BNY hires first chief sustainability officer from BlackRock

Meaghan Muldoon, BlackRock's global head of ESG integration, left the company this month to join BNY Mellon as its first chief sustainability officer, according to announcements on LinkedIn.

Muldoon, who had been at BlackRock for more than seven years, started at that firm as managing director of corporate strategy in 2016, later moving from New York to London as EMEA head of sustainable investing. She had served as BlackRock’s global head of ESG integration since 2020, another role that was based in London.

The BNY position, which is based in New York, started in May, according to a post by Jayee Koffey, global head of enterprise execution and chief corporate affairs officer.

“I am thrilled to share that I have joined BNY Mellon as the bank’s first chief sustainability officer. Very excited to build with this incredible team!” Muldoon wrote in a response to the announcement.

Prior to her time at BlackRock, Muldoon had two stints at the White House Office of Management and Budget and most recently was counselor to the secretary at the Department of the Treasury. In 2012, she served in the Obama administration as deputy assistant to the president and policy advisor to the chief of staff.

The departure is the second in recent months among senior ESG staff at BlackRock. Earlier this year, the company,s head of sustainability policy and engagement, Paul Bodnar, who until last October had been global head of sustainable investing at the firm, announced that he accepted a role at the Bezos Earth Fund. Bodnar, who started at BlackRock in 2021, officially moved to his new role in April.

“Paul Bodnar and Meaghan Muldoon’s responsibilities will be picked up by the Sustainable and Transition Solutions team," a BlackRock spokesperson wrote in an email in response to a question about the departures.

A year ago, BNY was caught up in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s relatively new enforcement campaign around ESG claims. It agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges that it misrepresented some of its overlay funds as being environmentally friendly. Although BNY had being doing ESG assessments for mutual funds in its sustainable investing category, it had not done the same for the underlying investments in the overlay funds, according to the SEC, though it committed to doing so in conjunction with the settlement.