Green moves: Australian Ethical, HOPE Housing, IGCC

Australian Ethical Investors has added another sustainable investment professional to its team as it continues to attract more capital.

The find has hired Dan Simpson as a sustainable and impact specialist and the link between the business' investment, distribution and communication teams.

In the new role, the recruit is the conduit between the investment and client teams, to help articulate Australian Ethical's investment philosophy, process, strategy and purpose.

Simpson has over 20 years of experience working in the investment industry, in New Zealand, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany and Australia.

His career includes five years at ANZ Private Bank where he established an impact investment business.

As head of portfolio management at the lender, Simpson managed a suite of diversified investment funds and an impact investment platform for wholesale and institutional clients.

Before that, the sustainability investment specialist spent 14 years at Willis Towers Watson, leading the investment consulting team in Sydney and advising superannuation clients.

Australian Ethical deputy investment chief John Woods said having managed and advised investment portfolios for some significant institutional and wholesale asset owners over the past 20 years, Simpson will bring valuable insights and influence.

"Australian Ethical has tripled its assets in the last three years, and Dan will play a pivotal role in our growth plans moving forward," Woods said.

Simpson added: "As a passionate proponent of ethical and impact investing, I'm thrilled to have joined the talented team at Australian Ethical."

"The firm is not just an outstanding responsible investment option, but also a highly complementary addition to mainstream portfolios. Our consistent positioning at the top end of mainstream fund performance surveys for the last 39 years is a testament to this. We've demonstrated that our strong performance is not in spite of our ethical approach but because of it."

Meantime, HOPE Housing has welcomed industry veteran Michael Dwyer as its inaugural chair, reflecting the impact fund's growing maturity and track record.

Dwyer has served as an advisor to HOPE since the start of the fund that co-invests in home loans of essential workers like teachers, nurses and police.

The shared equity scheme co-invests up to 50% of a mortgage so they can live close to work.

Dwyer has more than 30 years of experience in the superannuation and investment sectors. He was chief executive of First State Super (now Aware Super) for 14 years and was also general manager of the NSW industry super fund ASSET Super for 10 years.

He is a former director of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, Bennelong Funds Management and a founding director of Fund Executive Association.

He currently chairs NSW TCorp and the MSquared Capital Advisory Committee.

Additionally, Dwyer serves as a director of ASX-listed Iress and holds advisory roles with the ASIC Consultative Panel and the Global Advisory Council for Tobacco-Free Portfolios.

In recognition of his industry and community contributions, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011.

Dwyer sits on the HOPE advisory board with Pacific Equity Partners founder Tim Sims.

HOPE aims to help roughly 800 families buy a home near where they work while targeting 10 per cent returns for investors such as superannuation funds, family offices and philanthropists.

Reflecting on the intensifying housing affordability crisis, the new chair noted that back in 2018, Sydney's median house price was $1 million.

Today, it has surged to $1.69 million, he went on to say.

"Housing affordability continues to deteriorate, hitting hardest those essential workers who are not on high wages. They are crying out for solutions. HOPE has stepped up, demonstrated its effectiveness, and is now positioned to deliver a real difference," he said.

Sims called Dwyer's formal appointment strategically significant.

"His deep expertise and respected leadership strengthen HOPE's governance, positioning us to deliver even stronger outcomes - both in creating pathways to homeownership for essential workers and in achieving attractive, sustainable returns for investors," Sims said.

HOPE Housing chief executive Tim Buskens said achieving real impact alongside strong commercial returns can be done.

"Our financial returns are outpacing the CoreLogic Benchmark for Sydney by 1.5 times*, and our fully calibrated social return stands at 14.4% for 2024. We've been fortunate to have someone with the calibre of Michael along for our journey," he continued.

"Michael has been a critical component to HOPE since its inception and has helped set the foundation for its next phase in onboarding investors and supporting essential workers. We are honoured that Michael has agreed to formalise his involvement and support me and HOPE to go to the next level."

HOPE has over 3000 essential workers on its waitlist, underscoring the urgency of scaling its proven model.

With robust systems and streamlined processes now firmly established, HOPE can deploy $300 million into shared equity investments over the next 12 months. This is equivalent to processing 20 new applications every week.

To date, the fund has enabled 35 essential workers to become homeowners through co-investing up to 50% of the home's purchase price across 24 properties.

Finally, the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) will farewell its managing director of policy and advocacy Erwin Jackson soon.

Jackson, the first person to hold the position, has served in the role for seven years. He joined IGCC in 2018 from Environment Victoria where he was a senior climate change and energy advisor. He is also a former deputy chief executive of The Climate Institute.

"As IGCC's first specialist policy director, Erwin built our policy operation from the ground up, achieving a huge amount along the way," the group said.

"It is a mark of Erwin's enduring impact helping to build IGCC's profile in the ecosystem that we expect to find many excellent candidates who would be excited to take up the baton."

Jackson will leave in May, with IGCC saying it will start recruiting immediately.