Pædagogernes Pensionskasse (PBU), Denmark’s DKK55bn (€7.4bn) pension fund for education practitioners, has named Sune Schackenfeldt as chief executive, succeeding long-time leader Leif Brask-Rasmussen.

In conjunction with the leadership change, the fund’s chairman said PBU was in the best shape to be able to create new link-ups with other labour-market pension funds.

Schackenfeldt is a director at Denmark’s biggest commercial pension provider PFA Pension.

He will begin his role as the executive head of PBU on 1 August, following Brask-Rasmussen’s retirement.

Claus Omann Jensen, chairman at PBU and mayor of the Danish municipality of Randers, said: “We have been completely satisfied with the journey PBU has been on with Leif as captain.”

He said Schackenfeldt was a worthy successor.

“He is very well regarded in the pensions world and has proved he can deliver results,” Omann Jensen said.

“Now he is coming to PBU, which is already a very well-run pension fund, and this is the best starting point to be able to create new cooperative relationships with other labour-market pension funds.”

He said Schackenfeld would focus on, among other things, the fact many education practitioners change their pension schemes each year when they change jobs, even though they remain in the same line of work.

The professional term ‘pædagog’ in Danish (education practitioner) describes staff who are specifically trained for work in nurseries, kindergartens, after-school clubs and day and residential institutions.

PBU has already said it aims to begin talks with other pension funds and stakeholders possibly leading to the creation of the same pension for all those in the profession.

PBU’s deputy chairman, and the treasurer of trade union BUPL, Lasse Bjerg Jørgensen, described the pension fund as a “streamlined and effective scheme with market-rate pensions, which generated good results for its members”.

“I am convinced Sune is the right one to head up bringing about a new and visionary business model at PBU,” he said.

Before joining PFA Pension, Schackenfeldt was head consultant at PA Consulting Group.

Topics