Vaishnavi Ravishankar, until now director of governance at Principles for Responsible Investment, has joined Brunel Pension Partnership as head of stewardship.
In her new role, Ravishankar will be overseeing the stewardship efforts for the £35 billion Pool, which manages the pension assets for Avon, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Ravishankar will report directly to Faith Ward, the pools head of Responsible Investment. She replaces Helen Price, who has left the pool to pursue another role.
Prior to joining Brunel, Ravishankar has been with PRI for more than seven years, most recently as director of governance. She also worked as a senior specialist covering governance at PRI, having joined the body as a senior ESG engagements officer.
Before that she worked among others as a responsible investment analyst and accountant at CAER, an Australian ESG investment research platform.
Ravishankar will have her work cut out for her, with Brunel having taken an active stance in a number of upcoming AGMs.
The pool has set itself the target that 70% of financed emissions for its listed equity and corporate bonds should be either aligned, aligning or subject to direct or collective engagement bonds by June 2024. This target increases to 90% by June 2027.
