SJP gets new investment director, after Rob Gardner has left the position to “found a new venture in the environmental sector.”
Gardner has held the post since January 2019 and was a co-founder of Redington in 2006. Tom Beal, who also joins the executive board, has taken his place.
Beal has been employed at SJP for 14 years; in January 2020, he was made chief investment officer.
Beal had held positions with JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Thomson Reuters before joining the company. He presently serves as a lay advisor on the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s finance and investment committee.
Gardner will remain with the company until the end of the year, according to SJP, to enable a smooth transition even though the post has already been assumed.
Gardner said that he didn’t have any doubts that under Tom’s guidance the investment strategy would continue to grow from strength to strength. He added that he was very delighted to have been a part of such a remarkable organization.
Gardner’s tenure in the position resulted in a shift in SJP’s emphasis to ESG, including the addition of global warming targets to fund mandates and the signing of a stewardship agreement with Robeco to vote on ESG matters at company AGMs.
Andrew Croft, the CEO of SJP, expressed his pleasure of working with Rob. He was grateful for Gardner’s leadership of the investment division during a time of political unpredictability and difficult markets. Croft was also excited to see how Gardner’s new business grows and wished him well as he followed his passion”.
Added Beal: “To provide our clients with the greatest possible investment results, my main focus will be on advancing the investment strategy that we have been developing over the past few years. The four fundamental objectives of our approach will not change: enhancing performance, building capacity, cutting costs, and integrating responsible investing into all we do.”
