Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has appointed Niamh Whooley to its investment grade fixed income team in a newly-created role that strengthens its focus on how sustainability intersects with corporate fundamentals.
Whooley joins from PIMCO, where she was part of its ESG executive leadership committee and was head of PIMCO’s ESG desk.
In her new role, she will work with GSAM’s corporate research analysts to “drive better identification of material ESG and sustainability-related themes across GSAM’s coverage universe”.
Whooley will also help to foster better engagement on ESG-related themes across GSAM’s investments.
Iain Lindsay, co-head of global portfolio management within the global fixed income team at GSAM, said: “We are in constant dialogue with our clients on ESG and, as a firm, already coordinate our capabilities across asset classes.
“We believe that 2020 will be a year of definition and discovery for ESG, particularly within fixed income, and Niamh’s extensive experience will prove valuable to our ongoing efforts to clarify the relationship between sustainability, corporate performance and investment outcomes.”
Prior to PIMCO, Whooley was a director of ESG equity research at Société Générale.
GSAM recently made another ESG hire with the appointment of Tim Verheyden to its quantitative investment strategies team as a researcher, with responsibility for focusing on the “discovery and refinement of ESG signals for inclusion in the group’s equity strategies.”
