Institutional Shareholder Services Hires Nathan Leclercq As Head of U.K. Research

LONDON, U.K. (12 June 2017) – Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a leading provider of governance and responsible investment solutions to the global financial community, today announced that Nathan Leclercq will be joining ISS as Head of U.K. Research based in London. Mr. Leclercq is an experienced industry practitioner currently working as Head of Corporate Governance at Aviva Investors. Prior to joining Aviva Investors in 2002, Mr. Leclercq worked at Northern Trust custodian bank, also in a corporate governance role.

Mr. Leclercq will lead the ISS U.K. research team, with a continued focus on producing market-leading high quality research and voting recommendations on U.K. companies for ISS clients globally. He will have a client-facing and public role, managing the team’s dialogue with U.K. companies in accordance with the ISS Compliance Statement against the U.K. Stewardship Code, monitoring U.K. and global corporate governance developments and ensuring ISS U.K. voting guidelines reflect good market standards, investor needs and best practice.

At Aviva Investors, Mr. Leclercq has primarily worked with fund managers and analysts in assessing company corporate governance and remuneration arrangements, and engaging with companies on material corporate governance and other ESG issues as part of Aviva Investors’ investment and voting considerations. He has been responsible for evidencing Aviva Investors’ adherence to its Stewardship statement and in reviewing the effectiveness of Aviva Investors’ voting and engagement activities. Mr. Leclercq also represented Aviva Investors on the Investment Association’s Remuneration and Share Schemes Committee, the Shareholder Voting Working Group and the UN PRI vote confirmation group.

“We are delighted to be welcoming Nathan, with his breadth of investor experience and practical insight, to lead our U.K. Research team.” said Georgina Marshall, ISS’ Global Head of Research. “Nathan’s deep industry experience working alongside investment managers on governance, social and environmental matters as part of an integrated investment ownership process, and involving significant company engagement, will add considerable value for our clients. It is another marker of ISS’ investment in our market-leading research and expertise.”

Mr. Leclercq will join ISS’ London office team of 45 staff and will report to Catherine Salmon, Executive Director, Head of Research for U.K., France, Middle East and Africa. The team includes senior U.K. analysts, Rachit Gupta and Jonathan Haymon, each of whom has over ten years of experience in investor-focused governance research, and Thérèse Kieve who recently joined ISS from ShareAction. Ms. Salmon, said, “The client and market insights that Nathan brings to his new role at ISS will augment the leadership and skillset of our existing, highly-experienced team of analysts, both for the U.K. and across global markets.”

“I look forward to leading the ISS U.K. research team in providing the market-leading high quality research, reporting, and thought-leadership that ISS specializes in to assist investors with their core stewardship, investing and voting activities,” said Mr.Leclercq. “Governance and active responsible ownership are increasingly becoming a year round focus for many investors in the U.K. and globally. ISS research and data is constantly evolving to support investors’ needs, and I look forward to contributing to this evolution.”