NEW YORK - EY has hired Rodolfo Araujo, an expert in corporate governance, to lead the auditing and consulting firm's environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy and investor engagement efforts, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Araujo will provide strategic counsel to corporate boards, management teams and asset managers on ways to develop ESG initiatives at EY Parthenon, EY's global strategy consulting arm, the sources said.
An EY spokesperson declined to comment.
His hire comes at a time corporations are focusing more intently on ESG issues ranging from pollution and employee safety to carbon emissions and are looking for help on how to engage with shareholders on the topic.
Araujo spent more than three years at FTI as the global consulting firm's head of corporate governance and activism. Before that he helped decide the outcome of contested mergers and proxy contests as a vice president at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).
EY, which has been working to build expertise in shareholder engagement, hired banker David Hunker as head of shareholder activism defense from J.P. Morgan two years ago.
The company, commonly known as Ernst & Young, is currently moving forward with a plan to split its two main businesses - auditing and consulting - into two separate companies.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Deepa Babington)