Global Governance Committee

This Committee focuses on corporate governance best practices, including board responsibilities, effectiveness and independence, culture, risk management and remuneration.

ICGN Policy Committee Procedures

Cristina Ungureanu

Qatar Investment Authority

Committee Chair

Cristina Ungureanu was appointed Governance Manager at the Qatar Investment Authority (Doha, Qatar) in November 2021. Previously, she was Head of Corporate Governance Eurizon Capital, the asset management company of the Italian leading banking group Intesa Sanpaolo. Prior to this, Cristina worked in international corporate and academic environments in South Africa, United Kingdom and Italy, providing high-level corporate governance consulting and research to a diverse range of institutions.

Cristina is Chair of the ICGN Global Governance Committee, Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute, and Member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Association of non-executive Directors. She has a Doctorate in Finance, a Masters in International Relations, and a Bachelor’s in Economics and Business Administration.

Melanie Adams
RBC Global Asset Management

Melanie is Vice President & Head, Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment for RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) and a member of the Leadership Committee. The CGRI team supports RBC GAM’s investment teams in integrating environmental, social and governance factors into the investment process, engages in active stewardship and provides meaningful client reporting on responsible investment. Melanie serves on the Board of Directors of the Responsible Investment Association as Secretary (Canada) and on the Board of Directors of the Investor Stewardship Group (U.S.). Melanie joined RBC GAM in 2014 and has also held roles in Fund Governance and Strategy. Prior to working at RBC GAM, Melanie was Senior Counsel, Litigation for another large financial institution, and Enforcement Counsel at the Ontario Securities Commission.

J.D., Law, University of Toronto; B.Sc., University of Waterloo.

Roland Bosch
Lazard Asset Management Limited

Roland M. Bosch is Senior Vice President, Governance Analyst on the Sustainable Investment and ESG team. Prior to joining Lazard in 2022, Roland was a senior investment stewardship specialist with Federated Hermes International, where he was sector lead for financial services and responsible for corporate engagements in Europe and the US. Prior to joining Federated Hermes, he worked as an investment manager at F&C Asset Management, where he was responsible for managing institutional equity portfolios, as well as providing investment analysis and recommendations. Before that, Roland was based in the Netherlands, working as an investment manager for insurance group Achmea and as an equity analyst at HSBC James Capel.

Roland is a certified investment analyst (RBA), EFFAS financial analyst and holds a master’s degree in Business Economics from University of Groningen. Roland is fluent in Dutch and English, with a good working knowledge of German and French.

Carlos Brandao
Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance

Carlos is an independent director of public and private companies. He is also a teacher in executive education programs and a partner of Celb77 Ltda. providing advisory services in governance and sustainability. He is a securities portfolio manager authorised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM) and a certified board member by the IBGC (CCA+). He has been sitting on the governing bodies of organizations dedicated to responsible business, such as the B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council, USA, the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Stakeholder Council, the Netherlands, and the Technical Review Committee of the Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings (GISR), USA. In Brazil, Carlos was on the boards of IBGC, B3’s ISE - Corporate Sustainability Index and Ethical Fund - Santander Asset Management.

Carlos worked for almost 20 years as CFO and Executive Director of holding and portfolio companies in heavy construction, IT, credit card, telecommunications, e-commerce, and GIS. His activities included business development and M&A with domestic and international partners.

He is a civil engineer, with an Executive MBA in Finance, an MSc in Energy Planning and a DSc in History and Philosophy of Science (thesis on business and sustainability). Carlos has attended executive education programs in general management (London Business School), governance (Chicago, IMD, Harvard, IBGC) and sustainability (Cambridge, York, ICGN).

Charles (Chuck) Canfield

International Finance Corporation

Chuck is the Principal Corporate Governance Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He is a Certified Public Accountant (Illinois) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (London). He has extensive experience advising enterprises on corporate governance and is the main architect of the IFC Updated Corporate Governance Methodology and the IFC Beyond the Balance Sheet: Disclosure and Transparency Toolkit. Chuck has also contributed to the CG component of IFC’s artificial intelligence ESG analyst platform MALENA. Chuck’s current endeavors include overseeing the CG Portfolio for the World region and was a major contributor to IFC’s Climate Governance Methodology. In addition, he has extensive experience as an auditor and tax advisor with international accounting firms as well as legal experience as a corporate and securities attorney. Chuck has a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Elmhurst College, Chicago, Illinois, USA, and a Juris Doctor with a concentration in International Law from Northwestern University.

Heloise Courault
AXA Investment Managers

Heloise Courault is a Senior Corporate Governance & Stewardship Analyst in the Responsible Investment team of AXA Investment Managers. Prior to that role, she was co-Head of shareholder advisory firm SquareWell Partners after serving as a senior corporate governance analyst at proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services, producing research and voting recommendations on French listed companies for institutional investors, and engaging with management and board members on corporate governance issues. Heloise was also involved in ISS’ policy formulation process for Continental Europe, ensuring that ISS’ voting guidelines effectively reflect market trends and investor expectations.

She holds a master’s degree in corporate strategy and finance from Sciences Po Strasbourg.

Gigi Dawe

Institute of Corporate Directors

Gigi is Vice President of Policy & Research. Prior, she was the Corporate Oversight and Governance department at the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada). As such, she oversees CPA Canada’s development of influential, thought leading resources and events that improve board performance. Gigi launched the governance discipline at CPA Canada to facilitate enhanced board and executive response to market demands. Recently she has been actively involved with CPA Canada’s initiative to reimagine the future of the accounting profession with particular attention on data governance. Her history includes consulting in organizational development in a variety of industries.

Gigi is a board member of Youthdale Treatment Centres. She also sits on the advisory board of Simon Fraser University’s Next Generation Governance Project, the Advisory Committee of the Canada Climate Law Initiative and the International Corporate Governance Network’s (ICGN) Human Capital Committee. She is a past board member of Active Healthy Kids Canada and Family Daycare Services Toronto and was co-chair of the ICGN’s Corporate Board Governance Committee. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Institute of Corporate Directors, and the International Corporate Governance Network.

Gigi obtained a Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School. She teaches Corporate Responsibility and Ethics in the Master of Financial Accountability program at York University.

Michael Hilb

Board Foundation

Michael Hilb is Chair of the Board Foundation and Vice Chair of the Foundation for Value Creation. He serves on advisory boards of several corporate governance organizations, including the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) and the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa). Michael Hilb is the founder of DBP Group and a member of several boards of directors. He is a Titular Professor at the University of Fribourg and teaches strategy, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance at the University of St. Gallen, the University of Zurich, and Singapore Management University. Previously, Michael held executive leadership positions at DKSH, Holcim, and Roland Berger.

He studied business at the University of Michigan, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the University of St. Gallen, where he earned an MSc and a PhD. Michael was a Visiting Fellow at INSEAD and Harvard University.

Nicolas Huber
DWS

Head of Research - Responsible Investments: Frankfurt

As Head of Corporate Governance Nicolas leads the corporate governance activities of DWS with regards to active ownership including voting and engagement as well as thought leadership. He joined the company in 1999 with 8 years of industry experience. Prior to his current role, Nicolas served as the Head of ESG Initiatives and in the ESG Head Office. Previously, he was the Head of Green Investments. Before joining, he held a number of senior portfolio management and research roles at Zurich Invest (acquired by Deutsche Bank), Nordinvest and at CRM Capital Research and Management.

Bank Training Program (“Bankkaufmann”) at Berliner Bank; Investment Analysis Program at DVFA; Business and Environment Programme for Sustainability Leadership at University of Cambridge; Certified Sustainability Investment Manager (Euroforum).

Tomohiro Ikawa
Fidelity International

Tomohiro has more than a 20-year experience as an investment professional and is a leadership expert who leads dialogue with investee companies on a wide range of themes centered on sustainability issues as Head of Engagement at Fidelity International in Japan. Prior to joining Fidelity, he worked as a portfolio manager, analyst, and head of investment of global equities in the US, Singapore and Japanese financial institutions and held many dialogues with investee companies focusing on medium- to long-term corporate value creation. He is a member of the Global Governance Committee of International Corporate Governance Network. Tomohiro earned his Bachelor of Economics from Hitotsubashi University and MBA from Aoyama Business School.

Peter Swabey
The Chartered Governance Institute

Peter Swabey is Policy & Research Director at The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland. Based in London, he is responsible for developing the profile of the Institute and the governance profession with members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership, lobbying campaigns and professional guidance promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.

Peter, who joined the Institute in 2013, has more than 35 years’ experience of company secretarial work. He is a member of a number of industry committees and working parties, and is a regular speaker at conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and governance matters.

Susanne Stormer
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Susanne is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Head of Sustainability of the firm in Denmark, a role she assumed in February 2021 to develop the firm’s service offerings in advisory and assurance to support clients’ transition to become sustainable businesses. Prior to this, she was the Chief Sustainability Advisor and Vice President at the Danish-based pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk. In this capacity she set direction for Novo Nordisk to be a leader with high and forward-looking standards for driving a sustainable business and documenting progress. Susanne joined the Novo Group in 2000 to ingrain responsible business practices across the organization as the lens for decision-making and a strong component of the corporate strategy and culture.

In 2002, she initiated the company’s approach to ESG engagements with investors, which she built to be leading edge practice. Among her achievements are also the successful integration of the company’s financial and sustainability reporting. Before that, she worked as a strategy and communications consultant in the field of environmental and sustainability issues management for more than a decade. Susanne holds a certificate from INSEAD’s International Directors’ Programme and has Board experience from other organisations, and is currently member of the Board of the Access to Nutrition Foundation, member of the Board Shift, the leading center of expertise on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, member of the SASB Standards Board, and member of the Board of the Danish Academy for Social Innovation. She is adjunct professor of Corporate Sustainability at the Copenhagen Business School and a visiting professor at UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business.

Bennet Strang

Novo Nordisk

Bennet Strang has been working at Novo Nordisk in Denmark as an Associate Director focused on sustainability intelligence since May 2021. In his role, Bennet and his team are responsible for researching and producing analyses on key sustainability trends, risks and opportunities and to advise senior management. Bennet also deals with ESG-related investor queries given his interest in sustainable finance from a healthcare perspective. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Bennet gained extensive experience in asset management, EU regulation, sustainability and public affairs from roles at Wellington Management as well as Morgan Stanley in London. He holds Master’s degrees in EU Politics and History from the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford, respectively.

Juan Manuel Vazquez

Emisores Españoles

Mr. Juan Manuel Vazquez Garcia Reynoso is a Member of the Policy Committee and the ESG Committee of EuropeanIssuers, and Secretary of the International Committee of Asociación de Emisores Españoles (the Spanish Issuers Association). Mr. Vazquez, born in 1970, holds Law degrees from both Universidad Catolica Argentina (Argentina) and UNED (Spain), and a Master degree in International Banking and Finance Law from Boston University. His career in the banking and finance Law sector started in 1999 at Garrigues Andersen, where he served as senior associate of the financial Law department until 2003. He also led the financial Law practice of Landwell-PriceWaterhouseCoppers’ Barcelona office from 2005 until 2010, when he was appointed as General Counsel of General Electric Capital Bank (Spain). Currently, he is the finance and banking partner in a Spanish small Law boutique. Mr. Vazquez is author of numerous publications on regulatory issues, and member of the EuropeanIssuers CMU, EMIR, SME, Corporate Governance and Prospectus Regulation Working Groups.

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Global Governance Committee