LGPS Central has appointed Jayne Atkinson as its new chief investment officer, a move it claims marks a “significant” step in the investment pool’s continued commitment to driving forward its investment strategy and delivering “exceptional value” to its partner funds.
Atkinson, who will join in spring 2025, succeeds Gordon Ross who has led the pool’s investment team for the past six years and announced his departure earlier this year.
Atkinson currently heads up the investment side of the Unilever UK Pension Fund, looking after both the direct investments and advisory areas of the business, large-scale, international cross-fund collaboration projects, and ensuring robust governance across all areas.
She also brings in experience in non-executive roles, including positions such as independent investment committee member for the Medical Research Council Pension Fund and chair of the European Pension Fund Investment Forum.
Atkinson has also served as an external investment committee member for the CERN Pension Fund in Geneva and an international advisory board member for EDHEC Risk Institute in Nice, France.
As CIO, Atkinson has overseen the investment strategy for several pension funds, including those in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, and Brazil, collectively managing around £20bn in assets. She has chaired investment committees for US and Canadian defined benefit schemes.
At LGPS Central, she will oversee the pool’s diverse investment strategies, which manage over £32.5bn of assets on behalf of its partner funds, working closely with the executive team to ensure that LGPS Central continues to provide innovative and sustainable investment solutions.
The pool said that Atkinson’s “extensive experience in driving best value and a track record of delivering outstanding performance for pension funds will be instrumental as LGPS Central continues to grow and strengthen its investment offering”.
Richard Law-Deeks, chief executive officer of LGPS Central, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jayne Atkinson as our new chief investment officer. Her impressive skillset will be pivotal in guiding the next chapter of our investment strategy and delivering strong returns for our partner funds.
“Jayne joins us at a crucial time as we continue to refine our offering and with deep-rooted experience from a fund perspective was the ideal choice to support LGPS Central in building upon the progress of the past six years.”
Global active investment grade credit manager mandate
Separately, LGPS Central has announced via IPE Quest that it is looking to appoint a global active investment grade credit manager.
It is looking for managers that already have a minimum £5bn of external client money invested in global investment grade credit as of 30 September 2024, with a five-year track record in managing a global active investment grade credit strategy.
LGPS Central is looking for managers that use a fundamental rather than quantitative approach, have evidence of strong performance, and have the capability to build a robust and high-quality credit portfolio that will generate a return target of benchmark +80bps.
The pool said the sub-fund has a responsible investment integrated status, and applicants, therefore, will be expected to demonstrate that responsible investment is fully integrated into day-to-day management of their porftolios.
LGPS Central said the tendering process for this procurement is a three-stage process that will be “fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory”. The procurements will be managed electronically by LGPS Central’s fixed income team via the company’s e-procurement platform system, In-tend.
The selection questionnaire must be submitted via the In-tend portal before 12pm UK time on 20 December 2024.
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