible for global asset management. Dr. Engshuber earned his Masters of Law Degree in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Economics in 1986, both from the University of Munich. He also studied at the London School of Economics and worked for the International Monetary Fund and the German Ministry for Developing Countries. 

Wolfgang is a member of the Remuneration, Nomination and Election Oversight committees. High resolution photograph for conference publications and websites.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP

Achim was unanimously elected as UN Environment Programme Executive Director in 2006, becoming its fifth Executive Director in its history. Before joining UNEP, Achim served as Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), widely regarded as one of the most influential and highly respected organisations in the field of conservation, environment and natural resources management. Achim has a professional record in the fields of sustainable development policy and environmental management, first-hand knowledge of civil society, governmental and international organizations. He serves on a number of international advisory boards, including the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. Achim has degrees from University of Oxford and University of London. He also studied at the German Development Institute and Harvard Business School.

Georg Kell, Executive Director, UN Global Compact (Gavin Power as special designate)

Georg Kell is the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. Following extensive experiences in Africa and Asia as a financial analyst, Kell began his career at the UN in Geneva, where he worked from 1987 to 1990 with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In 1990, he joined the New York office of UNCTAD, which he headed from 1993 to 1997. In 1997, Kell became a senior officer in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, responsible for fostering cooperation with the private sector. He has served as head of the UN Global Compact since 2000. A native of Germany, Kell holds advanced degrees in economics and engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.

David Atkin, CEO, CBUS

David is Chief Executive Officer of CBUS, the Australian superannuation scheme with in excess of 670,000 members. Prior to joining CBUS in January 2008, David was the CEO for Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper). David has also been the CEO for JUST Super as well as the National Marketing and Communications Manager for STA.

Before moving into superannuation, David had an industrial relations background including positions at the FSU and CPSU. David joined the Board of Association of Superannuation funds of Australia (ASFA) in February 2010 and is also a member of the CEO panel for the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC). David is also a Board Director for Frontier Investment Consulting.

David has a BA Hons University of Melbourne, Master of Arts Latrobe University and a Diploma of Financial Services and was recently recognised with distinguished alumina award from La Trobe University for his work in the sustainable finance field.

David is a member of the Remuneration, Nomination and Election Oversight committees.

Else F. Bos, CEO, PGGM

Ms Bos started at PGGM Investments in 2003 as Director of Third Parties, Operations & Staff. In March 2005 she was appointed Chief Executive Officer for investments and became a member of the Board of Directors of PGGM. In 2001 she joined NIBC Asset Management as Co-Head Investments and was responsible for people, process and project management within the Investment Management Department. In 2002 she became COO/CFO at NIBC Asset Management and was responsible for Operations, IT, Finance, Risk Control, HR, Legal and Office Management. Else graduating in 1983 from Rotterdam Erasmus University, where she studied Econometrics.

Else is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination committees.

Eric Wetlaufer, Senior Vice President of Public Market Investments, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Eric leads CPP Investment Board’s Public Market Investments department. Prior to joining CPP Investment Board in June 2011, Eric was the Group Chief Investment Officer, International at Fidelity Management & Research in Boston. Eric was also the co-founder and partner of Oxhead Capital Management and held the roles of Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Mid Cap and Specialty Growth at Putnam Investments and Managing Director at Cadence Capital Management. Eric is a past president and director of The Boston Security Analysts Society and is active on several nonprofit boards including Bay Cove Human Services and the Melanoma Foundation of New England. Eric earned a B.A. in Earth Science from Wesleyan University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Eric is a member of the Governance committee.

Priya Sara Mathur, Board member, CalPERS

Priya Sara Mathur is serving her second term on the Board of Administration representing public agency members of CalPERS. She is Chair of the Health Benefits Committee and Vice Chair of the Risk Management Committee. She also serves on the Benefits and Program Administration, Investment, Finance, and Board Governance committees and the Policy Subcommittee of the Investment Committee.

Ms. Mathur is a principal financial analyst for Bay Area Rapid Transit District. In that capacity, she finances multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects, including BART’s US$ 1.5 billion earthquake retrofit program. Ms. Mathur has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree in economics and literature from Connecticut College.

Priya is a member of the Governance committee.

John Oliphant, Principal Executive Officer, Government Employees Pension Fund of South Africa

John is currently the Head of Investments and Actuarial of the Government Employees Pension Fund – the largest Pension Fund in Africa, and is the main driver behind the investment strategies of the fund. John has been the key driver behind GEPF’s responsible investment policies and the setting up of the PRI South African Network. John is also member of the following committees and councils: Investment Committee of the GEPF, Investment Committee of the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (“PAIDF”), Advisory Council of the Southern Africa Pension Fund Investment Forum (“SAPFIF”) and Johannesburg Stock Exchange SRI Index Advisory Committee.

John holds a BSc (Actuarial Science) and a BSc(Hons) Advance Mathematics of finance both from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was previously the Head of Quant Investing at STANLIB, were he managed long only funds as well as hedge funds.

John is a member of the Nomination committee.

Niels Erik Petersen, CIO, Unipension

Since 2008 Niels has been CIO at Unipension, which has EUR 10 billion under management. Prior to his current position he among others worked as Head of Equities at ATP for 5 years and as Head of Equities at Danske Bank for more than 10 years. He has also held senior positions in corporate finance at Danske Bank and Enskilda for a number of years. Niels has previously been board member and chairman of The Danish Society for Financial Analyst for 10 years.

Niels is a member of the Ethics and Governance committees.

Marcel Barros, Board member, PREVI

Marcel Barros is a member of the executive board of PREVI as the Executive Director of Benefits. He is also member of the Board of Vale. Prior to becoming PREVI Executive Director, Marcel was general secretary of Contraf-CUT, coordinator of Banco do Brasil international employees’ network – UNI- Global Union and member of the Board of CASSI. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in history from Fundação Municipal de Ensino Superior de Bragança Paulista – FESB.

Daniel Simard, General Coordinator, Comité syndical national de retraite Bâtirente

Daniel Simard has been a Board member of Bâtirente since its launch in 1987, when he became its managing director in 2000. Bâtirente’s assets reach over US$ 750 million, serving 25,000 individual unionised workers.

Daniel has twenty years’ experience in the areas of collective bargaining, pension benefits and labour court representation. A Université de Montréal graduate in Industrial Relations, he is a registered Representative with Québec’s Financial Market Authority. Daniel is involved in pension fund administration and chairs the audit committee of a large public corporation’s pension fund. He sits on the Board of the Mouvement pour l’éducation et la défense des actionnaires, a local association promoting minority shareholder interests in Canada.

Daniel is a member of the Membership, Ethics and Nomination committees.

Paul Abberley, CEO, Aviva Investors London

In this dual role Paul is both responsible for all Aviva Investors’ high alpha business in the UK, and for developing and delivering Aviva Investors’ fixed income investment philosophy in the UK. Paul joined the investment industry in 1981 and Aviva Investors in September 2008. He was previously at ABN Amro Asset Management for 8 years where he worked in a series of fixed income roles and as CEO for London. Paul has also worked as a global head of fixed income at Lombard Odier. Paul holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Keble College, Oxford.

Melissa Brown, Partner, Daobridge Capital Limited

A leading Asian RI analyst, Melissa currently focuses on private equity investments as a Partner of Daobridge Capital, a China-focused advisory firm. Resident in Asia since 1988, she analyzed Asian investments for 15 years as a sell-side equity analyst and research director for Barclays Capital, JPMorgan, and Citigroup. During Melissa’s tenure as the Executive Director of ASrIA (2003-2008), she led a range of innovative ESG research initiatives. She has also invested in emerging market private equity funds and was a Director of Responsible Research Pte Ltd, an Asian ESG research provider. Melissa is currently a government-appointed council member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs, a member of the Securities and Futures Commission Public Shareholders Group, and was a member of the HKEX Listing Committee (2006-2012).

Melissa is a member of the Ethics committee.

Ann Byrne, CEO, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors

Ann Byrne joined ACSI as Chief Executive Officer in early 2008 following a background as CEO of two major superannuation funds. UniSuper – the superannuation fund for staff of Australia’s 37 universities and the Superannuation Trust of Australia (now Australian Super) – a multi industry fund created for the manufacturing sector. In 2007, Ann was awarded the Fund Executive of the Year and was a member of the board of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA). Ann is a board member of Oxfam (Australia), a member of the Monash University Department of Accounting, Finance Advisory Committee and a member of the ICGN Shareholder Rights Committee and a member of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets (NSFM). She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST).

Ann is a member of the Governance committee.

Luciane Ribeiro, CEO, Santander Brasil Asset Management

Luciane Ribeiro graduated in Economics and has a 28-year experience in the financial sector. She started at Bank Boston in 1983, moving to Banco Safra in 1985. After 17 years as wealth manager of shareholder’s assets, in 2002 she became responsible for the Asset Management unit. In 2006, Luciane was invited to be CEO for Latin America of ABN-AMRO Asset Management, and became CEO of Santander Brasil Asset Management after the merger in 2008, leading the integration of the two business units. She is also Anbima’s Director, Brazilian investment self-regulatory agency, and member of Santander Brasil Asset Management’s SRI Board.