Vatican announces appointments to Investment Committee

By Vatican News staff reporter

The Holy See Press Office on Tuesday announced the institution of the Investment Committee and the appointment of its members.

The Investment Committee was provided for in Article 227 of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which entered into force on Sunday.

It will be presided over by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

The four members of the Committee are: Jean Pierre Casey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RegHedge (Great Britain); Giovanni Christian Michael Gay, Managing Director of Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH (Germany); David Harris, Portfolio manager of Skagen Funds (Norway); and, John J. Zona, Chief Investment Officer of Boston College (United States of America).

According to Praedicate Evangelium, “the Committee, composed of high-profile professionals appointed for five-year terms, is called upon to ensure the ethical nature of the Holy See's equity investments, in accordance with the Church's social doctrine and according to the criteria of profitability, suitability, and moderate riskiness (in Italian: redditività, adeguatezza e moderata rischiosità).”

Here below are brief biographies of the four Committee Members:

Jean Pierre Casey (UK)

Founder and CEO of RegHedge, a hybrid fintech-regtech startup which uses Artificial Intelligence to derive meaningful insights from government policy. Previously, he held senior investment positions at leading banks, as a Managing Director and Head of Investments for Emerging Markets at JP Morgan Private Bank in London, Head of Investments (Europe) at Edmond de Rothschild, where he was a member of the Global Investment Committee, and Head of Investment Advisory (International) at Barclays Wealth. He oversaw the investment management of billions of dollars of assets in these roles. He is also a Visiting Professor in the Economics Department of the College of Europe in Bruges, was previously an advisor to ESMA, the pan-European financial markets regulator, and has published two books and a number of articles on financial regulation. He is the U.K. Coordinator of the Fondazione Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice.

Giovanni Christian Michael Gay (Germany)

Since 2004 Mr. Gay is Managing Director of Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH and head of the retail business of the Union Investment Group, the asset manager of the Cooperative Financial Network in Germany. He is also member of the Risk Management Committee and the Executive Committee. Giovanni Gay started his career in 1993 at Banco Santander in Frankfurt. Before that, he studied business administration at the University of Cologne.  

David Harris (Sweden)

Portfolio Manager and Partner at SKAGEN Funds, part of Storebrand, with a broad experience from global equity markets and active sustainable investing. He took the Executive Value Investing program at Columbia Business School and has a degree in Systematic Theology.

John J. Zona (USA)

Chief Investment Officer at Boston College with oversight of the University’s $4 billion endowment, management of long-term debt and real estate acquisition. He holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, where he serves as professor of the practice. He is a CFA charterholder and certified public accountant.