State Street Corporation announced in a press release that it has appointed Richard F. Lacaille –Rick Lacaille– to the newly-created role of senior investment advisor. He will lead the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) solutions, services and thought leadership across all its businesses.
Lacaille will report to Ronald O’Hanley, chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Corporation, and, as a consequence of his appointment, Lori Heinel has been promoted to global chief investment officer for State Street Global Advisors.
The firm pointed out that, for many years, they have been at the forefront of innovation across its businesses, developing best-in class ESG capabilities including reporting and analytics tools, premier academic research, and investment solutions and products. They believe Lacaille will ensure their strategies are well-coordinated and optimized to serve clients’ increasing demand for ESG servicing, guidance and investment solutions.
“With more than two decades of leadership at State Street Global Advisors and his role as chair of State Street’s executive corporate responsibility committee, Lacaille is absolutely the right leader to take our firm’s ESG efforts to the next level. We believe ESG considerations drive long-term value for investors, and will only become increasingly more important as drivers of return and risk”, said O’Hanley.
The company also explained that Heinel, who joined State Street Global Advisors in 2014 as chief portfolio strategist and has served as deputy global chief investment officer since 2016, will assume Lacaille’s role as global chief investment officer. In the press release, they highlighted that she has been “a driving force” for a number of key initiatives across the business including implementing consideration of financially material ESG issues throughout the investment process.
In her role, Heinel will oversee the full spectrum of industry-leading investment capabilities from index funds and ETFs to active, multi-asset class solutions and alternative investments. She will lead an investment team of more than 600 professionals globally and will report to Cyrus Taraporevala, president and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors.
Taraporevala commented that Lori taking the reins as global chief investment officer will bring to fruition years of succession planning. “She is a change leader who I believe is strongly positioned to lead State Street Global Advisors’ Investments team, as we continue the investment innovation which has been a hallmark of our strategy for decades.”
The company noted that Lacaille and Heinel will assume their respective new roles by March 31, 2021 after a “careful and deliberate transition”.
Por Funds Society, Madrid
Por Meritxell Sedo