GLOBAL – Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), UK Pension Protection Fund, Towers Watson, Russell Investments, Local Trust, MSCI, Standard Life Investments, AFS Group, Hamilton Lane

Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) – Councillor Kieran Quinn, chair of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, has been appointed as chair of the LAPFF at its annual general meeting. He takes over from Ian Greenwood, chair of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, who has led the LAPFF since January 2008. Councillor Cameron Rose, representing the Lothian Pension Fund, and Greenwood have been appointed vice-chairs at the LAPFF. In addition, there are two new members of the Forum’s executive –councillor John Gray representing the London Borough of Newham pension fund, and councillor Patricia Glasman, chair of Merseyside Pension Fund.

UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) – The PPF is aiming to expand the range of professional panels it uses to manage schemes through its assessment and wind-up processes. This is the latest development in a programme designed to push pension schemes through PPF assessment and Financial Assistance Scheme wind-up more quickly and efficiently. The three new panels will be trustee advisory panel, assessment process legal panel and auditors panel. Any interested party who wants further information should contact the PPF’s operations solutions consultant Paul Gibbon, at paul.gibbon@ppf.gsi.gov.uk.

Towers Watson – Jeremy Spira has joined the Thinking Ahead group within the consultancy’s investment business. He joins from Mercer, where he advised on investment strategy, asset allocation and funding objectives, manager selection and structure, and funding and performance monitoring. Before then he worked as an actuary in Alexander Forbes’ retirement funds division.

Russell Investments – Sjef Pieters has been appointed head of the Nordics. Based in Amsterdam, he will be responsible for the institutional market in the region. He joins from SAIL Advisors, where he was senior vice-president. Before than, he was head of Lyxor Benelux at Société Générale and principal at Barclays Global Investors.

Local Trust – UKSIF chief executive Penny Shepherd MBE has been appointed as a trustee to the board of charity Local Trust. Ex-Merseyside police federation chair Kathryn Kane, design and communications consultant Peter Mills, finance specialist Jonathan Taylor and environmental social scientist John Whitton have also been appointed as new trustees to the board.

MSCI – Deborah Yang is to lead the MSCI index business across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. Yang joined MSCI in 2001, most recently serving as managing director and head of client coverage for MSCI Asia ex Japan. Before then, she was with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette based in New York and San Francisco.

Standard Life Investments – Frank Richter has been appointed investment director for institutional sales in Germany and Austria. He joins from AXA Investment Managers, where he was head of institutional business for the same region.  

AFS Group – As of 1 December, Nienke Abma has been appointed in the new role of director of client relations and sales at the independent multi-asset class brokerage firm AFS Group.

Hamilton Lane – Paul Waller joins the global private equity asset manager as partner, based in London. Waller recently retired from 3i after 35 years.

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