Renowned responsible investment expert Faith Ward has joined Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) as a strategic adviser, the local authority asset pool has announced.
Ward was previously chief responsible investment officer at Brunel Pension Partnership, another asset pool that was officially closed down at the end of last month.
Following Brunel’s closure, Ward has set up Faith In RI, a responsible investment consultancy, and LPPI is her first appointment. The company’s website also preserves Brunel’s climate and sustainability policies and reports from the past decade of the pool’s operations.
“As the LGPS continues to evolve through greater collaboration, there is a real opportunity to strengthen responsible investment practices and deliver even better outcomes for members.”
Faith Ward
Ward has been a leading voice in responsible investment in her role at Brunel and previously at the Environment Agency Pension Fund, which is now one of LPPI’s partner funds. She currently chairs the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, and was awarded an MBE last year for services to pensions and the environment.
“I’ve been very impressed by LPPI’s work to date across all areas of responsible investment and look forward to helping the growing team further enhance its offering to partner funds,” Ward said.
“As the LGPS continues to evolve through greater collaboration, there is a real opportunity to strengthen responsible investment practices and deliver even better outcomes for members.”
In her new role at LPPI, the pool said Ward would provide “strategic guidance and practical support” for its responsible investment work, as well as “external advocacy activities”.
Chris Rule, chief executive officer at LPPI, said: “We take our role as a steward of pension fund capital seriously and believe sustainable investment returns are achieved over the long term by integrating responsible investment within our investment activity. Faith is a highly accomplished expert in this field, and we look forward to working with her to realise our ambitions as an enlarged pool.”
LPPI has set up an office in Bristol – already home to the Environment Agency – to help support its new partner funds based in the south west of England.
