People moves: ABP chief to take role at SBZ Pensioen

SBZ Pensioen – Dominique Dijkhuis will join the board of €5.6bn financial services sector scheme SBZ Pensioen as chief investment officer as of 1 August, succeeding Reiniera van der Feltz who is leaving the fund after 10 years.

Dijkhuis, who will also be in charge of communications, is joining from ABP where she also held the position of CIO. She has been on sick leave at ABP since early 2023, but will remain on the payroll of the civil service scheme until the end of this month.

Dijkhuis announced in February she would be leaving ABP after only two years to pursue other opportunities. During her two-year tenure at the civil service scheme, she oversaw ABP’s decision to move from active to passive investing.

Commenting on her appointment, Dijkhuis said “the voluntary character and healthy businesslike attitude” of SBZ Pensioen especially appealed to her. Before joining ABP, Dijkhuis worked at metals scheme PMT and financial sector regulators DNB and AFM.

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA) – The authority has appointed Neil Mason as its new local pension board adviser.

SYPA is the public body responsible for running the £11.1bn South Yorkshire Pension Fund which is one of the 86 funds within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales. It has around 170,000 members working for approximately 600 different organisations across the county.

Mason, currently serving as the assistant director – LGPS senior officer at Surrey County Council Pension Fund, brings more than 20 years of leadership and advisory experience gained at diverse public and private sector organisations. He has played a key role in numerous organisational change initiatives and has substantial experience of committee and board work. This includes supporting elected member committees within local government and contributing to the Hounslow Local Pension Board and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

DWS – Samantha Alexander has been appointed as country officer for the UK. She will perform this new function in addition to her existing role as chief operating officer for the UK.

In this new role, Alexander will join DWS’s EMEA leadership council, effective immediately. She is a longstanding DWS employee, having joined Deutsche Bank in 2011. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank and DWS, she also held operational roles at various international banks.

Aviva – The firm has appointed Emma Douglas to the new role of wealth policy director within its UK insurance, wealth and retirement business. Aviva has also appointed Simon Ellis as workplace commercial director, taking over from Douglas to lead the workplace pensions business.

Douglas joined Aviva in 2021 as director of workplace savings and retirement with responsibility for leading its workplace pensions business. Later that year, she was also appointed as the chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA).

In her new role with Aviva, Douglas will take on a wider external remit, working more closely with industry and government bodies in helping to shape pension policy. She will continue to report to Michele Golunska, managing director of wealth and advice.

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