Aviva Investors expands Real Assets Responsible Investment team with three hires

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva PLC, announces it has expanded the responsible investment team within its Real Assets unit with the appointments of Phillipa Grant, Elizabeth Ortiz and Jeremy Ho.

All reporting into Edward Dixon, Head of Responsible Investment, Real Assets, at Aviva Investors, Phillipa Grant joins as Director of Sustainable Investments, whilst Elizabeth Ortiz has been appointed as an Associate, and Jeremy Ho as an Analyst.

Phillipa is a chartered engineer and joins Aviva Investors following eight years at AESG, a global advisory business, where she was a Partner and Global Director of Sustainability. In her new role, Phillipa will be responsible for delivering sustainability outcomes for clients across Aviva Investors’ real assets sustainable fund range, providing advice to support with strategy development and investment decisions, alongside delivery and reporting within portfolios.

Elizabeth Ortiz joins from KPMG where she was an Assistant Manager, leading on climate strategy development for corporate clients. In her role at Aviva Investors, she will focus on developing and delivering client sustainability objectives across private markets asset classes. Prior to her role at KPMG Elizabeth researched whilstleblower cases with Kirby McInerney LLP. She holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Environmental Science from King’s College London.

Jeremy Ho is a graduate of Durham University and Imperial College Business School and will be responsible for delivering sustainability research and due diligence for the growing private lending business at Aviva Investors. He joins having previously worked at Pyxis Wealth Advisors and proSapient where he carried out cross-asset class research for hedge fund, private equity and ultra-high net worth family clients.

The appointments follow findings from the sixth edition of the “Real Assets Study” from Aviva Investors which found more than half (51%) of institutional investors globally citing the ability to evidence sustainability-related impact as driving them to invest in real assets.

Edward Dixon, Head of Responsible Investment, Real Assets, at Aviva Investors, said: “We are really pleased to extend the responsible investment capabilities of our Real Assets function through the appointment of Phillipa, Elizabeth and Jeremy. Our recent Real Assets Study showed that 57% of institutional investors have a commitment to reaching net zero, so it is vitally important we have the resource and expertise to guide our clients and show how real assets allocations can align portfolios with those objectives. All three hires bring an enviable level of expertise from across a range of geographies and sectors to address this need and we believe they will materially advance the breadth and depth of our sustainability offering to clients.”