Active fixed income manager BlueBay Asset Management announced two new appointments to its ESG investment team, naming Emma Whiteacre as Senior ESG Analyst and Elena Koycheva as ESG Institutional Portfolio Manager.

In the newly created role of ESG Institutional Portfolio Manager, Koycheva will collaborate with investment teams to enhance the firm’s proposition by showcasing evidence of increased ESG integration and engagement across the company’s strategies. She has been at BlueBay for five years, most recently being serving as Senior RFP Writer within the firm’s Global Business Development Team, where she was involved in articulating how ESG considerations are integrated within the company’s investment strategies.

Whiteacre will contribute to the company’s ESG investment management efforts, with a focus on climate change. She joins the company from Beazley Group, where she served as a Country Risk Analyst, and chaired the firm’s Responsible Business Committee, with responsibilities for overseeing all Responsible Business workstreams for establishing ESG and climate change as key priorities within the firm.

Mark Dowding, BlueBay Asset Management CIO, said:

“We’ve come a long way since we hired our first ESG consultant in 2013, having launched several ESG-dedicated funds and done some groundbreaking work on impact-aligned investing within fixed income. Last year also saw ESG established as a firm-wide strategic filter with our ESG team moving from our risk to our investment function. The appointments of Emma and Elena personify the critical importance we place on ESG in future-proofing our business. We are delighted to have their insights further enhance our offering.”