Mads Kaagaard, who was acting chief executive officer of Denmark’s largest commercial pension provider PFA Pension for nearly a year, has now been appointed as CEO of the DKK736.3bn (€98.9bn) firm’s rival, the Danske Bank subsidiary Danica Pension.
Kaagaard is to replace Danica Pension’s current CEO Søren Lockwood, according to an announcement late last week. Lockwood has been in the top role since February 2022 but is now retiring.
Danica Pension, which had total pension assets of DKK416bn at the end of 2022, said Lockwood will continue as its CEO until Kaagaard takes up his new job on 1 November, to ensure an efficient handover.
After a spell as acting CEO of PFA from the beginning of March last year when the previous leader Allan Polack left, Kaagaard returned to his previous role at the Copenhagen-based firm in December 2022.
His title reverted to group director with responsibility for its products and development when PFA Pension’s new permanent CEO Ole Krogh Petersen came on board.
Krogh Petersen had himself been CEO of Danica Pension since October 2018.
Before joining PFA in 2016, Kaagaard worked for Nordea for over 12 years in various managerial roles, including as head of savings and wealth offerings. Danica Pension said he also previously worked for Accenture and the Boston Consulting Group, and is currently deputy chair of the board of directors for Letpension.
Danica Pension’s chair Berit Behring stressed that Lockwood’s short tenure as CEO was not due to dissatisfaction.
“The entire board has been very satisfied with Søren’s work and results. But Søren himself had a desire not to continue for many more years, so when the right candidate was found, the timing was right,” she said.
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