Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva, has expanded the responsible investment team within its real assets unit with the appointments of Phillipa Grant, Elizabeth Ortiz and Jeremy Ho – all reporting to Edward Dixon, the firm’s head of responsible investment for real assets.

Phillipa Grant joins as director of sustainable investments, while Elizabeth Ortiz has been appointed as an associate and Jeremy Ho as an analyst.

Grant joins the firm following eight years at AESG, a global advisory business, where she was a partner and global director of sustainability. In her new role, she will be responsible for delivering sustainability outcomes for clients across Aviva Investors’ real assets sustainable fund range, providing advice to support with strategy development and investment decisions, alongside delivery and reporting within portfolios.

Ortiz joins from KPMG where she was an assistant manager, leading on climate strategy development for corporate clients. In her new role, she will focus on developing and delivering client sustainability objectives across private market asset classes. Prior to her role at KPMG, Ortiz researched whistleblower cases with Kirby McInerney.

Ho will be responsible for delivering sustainability research and due diligence for the growing private lending business at the firm. He joins having previously worked at Pyxis Wealth Advisors and proSapient where he carried out cross-asset class research for hedge fund, private equity and ultra-high-net-worth family clients.

“Our recent Real Assets Study showed that 57% of institutional investors have a commitment to reaching net zero, so it is vitally important we have the resource and expertise to guide our clients and show how real assets allocations can align portfolios with those objectives,” Dixon says. “All three hires bring an enviable level of expertise from across a range of geographies and sectors to address this need, and they will materially advance the breadth and depth of our sustainability offering to clients.”