31 March 2021. To enhance its commitment to sustainability and accelerate its ambition to be a leader in sustainability, AllianzGI is reshaping the structure of its dedicated team under the leadership of Matt Christensen, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing, as well as enlarging it by two new hires.
This new structure creates three pillars, which will help ensure AllianzGI continues to push the boundaries of sustainability for its clients.

First, a newly created Sustainability Methodologies & Analytics team will innovate with state-of-the-art technology and ESG data, including Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, in order to support research, develop new methodologies across asset classes and develop client-oriented solutions. The team will also oversee AllianzGI’s ESG integration efforts, ESG scoring method and develop the firm’s data set for the climate strategy. 

Matt Christensen, Global Head of Sustainability and Impact Investing, comments :  “We have strong ambitions with regard to carbon reduction, and the new team will be instrumental in transforming the pathway set out by the Net Zero Initiatives into operational targets for investors and comprehensive reporting to our clients.”

Thomas Roulland will head the Sustainability Methodologies & Analytics team. He will be joined by Julien Bertrand as an ESG analyst for methodologies and analytics. Both join from Axa IM, where Thomas Roulland was Head of Responsible Investment Solutions, Models & Tools, and Julien Bertrand worked as an ESG analyst recently. 

The second area is a new Sustainability Research & Stewardship team. It will manage the thematic research and engagement strategy under the leadership of Mark Wade, who was previously Co-Director of Research Credit. Isabel Reuss will continue to head the Sustainability Research team, which will also develop a thematic approach along the topics of Climate, Planetary Boundaries and Inclusive Capitalism. Antje Stobbe, member of the Sustainability Research team since 2019, has been promoted Head of Stewardship and will lead AllianzGI’s engagement and proxy voting activities globally. Isabel and Antje will co-lead the “Climate Engagement with Outcome”. This approach aims to engage with companies on the climate transition pathway towards a low carbon economy.

Finally, a newly created Sustainable Investment Office will be responsible for shaping AllianzGI’s overall sustainable investment strategy and policies, sustainable product strategy and the coordination of cross-functional sustainability topics across the firm.  The team will play a critical role in providing improved knowledge to clients and other stakeholders on AllianzGI’s sustainable investment capabilities. The team will be headed by Nina Hodzic, who was Director ESG Integration and Solutions since 2019 and has been promoted to the new role.

Matt Christensen added:“This structure brings a new focus on ESG data and technology, a refreshed research setup and a dedicated sustainable investment office that will help accelerate our drive to embed sustainability across the firm. The team set-up will provide us with the platform we need to ensure that we are in a position to shape - not follow - the market in the years ahead on critical issues like climate change and social inequalities.”

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Thomas Roulland joins from Axa IM, where he was Head of Responsible Investment Solutions, Models & Tools. Thomas started his career in 2010 as middle-office analyst at B*Capital-BNP Paribas. He then joined Allianz Global Investors as a performance analyst in 2011, before moving to Axa IM, where he was Multi-asset portfolio engineer from 2016 to 2019. Thomas holds a Master I in Capital markets from EDHEC Business School and a Master II – Trading & Asset management from ESLSCA Business School. He is a CFA and CIPM charterholder, and is FRM certified.

Julien Bertrand started his career as a client relationship manager at HSBC Global Banking & Markets in 2013, where he became analyst client manager in 2015. In 2016, Julien joined Axa IM first as an ESG & SRI business analyst & project manager, then as an ESG analyst in 2018. He holds a BA in Banking, Finance & Insurance from the IFC Montpellier and a Master in Financial Markets from the Paris Graduate School of Management & PPA Business School. 

Nina Hodzic joined AllianzGI in 2017 and became Director ESG Integration and Solutions in 2019. Nina has 17 years of experience in the financial industry. She started her career as a Market Risk Analyst at ING. She then spent 11 years at NN Investment Partners (formerly ING IM) in various roles, most recently as a Senior ESG Specialist. Nina is a member of the Advisory Board of LeaderXXchange. She holds a MSc in Financial Econometrics (Quantitative Finance) from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and is currently completing her post graduate degree Managing Technology and Strategy at ESMT Berlin. 

Isabel Reuss started her career in Allianz’s core business – insurance 34 years ago. She joined AllianzGI in 1994 in Italy and managed a Global Healthcare Fund for 10 years. Isabel then joined the Convictions Team in France and Germany as SRI Portfolio Manager. In 2018, Isabel became Global Head of SRI Research at AllianzGI. Isabel developed our SRI methodology, Climate Transition, SRI reporting and Climate Engagement with Outcome. She holds a BA from Stanford University and she is a Certified AIAF Financial Analyst and EFFAS ESG Analyst.

Antje Stobbe has 24 years of experience in the financial services industry. Antje joined AllianzGI in 2019 as senior ESG Analyst. She started her career at Deutsche Bank Research in 1997 where she served as Head of Technology and Innovation and subsequently as Head of Sectors, Technology and Resources. She became Head of Stakeholder Management in the Investor Relations Team at Deutsche Bank in 2013 leading the ESG dialogue with the bank’s largest investors. She is a graduate of Georg August University Göttingen and gained a PhD at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
Mark Wade has a 27 years industry experience. Mark joined Allianz Global Investors in 2017 as Head of Industrials Credit Research, then became Co-Head of Credit Research in 2020. Mark started his career as European corporate credit group at Lehman Brothers in 1994. Mark worked successively at UBS, Aladdin Capital Management and became Head of Credit Trading Research at HSBC Bank in 2009.  He joined Rogge Global Partners in 2014 as Head up the Industrials Credit Research. Mark holds a BA in Natural Sciences (Mathematics & Philosophy) by the University of Durham, UK.

About Allianz Global Investors:
Allianz Global Investors is a leading active asset manager with over 700 investment professionals in 25 offices worldwide and managing EUR 582 billion in assets for individuals, families and institutions. 

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