LONDON, 12 May 2025 – The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Board today announces the start of the search for a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as David Atkin prepares to step down next year. We are grateful to him for extending his initial four-year commitment by a further six months.

David has guided the PRI through a period of significant change, as it adjusted to a signatory base that had doubled in size between 2019 and 2023. His prior experience as CEO of three Australian asset owners and as a PRI Board Director helped position the PRI for success during this critical time. Following in-depth consultation with signatories, David led the development of the 2024-27 strategy, and reorganised the PRI’s operating model to better serve signatory needs. He also made significant progress in simplifying the PRI reporting process for signatories, and expanded the PRI’s engagement with regulators and policy makers on sustainable finance. A clear illustration of this is the annual PRI in Person conference, which in recent years has become a forum for high-profile government announcements from host countries including Canada and Japan, and next Brazil.

Conor Kehoe, PRI Board Chair, said:

“David’s leadership has been transformative for the PRI, guiding us through significant changes in the signatory base, and now in the sustainable investment environment. His vision, dedication, leadership and his relationships in the asset owner community have given the PRI the potential to increase the range and depth of its impact. As we approach our 20th anniversary in 2026, the search for a new CEO is a crucial step in ensuring that the PRI remains at the forefront of the global responsible investment movement. As we look ahead, we are particularly excited about PRI in Person 2025 and the opportunity to deepen our relationships with asset owners and to engage further in emerging markets.”

David Atkin, outgoing CEO, said:

“It’s been an honour to lead the PRI through this important phase. We are at a critical inflexion point for responsible investment. Together with our signatories and the wider responsible investment community, there is a lot of work to do in the next twelve months. I am committed to driving the PRI’s success ahead of its 20th anniversary and ensuring a seamless transition for the next CEO. Together, we’ve laid the foundation for the next chapter of PRI’s growth and impact.”

The PRI’s Search Committee, chaired by Sharon Hendricks, Vice Chair of the CalSTRS Investment Committee, has begun the search for the next CEO. The Board has engaged Korn Ferry to assist the Committee with the search process.

David has initiated and is driving the process to explore and enhance the PRI’s mandate for the next ten years. In the short term, the PRI’s overarching aim is to reinforce the long-term value of responsible investment. It will equip signatories with stronger evidence and enhanced resources to reassert the financial materiality of sustainability issues and support investors in factoring them into their decisions. The PRI will enhance its value proposition by launching a refreshed digital pathways platform, by implementing a simplified reporting framework, by strengthening partnerships across the Responsible Investment ecosystem, particularly in emerging markets, by supporting asset owners in shaping the future of RI, and by convening the global investment community in Brazil ahead of COP30.

Ultimately, the PRI is working to ensure responsible investment remains resilient and relevant—delivering long-term value for signatories, markets, and society alike.

-ENDS- 

 

Notes to editors

About the PRI

The PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. Supported by the United Nations, it works to understand the investment implications of responsible investment factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The PRI acts in the long-term interests of its signatories, of the financial markets and economies in which they operate and ultimately of the environment and society as a whole. Launched in New York in 2006, the PRI has grown significantly since it was founded in 2006 by a small group of investors in partnership with the UN Global Compact and UNEP Finance Initiative, and now counts more than 5000 signatories managing over US$121 trillion.

For media enqueries, please contact:

Rojin Kiadeh, Head of Press & Corporate Communications, PRI, [email protected]

For enquiries about the CEO Search, please contact:

Kate Shattuck, Managing Partner, Korn Ferry [email protected]

Nina Hamilton, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry [email protected]