Church Commissioners for England Appoints Poppy Allonby as Endowment CIO

Poppy Allonby has been named as CIO of the Church Commissioners for England, the endowment of the Church of England. Allonby will succeed Tom Joy, who left the Commissioners to become CIO of an unnamed family office.

“I am really excited to welcome Poppy as our new Chief Investment Officer. This is a key appointment for us at the Church Commissioners, since the wise stewardship of the Church of England’s permanent endowment fund is at the heart of what we do–allowing us to support the Church now and for generations to come,” said Gareth Mostyn, chief executive of the Church Commissioners for England, in a statement.

Allonby’s appointment as the investment chief of the 10 –billion pound ($12.74 billion) fund will be effective at the end of September. The Church Commissioners began its search for a new CIO in February, following Joy’s announcement that he would step down in April.

“I am delighted and honored to join the Church Commissioners as its CIO, an organization globally recognized as a leader in sustainable investment,” said Allonby in a statement. “My focus will be on delivering strong, consistent returns to meet the Commissioners’ core purpose, which is to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England – and to do so in an ethical, sustainable way.”

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Allonby has been the head of ESG enablement at T. Rowe Price since June 2022. She has been a member of the board of the Church Commissioners for England since 2014 and sits on the assets committee of the endowment. Allonby was named a young global leader of the World Economic Forum in 2016 and sits on the external advisory board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative.

Previously, Allonby spent 21 years at BlackRock, most recently as a managing director and head of global product group in Europe and Asia between 2017 and 2020, based in London. At BlackRock, she has also worked as head of the global energy team and a portfolio manager. Allonby holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from Imperial College London.

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Tags: BlackRock, Church Commissioners, Church Commissioners for England, Church of England, CIO, Endowments, Gareth Mostyn, Poppy Allonby, T. Rowe Price

Norway’s central bank, which manages the country’s Government Pension Fund Global, has added Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., Weichai Power Co. Ltd. and L3Harris Technologies Inc. to the list of firms the $1.65 trillion sovereign wealth fund is prohibited from investing in.

Norges Bank’s executive board said it is excluding Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone over the “unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious violations of individuals’ rights in situations of war or conflict.” The company had been under observation since March 2022 due to its business association with Myanmar’s military.

According to Norges Bank, the Indian logistics company, which is part of the Adani Group of companies, disclosed in May 2023 that it had sold its port-related operations in Myanmar to a company named Solar Energy Ltd. However, Norges said that there is no available information on the buyer, and that APSEZ declined to share any information on the buyer on the grounds of confidentiality.

“Lack of information means that the Council cannot establish whether APSEZ has links to the enterprise concerned,” Norges Bank’s Council on Ethics said in its recommendation to exclude the firm. “In a situation in which extremely serious norm violations are taking place, this constitutes an unacceptable risk that the GPFG’s investments in APSEZ may breach its ethical guidelines.”

Norges Bank said that as of the end of 2022, the GPFG owned 0.3% of APSEZ’s shares, worth approximately $63.4 million.

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The executive board said its reason for excluding Weichai Power, a Chinese company that manufactures engines for heavy vehicles, was due to “an unacceptable risk” that the company is contributing to the sale of military materiel to Russia and Belarus.

The bank said the decision was prompted by Weichai’s participation in joint ventures with companies that sell military vehicles to the authorities in Russia and Belarus. It also said the company did not reply to its requests for additional information. As of the end of 2022, the GPFG owned 0.46% of the company’s shares, worth NOK 553 million ($52.8 million).

L3Harris was added to the exclusion list as a result of its 2023 acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, which has been on the pension giant’s exclusion list since 2007. It was excluded on the grounds that it produces motors for Minuteman and Trident missiles, which are nuclear weapon delivery systems.

“According the ethical guidelines, the Council shall recommend that companies which develop or produce nuclear weapons or key components for nuclear weapons be excluded from investment by the GPFG,” The Council on Ethics said in its recommendation. “The Council has previously taken the position that missiles and motors for missiles whose only function is to carry nuclear warheads must be considered key components of nuclear weapons.”