Mercer appoints Birgden to lead RI in Asia-Pacific
Mercer Investment Consulting, a unit of Mercer Human Resource Consulting , has appointed Helga Birgden, an experienced manager in governance and sustainable investment, to lead its Responsible Investment (RI) business unit across the Asia-Pacific.
Birgden has more than 10 years experience in working with pension funds and other asset managers on voting, corporate engagement and regulatory reform in key markets nationally and globally. Her recent role was Manager of Governance and Sustainable Investment at UniSuper, one of Australia’s large superannuation funds, where she developed and managed the fund’s investment governance policies and sustainable investment program.
At Mercer, Helga will provide Asia-Pacific investors with advice on formulating RI policies and integrating them into their investment programs. She will undertake research into regional RI specific investment management products, and assess the extent to which mainstream Asia-Pacific based fund managers’ vote, engage and assess environmental, social and corporate governance issues. She will also contribute to global RI projects.
According to Mercer Investment Consulting, responsible investment is becoming important to its clients globally. Helga’s appointment will provide a depth of expertise in its team to enable it to expand its RI capability across the Asia-Pacific region.
Helga’s high-level experience and ability to communicate RI concepts and their investment implications will allow her to successfully develop our business in the region.
Mercer Investment Consulting is pleased to be building the strength of its RI capability with this new appointment. With a special emphasis on Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and Korea, Helga will work closely with Mercer’s global RI team, local field consultants and researchers to help its clients integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance considerations into the investment management processes.
Birgden holds a Master of Enterprise Innovation (Business) from the leading finance programme at Swinburne University/Ernst & Young, and has extensive professional experience in investments, corporate governance, climate change, management negotiation and facilitation.
Birgden will be based in Mercer’s Melbourne office and will commence in September. Her appointment follows a string of high calibre appointments at Mercer Investment Consulting this year.
23-Aug-2007