Investment manager M&G names first Chief Sustainability Officer

M&G, a savings and investment firm with £342 billion of assets under management, has appointed Kathy Ryan as its first Chief Sustainability Officer.

Ryan joins from Irish Life Investment Management, where she built a team of ESG specialists to advance ESG integration and stewardship across asset classes. 

She will report to M&G’s Chief Financial Officer Kathryn McLeland.

M&G Chief Sustainability Officer Kathy Ryan joins growing team

This is the company’s second sustainability appointment in three months, after it hired Michael van der Meer (the former head of sustainable investment analysts at Credit Suisse) as head of sustainability for M&G Investments last July. 

These senior hires come just as M&G announced the completion of a voluntary redundancy scheme in its half year results, which led to the exit of 200 people. 

The company is targeting £200 million of cost savings by 2025 and has a capital generation target of £2.5 billion by 2024 amid a broader restructuring. 

M&G has been on sustainability drive; setting up a central sustainability office in 2022 to implement a “group-wide sustainability governance operating model”.

Group sustainability is currently the responsibility of CFO McLeland, who made it clear in the 2022 sustainability report that the company’s current focus is on “building out our sustainability capabilities to continue to meet the increasing expectations of stakeholders”.

“Our industry has an immense role to play in improving sustainable outcomes achieved and financing the transition to net zero,” incoming M&G Chief Sustainability Officer Ryan said.

“Through responsible asset management, pensions, life and savings, M&G can play a significant role in developing sustainable long term investment solutions and building on existing initiatives such as PruFund Planet and its Catalyst investment strategy. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build on M&G’s existing capabilities and progress its approach to sustainability.”