First Ever Chief Operating Officer At PRI

Peter de Graaf has today been revealed as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

Peter takes up his new role on 1 December. He will be based in London and report directly to the PRI’s managing director Fiona Reynolds. His appointment marks the first time that the PRI has had a COO role.

Peter joins from London-based management consultancy Carnstone Partners LLP, where he spent the last seven years as a Senior Partner. He served as the Operations Partner responsible for the firm’s operational management, including the coordination for the Senior Partner meetings and serving as Company Secretary for the Partnership. He also led the firm’s work on capital markets projects with clients and partners such as the Pension Protection Fund, Risk Metrics/MSCI and WHEB Asset Management. Peter has a particular interest in responsible investment.

Before joining Carnstone, Peter spent almost two years as Managing Director and Member of the Board at Trucost Plc. He also spent five years at FTSE, first as Managing Director EMEA and then as Managing Director for Public Affairs.

Earlier in his career, Peter worked for a number of communications consultancies including Edelman, Omnicom and Grayling.

Peter holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam and an MSc in Economics of the European Union from the London School of Economics.

In his new role, Peter will have overall operational responsibility for companywide key projects and for operationalising the strategic plan and annual business plans across the PRI, ensuring ongoing oversight and reporting against these plans. He will provide coordination across the senior management team and have a direct responsibility for the Communication & Events team.

As the chief programme officer he will provide leadership to project planning and processes and will implement new programmatic strategic initiatives. Additionally, he will partner with the managing director and directors to implement the operational and cross organisational aspects of a new 10-year Blueprint for Responsible Investment.

Peter’s expertise in operational management, combined with his knowledge of business planning, budget management and reporting will ensure that we work smarter and more effectively as an organisation.

“The PRI has grown enormously in recent years, which means that, in order to meet the ongoing needs of our members, and develop new capabilities in the future, we now need a very senior individual who can coordinate projects and deliverables across the whole of the PRI,” said managing director Fiona Reynolds. “Peter’s expertise in operational management, combined with his knowledge of business planning, budget management and reporting will ensure that we work smarter and more effectively as an organisation. We are delighted to welcome him to the PRI.”

Commenting on his new role, Peter said: “The PRI has made a huge contribution to moving environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into the forefront of the financial services sector but we know that there is still a great deal more to be done. I’m looking forward to working with the organisation and taking them into the next decade to ensure that responsible investments keeps moving forward worldwide.”