GLOBAL - Mercer, Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites, Horizon Cash Management, National Association of Pension Funds, DVFA, Germán Bernácer Prize

Mercer - Stephen James and Tia Brett join the company’s international consulting group as principal and senior associate, respectively. James previously worked at Towers Watson and has spent 10 years as a consultant, while Brett joins from Unilever after 12 years - spending much of that time on its global pensions team.

Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites - The French pension reserve fund has named Salwa Boussoukaya-Nasr as successor to Philippe Aurain, who was the FRR’s chief investment officer until the end of last month. Boussoukaya-Nasr was previously head of asset allocation and joined FRR in 2006 from Ixis Asset Management.

Horizon Cash Management - Michael Markowitz has been appointed chief investment officer, joining from Guggenheim Partners, where he was head of short duration fixed income. In addition to his role as CIO, Markowitz has also been named partner and executive vice-president.

National Association of Pension Funds - Will Pomroy joins from Aviva as policy head of corporate governance, working with the organisation’s head of corporate governance David Paterson. Pomroy was previously public policy manager at Aviva and has spent four years as a parliamentary researcher.

DVFA - The German association for investment professionals has elected Stefan Bielmeier as head of the organisation, replacing Fritz Rau after 14 years. Peter Merk, meanwhile, was confirmed once again as deputy chair, while Ralf Frank has been named secretary general. Ulrich Neugebauer, currently working at Deka Investment, has been appointed to the board, responsible for asset management.

Germán Bernácer Prize - Lasse Pedersen - currently John Paulson professor of finance and alternative investments at Stern School of Business at New York University and principal at AQR Capital Management - has been announced as the recipient of this year’s award. Pedersen was commended by the selection committee for his research into the interaction between market liquidity risk and funding liquidity risk and how these contribute towards a liquidity spiral.

Topics