Janus Henderson has announced a string of appointments to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment team led by global head of ESG investments Paul LaCoursiere.
Five London-based appointments were made by the firm including Dan Raghoonundon as ESG research lead, Charles Devereux as ESG research analyst, Olivia Jones as junior ESG research analyst, Jesse Verheijen as ESG data analyst and Bhaskar Sastry as ESG content manager.
Blake Bennett has also been appointed as governance and stewardship analyst in the firm’s Denver office.
“ESG has been a core part of the business for many years and is embedded into our operating model,” said Mr LaCoursiere.
“I am thrilled that we can continue to build our ESG offering with some of the best talent in the sector and the team will be a hub of specialist technical expertise on ESG Investment Research.”
Mr Raghoonundon was formerly portfolio manager in the emerging markets equities team at Janus Henderson Investors and has now rejoined the firm after completing a three-year PhD in finance at the Rotterdam School of Management.
In the role of ESG research lead, he will guide Janus Henderson’s team in establishing and building a hub of specialist technical expertise on ESG investment research.
Meanwhile, Mr Devereux joins the firm from Aviva Investors where he previously held the roles of ESG sector analyst in investment management, ESG solutions analyst and corporate strategy analyst, and Ms Jones joins from Kukua where she was formerly an ESG and sustainability analyst.
“Charles and Olivia will conduct independent and scalable thematic, industry and sovereign research to provide support to investment teams across all asset classes, with a particular focus on equity and credit analysts and portfolio managers,” the firm said.
Mr Verheijen also joins from Aviva Investors where he worked as a data scientist within the firm’s transformation team and was previously a senior risk consultant at EY.
As ESG data analyst, he will work with Janus Henderson’s head of ESG strategy and development and investment teams across asset classes to further integrate ESG data, research, analysis and stewardship into their investment process.
Mr Sastry was formerly an ESG content specialist at State Street Global Advisors and will be tasked with creating and managing content on Janus Henderson’s ESG approach in his new role.
Finally, Denver-based Mr Bennett joins from the State of Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality where he served as operations and policy analyst and has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in environmental health sciences.
He will be responsible for supporting Janus Henderson’s investment teams globally with a focus on corporate governance issues including voting as well as analysis of environmental and social issues.
“The ESG investment team at Janus Henderson is integral to our business strategy and is key to maintaining the firm’s position as an innovator,” said Janus Henderson Investors CIO Enrique Chang.
“We are keen to enhance and grow our sustainable investing business and these new appointments will help us achieve that goal.”
Janus Henderson recently named Andrew Hendry as its head of distribution in Asia (ex-Japan).
Mr Hendry will be responsible for the strategy and management of the firm’s distribution functions in Asia excluding Japan and Australia.
