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.