The UN PRI initiative, the framework which seeks to draw institutional investors into investing in a sustainable way, has presented the results of its advisory council elections which took place in July

Today's results show that for the first time in the initiative's five years existence , non-asset owners are to be represented on the council with four seats. The advisory council is the peak governance body for the PRI Initiative.

Two seats on the council have been awarded to asset owners. They went to:

- Else Bos, currently a PRI board member and a member of the executive committee at Dutch pension provider PGGM
- Priya Sara Mathur, who is a board member for CalPERS, the Californian Public Employees' Retirement System.

Other candidates in the asset owner category were; Frank Pegan, CEO at the Australian Catholic Super; Antoine Gosset-Grainville, deputy CEO at the French Caisse des D?©pôts et Consignations; Sarah McPhee, managing director at SPP Livsforsikring plus CIO at AMF Pension Fondförvaltning and Cllr Cameron Rose, a member of the Pensions and Trust Committee for the UK's Lothian pension fund.

The four seats at the council which were awarded to non-asset owners went to the following individuals:

- Paul Abberley, Aviva Investors
- Melissa Brown, Responsible Research
- Ann Byrne, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors
- Luciane Ribeiro, Santander Asset Management, Brazil

In total 31 investment managers and service providers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America stood for the election.

Of the four non-asset owner positions, one position was reserved for a service partner and one for an emerging market organisation, whether it was to be a manager or service partner.

Additionally, Sopawadee Lertmanaschai from the Government Pension Fund of Thailand, John Oliphant from the Government Employers Pension Fund of South Africa and Rene Sanda from PREVI were automatically selected, complying with the rules around regional representation on the council.

The council is now made up of 16 members: the chair, two UN representatives (UN Environmental Programme and UN Global Compact), nine asset owners from Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, two investment managers and two professional service providers.

Wolfgang Engshuber, chair of thePRI Advisory Council said: "This was a very strong field of candidates, who have all shown their commitment to responsible investment and a determination to move the PRI Initiative forward. Their industry experience and leadership qualities, combined with their commitment to the Principles will be invaluable to the work of the council.

"The new governance structure marks a significant change for PRI, one that will benefit from the diverse representation of our asset owner, investment manager and service partner signatories in helping PRI realise its goals".

While the initiative will remain asset owner driven, we will benefit greatly from the perspectives of investment manager and service partner signatories."

First published 02.08.2011

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk