Ostrum, Natixis, Columbia Threadneedle, Aviva, ATP, Alecta, AkademikerPension, Nikko, PPCmetrics
ATP – Jacob Lester has been appointed by the Danish statutory pension fund as its new chief risk officer, to replace Kim Kehlet Johansen who is leaving to become CEO of the mutual pension provider Velliv by 1 March.
Lester comes from a position of head of risk and deputy director in ATP’s pensions and investments division, and will take over responsibility for ATP’s risk management function from 1 January 2024.
Lester, who will be part of ATP’s group management in the new role, is expected to join the boards of the subsidiaries ATP Ejendomme and ATP PEP at the next ordinary general meetings in February 2024.
Alecta – Martin Linder, deputy chair of the Swedish occupational pension fund, is leaving the board at his own request due to sickness, Alecta said. He will be replaced by Elisabeth Sasse, head of office at Swedish trade union Unionen, who is already on the Alecta board.
Aviva – The firm has appointed Louise Williamson as head of master trust, reporting into Emma Douglas, director of workplace savings and retirement at Aviva.
Williamson was previously head of governance at Smart Pension and before that was at LifeSight, the WTW master trust.
In addition, Geoff Marchment has been promoted to a new role as head of master trust development, also reporting into Douglas. Marchment was previously business development director within Aviva’s workplace pensions business. He will be focused on building relationships within the market.
Alan Whalley has been appointed chair of the member experience and communications committee. He was a consulting actuary for 35 years and held several senior leadership roles both at WTW and Mercer. He currently chairs Wealth at Work – a workplace financial education, guidance, and advice service – and is a member of the advisory council and the board of the Pensions Management Institute.
Andy Purvis has been appointed chair of the audit and risk committee ;and sits on the investment committee. He has more than 30 years of experience in pensions and 15 years in asset management. He set up and led the risk management function in a major life and pensions firm for over 15 years and was the chief risk officer of both the life and pensions and asset management firms. He is currently CEO of MT Capital Management.
Anna Eagles has been appointed as trustee director. She is a professional trustee and is The Law Debenture Pension Trust Corporation’s representative on Aviva’s trustee board. She is an accredited member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees and a qualified actuary. Before joining Law Debenture, she was a pensions consultant at WTW for 22 years.
Jonathan Parker has been reappointed for a second term as an independent trustee to the Aviva Master Trust board as chair of the investment committee.
There is no change to the trustee chair role which continues to be held by Elizabeth Renshaw-Ames.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments – The firm has deepened its global multi-manager solutions team with several new hires in the Netherlands, and one new hire in London.
Led by David Weiss, global head of multi-manager solutions based in Boston, the global team now consists of 15 investment professionals as well as four dedicated business management and operational support personnel servicing clients globally. Over recent months, the team has appointed four new hires.
Yno van Haaster joins the global multi-manager solutions team in Amsterdam as a director and will manage global private real estate (excluding UK). He will report to Rebekah Crane, vice president in the multi-manager solutions investment team, based in Boston. Previously, van Haaster worked at Blue Sky Group for over 10 years as a portfolio manager for real assets, where he was responsible for the global real asset portfolios of the Royal Dutch Airlines Pension Funds.
The team also recently added Wesley Appels, who is also based in Amsterdam. He previously worked as head of investment risk oversight for Columbia Threadneedle. His new role will see him being responsible for global fixed income, including global investment grade credit, global high yield and local currency emerging market debt. Appels will continue to be based in Amsterdam and will report to James Mitchell, senior director in the multi-manager solutions investment team, based in London.
Gerborgh Veldkamp also recently joined the team in a newly-created position in Amsterdam. He previously worked as data manager for Columbia Threadneedle based in Amsterdam. In his new role as senior manager, multi-manager solutions, Veldkamp will focus on collaborating with external managers regarding all operational oversight including due diligence, onboarding and offboarding as well as relationship management. He will report to Lisa Holcomb, director, multi-manager solutions, based in Minneapolis.
PPCMetrics – The Swiss consultancy has appointed Stephan Skaanes as the new chief executive officer, effective from 1 January. Skaanes has led the investment consulting and controlling department at PPCMetrics since 2010.
Alfredo Fusetti will take over Skaanes’ role. Moreover, Luzius Neubert and Oliver Kunkel were appointed members of the management board. Neubert will be in charge of overseeing the growth of the firm’s customer segment of charitable foundations and non-profit organisations, on top of pension funds and health insurers. Kunkel will lead the asset manager selection department, overseeing international asset manager selection mandates.
PPCMetric’s founding partner Hansruedi Scherer will retire on 31 August 2024. He will hand over his position as chair of the board of directors to Andreas Reichlin, the previous CEO.
Additionally, Pascal Frei replaces Alfred Bühler as vice president of the board of directors. Frei is responsible for the office in Nyon.
Ostrum Asset Management/Natixis Investment Managers – Olivier Houix has been appointed chief executive officer of Ostrum Asset Management to replace Philippe Setbon, who has been appointed CEO of Natixis Investment Managers, in charge of asset and wealth management for Groupe BPCE. Houix will report directly to Setbon.
Stéphanie Paix, CEO of Groupe BPCE’s global business, said: “Olivier Houix has had a remarkable career in the group’s asset management businesses, holding a wide range of responsibilities for over 20 years, in which he has demonstrated his commitment and great professionalism. Under his leadership, Ostrum AM will be fully equipped to consolidate and develop its leading position in insurance and fixed income.”
Houix began his career in 1997 in the general inspection department of Banque Indosuez. He joined Groupe BPCE in 2001. After holding various positions in the general inspection department of Natixis, then in the strategy department of Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne, he moved to the asset management division in 2005.
Project manager then director of the organisation, and deputy director of Natixis Asset Management’s finance and operations division after that, he became CEO of Natixis Asset Management Finance in 2009, a position he held for 10 years. In 2019, he became head of internal audit at Natixis Investment Managers.
Houix was appointed chief sustainability officer of Groupe BPCE’s global businesses in September 2022.
AkademikerPension – The Danish pension fund announced three new board members had been voted in for four-year terms – Per Clausen, replacing Maja Holm; Pia Risør Bjerre, replacing Magnus Skovrind Pedersen; and Pernille Wahlgren, replacing Nina Hallgren Steinrud.
Nikko Asset Management – In the latest expansion of its global sustainable investment team, the firm has added two new roles: global ESG integration lead and global environmental lead. This follows another recent addition to the team of an ESG regulations specialist.
Sheela Veerappan joined as global ESG integration lead. She has 15 years of industry experience in sustainable investment. She was previously head of Australia and New Zealand at UN Principles for Responsible Investment, and later a senior sustainable investment specialist for a global asset manager.
Bhaveer Shah joined as global environmental lead. He previosuly served as vice president - applied climate and ESG investment research, at MSCI. In his new role Shah will be responsible for driving Nikko’s environmental investment apporach, working closely with investment management teams on areas such as decarbonisation, biodiversity and environmental disclosures.
Alexandre Tessier joined Nikko in October as ESG regulations specialist from a global asset manager in Euroipe. he is well-versed in promoting ESG methodologies to clients and providing research and advice on European ESG regulations.
All three new starters are based in Singapore and report to Natalia Rajewska, global head of sustainable investments.
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