Ross Pennington will lead the forum alongside former Reserve Bank director Bridget Coates
Chapman Tripp finance partner Ross Pennington has been tapped as co-chair of The Aotearoa Circle’s Sustainable Finance Forum (SFF).
He will be leading the forum alongside ex-Reserve Bank director and company director Bridget Coates. The pair replaces Karen Silk and Matt Whineray, who were the SFF’s founding co-chairs.
The Aotearoa Circle said that the new appointments would take the forum “forward to the next phase of its agenda to transform New Zealand’s financial system.”
A focal point of the new co-chairs’ plan of action for the SFF is the implementation of the forum’s first-ever Roadmap for Action, which was launched on 4 November. Silk and Whineray had spearheaded the development of the roadmap during their tenure.
“The work that has been done to date is absolutely first-class. The current Sustainable Finance Forum has done all the establishment work. Our role as co-chairs will be to take the roadmap through to implementation,” Coates said.
Pennington said he was excited to work with Coates as well as with “others who share this commitment to bring the roadmap to reality.”
Pennington, who has been a partner at Chapman Tripp for five years, has particular expertise in capital markets, banking and structured finance transactions. He has pitched in on sustainable finance matters, sustainability bond programmes and offers and innovative sustainability-linked loans. Moreover, he assisted in developing the New Zealand Kauri Bond market.
He was named a Distinguished Fellow at the recently concluded Institute of Finance Professionals NZ Inc. Awards in recognition of his contributions to New Zealand’s finance and capital markets industry. He is one of only five people to receive the distinction.
In addition to once directing the Reserve Bank, Coates has also served as director of the New Zealand Super Fund. She chaired the Fonterra Sustainability Panel, as well as the University of Auckland-based independent think tank Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures.
She founded Kura Nutrition and White Cloud Dairy Innovation, and served as chair.
