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The new Chairman of the Church of England’s Ethical Investments Advisory Group (EIAG) is to be investment banker John Reynolds.  He will succeed Archdeacon Ian Russell on 1 January 2006.

Mr Reynolds is the CEO of a European business of a US-based investment bank, and is also Vice President of Save the Children. He is 39, and married with four children. His interests include rock-climbing, weight-lifting and moral philosophy.

The appointment of the EIAG’s fifth Chairman involved public advertisement for the first time.  The Nominations Panel was very aware of the importance of its task, and members were greatly impressed and moved by the quality of all the candidates who had applied, and the regard in which the EIAG and its work is clearly held.

The Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, Bishop of Worcester, EIAG Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Nominations Panel, said: “John combines the practical skills of being a senior investment practitioner, with an academic background in theology.  After very careful consideration of the wide and differing skills offered to the Group, as well as reflection on the Group’s next stage of development, we unanimously nominated and invited John to become the Group’s Chairman.

“We believe that John’s unusual combination of skills and interests will be of great benefit to the work of the Group, and that he will prove an exciting and independent choice to lead it into the future.”

John Reynolds is currently the Chief Executive of the European division of a specialist US investment bank (Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin (Europe) Ltd), and has considerable experience of working as an equity analyst. He holds a first degree in theology from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and is a committed, practising Christian with a long-standing and informed interest in ethical investment from both a theological and a professional perspective.

Mr Reynolds said: "I am delighted to have been appointed as Chair of the EIAG. Ethical issues and corporate governance are now firmly established as part of investment decision-making. However, a purely legalistic approach which is not informed by ethical principles will fall short of providing a full framework for ethical investment and governance.

“The Church of England, through the EIAG, has an important role to ensure that the moral and ethical aspects of these issues are analysed and communicated, both in the case of longstanding areas of concern such as alcohol but also in areas of rapidly moving science. I hope that my own background both as a theologian and as an investment banker can contribute to the EIAG's work.”