John Wilson is taking the position and will be leading the design and execution of the firm’s corporate engagement and shareholder activism strategy.
The company said it is further expanding its engagement capacity to support growing demand for responsible investing from both institutional and retail clients globally.
“The increasing influence of ESG factors on investment decisions and corporate performance fuels the need for ongoing dialogue and engagement,” said Anthony Eames, director of responsible investment strategy.
“We are excited for John to continue to advance our corporate engagement strategy that’s enabled positive change for over 35 years.”
Mr Wilson will be responsible for overseeing Calvert’s top-down monitoring and its bottom-up research approaches and to identify issues where dialogue in environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics could help improve long-term corporate value or environmental and social outcomes.
Under his lead will be a team of engagement specialists who monitor issuers, develop cases for change in conjunction with the firm’s ESG research analysts, participate in investor coalitions and manage Calvert’s custom proxy voting guidelines.
Based in Washington DC, Mr Wilson will be reporting to John Streur, president and chief executive of Calvert.
“John is an exceptional leader with deep expertise on corporate governance and long experience in responsible investing,” Mr Streur said.
“With the addition of John as director of corporate engagement, Calvert continues to strengthen its dialogue with companies on issues critical to the success of their business.”
Mr Wilson was previously head of governance and research at Cornerstone Capital Group in New York.
Prior to that, his experience includes serving as director of corporate governance at TIAA-CREF and as director of socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services.
Calvert holds approximately $16.4 billion of mutual fund and separate account assets under management as at 31 March.
Sarah Simpkins
Sarah Simpkins is a journalist at Momentum Media, reporting primarily on banking, financial services and wealth.
Prior to joining the team in 2018, Sarah worked in trade media and produced stories for a current affairs program on community radio.
You can contact her on [email protected].
