Craig Mackenzie – Scottish Widows Investment Partnership's (Swip) highly regarded head of sustainability research – has left his post to take on a new role, Environmental Finance has learned.
Mackenzie, who was head of sustainability for nearly four years, has been assigned to a new role following Edinburgh-based Swip's $500 million acquisition by Aberdeen Asset Management from Lloyds in March.
He will now take on a broader role covering strategic asset allocation (SAA), global strategy and investment solutions at Aberdeen's £90 billion ($150.5 billion) multi-asset investment business.
The bulk of his responsible investment (RI) work at Swip will be taken over by Cindy Rose, Aberdeen's head of responsible investment research on the global equities team. Rose joined Aberdeen as a result of its acquisition of Glasgow-based Murray Johnstone in 2000.
Mackenzie will remain a director of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. But he is set to step down as chair of the FTSE4Good Criteria Committee after 13 years in the role.
"Rather than focusing narrowly on sustainability, I'll be covering the full range of economic issues," said Mackenzie. "The downside is that I'll have less time for many of my old RI activities – no more company engagement or stock-specific ESG analysis, and many fewer RI conferences.
"But I certainly won't be leaving ESG behind. It is already clear to me that broad ESG factors are highly relevant to long-term asset allocation, and I look forward to joining the discussion in the RI community about ESG-integration in SAA."
Aberdeen had assets under management of £209.6 billion as of 30 June 2013, which was boosted to some £350 billion by the deal, making it the biggest listed asset manager in Europe.
Peter Cripps
