Australian Ethical has announced that Sean Henaghan, Sandra McCullagh and Steve Rankine have been added to its investment committee.
The firm said that the senior hires would boost its leadership in ethical and ESG asset allocation and complement the skillsets of its existing investment committee, bringing the total number of members to seven.
Mr Henaghan is currently the CIO of Aurora Capital and was previously CIO of AMP Capital multi-asset group.
According to Australian Ethical, he has proven leadership of a substantial investment business with over $100 billion of assets across a range of multi-asset investments.
“I am excited to be joining Australia’s leading ethical manager to assist them in their ambition of becoming a substantial multi-asset investor,” Mr Henaghan said on his appointment.
Meanwhile, Ms McCullagh currently serves as a non-executive director of the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC).
She was formerly a non-executive director of QSuper and also established the ESG equities research capability at Credit Suisse Australia.
“I am delighted to join the Investment Committee of Australian Ethical, whose leading work in responsible investment I have respected and admired since my time at Credit Suisse. It is pleasing to see the continual growth in responsible investing,” said Ms McCullagh.
Finally, Mr Rankine previously served as head of asset management at Hastings Funds Management as managing director of debt capital markets at Westpac Institutional Bank.
He currently sits on several investment committees and boards across funds management, infrastructure and insurance.
“Over the last several years I have watched and been encouraged by the growth in ESG in the companies I am involved with, and am very excited to expand those horizons with Australian Ethical who are leading the way,” said Mr Rankine.
Australian Ethical said that its investment committee hires also supported its ongoing investment in the adviser channel to meet increasing demand for values-based investing.
“Australians are increasingly demanding ethical investment options from their advisers, fund managers, super fund providers, and other investment professionals,” said Australian Ethical CEO and managing director John McMurdo.
“For this reason, we have built on our 35 years’ experience as Australia’s pioneering ethical investor, by further shoring up the ethical pedigree of our Investment Committee and adviser offering.”
