General Atlantic has appointed Cornelia Gomez as its first global head of ESG, the firm announced. The news was first reported by Bloomberg in January.

Gomez is an influential member of the European private equity sustainability scene. Head of ESG and sustainability at French firm PAI Partners from 2017 to January 2022, she established the firm’s ESG practice, and was global coordinator at the initiative Climat International, an association of private equity investors tackling climate change, backed by the UN’s Principles of Responsible Investment. The initiative grew from a collaboration between French private markets to become the global forum for private equity firms to discuss climate action. It recently formally started its North America chapter.

“Cornelia has an outstanding track record building and leading high-impact ESG programmes, and she shares our core commitment to responsible business stewardship,” Bill Ford, chair and chief executive of General Atlantic, said in the firm’s statement. “Cornelia’s experience and expertise will help us maximise the positive impact we can have across our global portfolio.”

Gomez added: “I look forward to working with the team to ensure that ESG becomes a transformative value creation lever as General Atlantic continues to scale high-growth companies that are building the future.”