Joanne Segars has stepped down as chair of PensionsEurope after three years in the role, to be succeeded by Janwillem Bouma.
Bouma, managing director of Shell’s Dutch pension fund, will begin his term immediately.
A member of the Dutch Pension Federation’s board, Bouma only joined PensionsEurope’s board earlier this year following the departure of Benne van Popta.
Bouma joined Shell in 1987 and has worked in various areas of finance for the business since then.
He served as CFO at Shell Sulphur until 2010, when he was named managing director of Shell’s defined benefit fund.
In 2013, he became executive director of its new defined contribution arrangement.
He also sits on the board of the ANWB Pension Fund, the scheme for employees of the Dutch automotive association.
Bouma paid tribute to Segars’s three years as chair, which saw her succeed Patrick Burke as chair of the European Federation of Retirement Provision, later rebranded as PensionsEurope, and laid out his vision for his time as chair.
“Working together with the European institutions to develop practical solutions for the challenges we face in pensions, I will do my utmost to ensure our voice is heard by the European institutions and to promote good pensions for the citizens of Europe,” Bouma said.
“The review of the IORP Directive will be essential, but we will also be working on cross-border issues and our role in providing long-term investments in this uncertain economic environment.”
The association’s general assembly also re-elected Pierre Bollon of France’s AFG and Jerry Moriarty of the Irish Association of Pension Funds as its vice-chairs.
Segars will remain a member of the board in her capacity as chief executive of the UK’s Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.
PensionsEurope also welcomed two new member associations, the Bulgarian Association of Supplementary Pension Security Companies (BASPSC) and the Lithuanian Investment and Pension Funds Association (LIPFA).
BASPSC represents nine member companies worth €4.5bn, while LIPFA represents the interests of companies in Lithuania’s decade-old second pillar, now worth €2bn.
Matti Leppälä, PensionsEurope’s director general, stressed the importance of further associations joining from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.
He said: “It is important we grow stronger in the CEE region, and we hope others will follow the Bulgarian and Lithuanian example, so their voice can be heard at EU level too.”
No comments yet