Hiromichi Mizuno

Hiromichi Mizuno (水野 弘道) is a financial executive who served as chief investment officer of the Japan Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the largest asset owner in the world, from January 2015 until March 2020.^[1] He is currently United Nations special envoy on innovative finance and sustainable investments.

Hiro Mizuno
水野 弘道
Born	Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Osaka City University (BA) Northwestern University (MBA)
Occupation	Financial executive

Early life and education

Mizuno was born in Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.^[2] He received his BA of law at the Osaka City University, before gaining a Master of Business Administration at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.^[3]

Career

Earlier in his career, Mizuno worked for Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings from April 1988 to January 2003.^[4] He then became a partner of Coller Capital from 2003 until January 2015.^[5]

Mizuno then became executive managing director and CIO of the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF), the largest pension fund globally with AUM of $1.5 trillion.^[4]

Mizuno is currently a director of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Association.^[6] On 30 December 2020, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as United Nations special envoy on innovative finance and sustainable investments.^[6][3][7]

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Tesla, Inc., Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2020)^[8][9]
• Danone, Member of the Mission Committee (since 2020)^[10][11]

Non-profit organizations

• The B Team, Member^[12]
• CFA Institute, Member of the Future of Finance Advisory Council^[13]
• Global Business Coalition for Education, Member of the Advisory Board^[14]

Controversy

In September 2020, the Financial Times reported that Mizuno had intervened personally to influence the Harvard University endowment fund – one of Toshiba's largest investors – in what it described as "campaign" to ensure the reappointment of Nobuaki Kurumatani as Toshiba chief executive against the opposition of activist shareholders.^[15]

References

1. Nauman, Billy; Lewis, Leo (12 December 2019). "Moral Money Special Edition: Hiro Mizuno, Japan's $1.6tn man". Financial Times. Moral Money. Retrieved 24 April 2020. On December 3 [2019] the GPIF announced it would stop lending its global equity stocks to short sellers … Mizuno insists this move is needed to build a healthier investment climate … "… inconsistent with supporting short selling. I never met a short seller who has a long-term perspective. …"
2. "水野 弘道 (みずの ひろみち)" [Hiromichi Mizuno]. Biography. Nikkei Asian Review (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 April 2020. 前職は住友信託銀行で、金沢支店勤務などを経てMBA留学、その後シリコンバレー、ニューヨーク支店勤務。… 大阪大学医学系大学院招聘准教授。ひろしまイノベーション機構顧問。… チャリティープラットフォームの（財）ジャストギビングジャパン顧問。岐阜県多治見市生まれ。ロンドン在住。
3. "Mr. Hiro Mizuno of Japan - Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments". United Nations Secretary-General. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
4. "Hiromichi Mizuno". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
5. Hiro Mizuno Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
6. Yoshida, Kaori (31 December 2020). "Tesla director Hiro Mizuno picked as UN sustainable investment envoy". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
7. Secretary-General Appoints Hiro Mizuno of Japan Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments United Nations, press release of 30 December 2020.
8. Kirkhorn, Zachary J. Current Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Report). Form 8-K. Tesla, Inc. On and effective as of April 23, 2020, the authorized number of directors … was increased from nine to ten, and Hiromichi Mizuno was appointed to serve as a member of the Board as well as a member of the Audit Committee of the Board. … Mizuno … standard outside director compensation … initial award of an option to purchase 2,778 shares of Tesla's common stock, vesting and exercisable on June 18, 2020
9. Yu, Yifan; Fang, Alex (24 April 2020). "Tesla recruits Hiro Mizuno, ex-manager of Japan's $1.5tn pension fund". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 24 April 2020. Elon Musk praised former CIO for opposing short-selling … term at the GPIF ended in March [2020]. … interview with the Financial Times, Mizuno said the practice of short-selling is not consistent with its socially responsible investment philosophy, … supporting companies for the long term.
10. Abboud, Leila (26 June 2020). "Danone adopts new legal status to reflect social mission". Financial Times.
11. Danone becomes an "Entreprise à Mission" Danone, press release of 24 June 2020.
12. Leaders The B Team.
13. Future of Finance Advisory Council CFA Institute.
14. Advisory Board Global Business Coalition for Education.
15. Leo Lewis and Billy Nauman (15 September 2020), Harvard pressured to support Toshiba chief in ‘dark arts’ campaign Financial Times.

Further reading

• Mizuno, Hiro (21 April 2020). "Peter Tufano in conversation with Hiro Mizuno" (offset 04:20). Interviewed by Peter Tufano. University of Oxford: Saïd Business School – via Youtube.

External links

• Hiromichi Mizuno (@hiromichimizuno), on Twitter