By Muskan Arora

The $10 billion Church Commissioners of England fund has appointed
Poppy Allonby as its new chief investment officer. She will join the fund in September.

Allonby succeeds Tom Joy, who stepped down from the Church Commissioners
in April for a new role overseas. Joy has taken over the role of CIO at Single Family Office at the Cayman Islands, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

She was already known to the Church Commissioners, as she
started working as a board member since March 2014.

Prior to this role, she served as the vice president and head of
ESG enablement team at T Rowe Price since June 2022. She led a
multidisciplinary team responsible for the firm’s sustainability strategy and its execution. 

Before that she was a part of the external advisory board
for Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative for almost four
years. In that role, she assisted in developing low and no carbon
solutions that will efficiently meet global energy needs while minimizing
environmental impacts and mitigating climate change.

Before that, she worked at BlackRock for twenty-one
years where she started as the head of Global Energy Team and Portfolio manager;
and then progressed to being the managing director covering EMEA and APAC.

“Poppy’s investment expertise coupled with her
early and prescient focus on sustainable investment will be invaluable to us as
we look to deepen and strengthen our commitment to values-based investment –
because, in our view, values drive value,” said Alan Smith, First Church
Estates Commissioner.

The Church Commissioners of England fund has delivered positive returns for
the last 14 years, while growing as a global leader known for its responsible
investment. It recently revised its strategy to eye three systematic risks
including climate change, nature and biodiversity, and social inequality. This
is a part of the newly introduced net zero carbon policy, social issues and real
assets sustainability.