Cartwright, Zedra, IIMI, bfinance, Spence & Partners, Mercer, Broadstone, Border to Coast, EY, PFA, AP Pension
PFA – Kim Duus has been elected as the new chair of the board of the Danish pension provider. He was a member of Nykredit’s management for 10 years, up to 2019, having headed the bank’s asset management as well as business and institutional customers within that period.
Duus is succeeding Jacob Holbraad as chair of PFA’s board. Holbraad was voted in as chair in December 2023 – replacing Peder Hasslev, who went on to become chief executive officer of Sweden’s Alecta.
Duus has been deputy chair of PFA’s board for the past six months.
Mercer – Niall O’Sullivan has returned to Mercer as a global solutions chief investment officer, while Michael Brand joined as global head of real assets in February.
In this new role, O’Sullivan is responsible for “harnessing Mercer’s deep well of intellectual capital and investment capabilities to manage the implementation and execution of clients’ global investment strategies” the firm said.
Based in Dublin and reporting to Hooman Kaveh, Mercer’s global CIO, O’Sullivan is responsible for managing the implementation and execution of clients’ global investment strategies.
O’Sullivan has nearly 30 years of experience managing global investment portfolios and programmes. Most recently, he served as CIO, multi-asset strategies, EMEA, at Neuberger Berman, where he led the multi-asset team’s investment activity in the region.
Brand leads the firm’s new global real assets team, which combines the firm’s real estate and infrastructure capabilities. The real assets team also encompasses natural resources and capital, energy, and climate transition solutions. He is based in Boston and reports to Kaveh.
Brand has more than 20 years of market and investment experience and joins the firm from Cambridge Associates, where he was managing director and a senior member of its real assets investment group.
Spence & Partners – The pensions advisory and data services provider has appointed Martyn Phillips as head of risk transfer.
In his new role, Phillips will be responsible for growing Spence’s presence and capabilities in the risk transfer market by helping both trustees and scheme sponsors to implement robust risk transfer strategies.
Earlier in his career, Phillips spent time as a business development director at Pension Liability Resolutions. Prior to this, from 2015 he was a partner in the bulk pensions insurance advisory division of Mercer in the UK.
AP Pension – The Danish pensions firm has changed the composition of its executive board, resulting in the resignation of chief digital officer (CDO) Jette Haarup-Jensen from the company, and a redistribution of her responsibilities between the other members of the executive board.
As of 1 February, the AP Pension executive board consists of just three people – CEO Bo Normann Rasmussen, chief commercial director Janni Bové Schou, and chief financial officer Thomas Møller.
EY – Alistair Brannan has been appointed as UK head of life and pensions. In addition to this new role, he will join EY’s UK insurance leadership team while simultaneously remaining the client and markets leader for EY’s financial services business in Scotland.
Brannan joined EY in 2015 as a director in financial services risk consulting, before becoming the life and pensions sector leader in Scotland in 2018. He takes over the role from Martina Neary, who was recently appointed EY’s UK insurance leader.
Independent Investment Management Initiative (IIMI) – The member-led investment think tank has appointed James Foster to its board of directors.
Foster is a partner and chief operationg officer at Latitude Investment Management, a global equity and multi-asset boutique based in London. He has 18 years of experience in the asset management industry.
Border to Coast – Colin Baines, stewardship manager at the UK local authority pension asset pool, has been appointed a visiting senior fellow at the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment.
As well as continuing his work for Border to Coast, Baines will support the work of the Institute’s recently launched Just Transition Finance Lab. The asset pool said the just transition is a key consideration for it in its responsible investment and net zero policies.
Mandatum Asset Management – Former CEO of Swedish national pension fund AP7 Richard Gröttheim has taken on the role of adviser to Mandatum Asset Management, to support the firm’s growth in Sweden and Denmark – two markets where the financial services provider is particularly aiming to expand its business.
Zedra – Nicola Parnham takes the lead as client relationship director in the Zedra governance team, a new role created to reinforce the company’s dedication to strengthening ties and service to clients.
In 2018, Parnham joined Zedra’s pensions sector with a focus on business development, specifically on expanding the firm’s client base as well as potential connections. Prior to Zedra, she worked for 29 years with Aon Hewitt in senior relationship management.
Cartwright – The pension specialist for defined benefit (DB) and hybrid schemes has appointed Yona Chesner as senior investment consultant and head of investment (North).
Based in Manchester, Chesner will be responsible for heading the firm’s new local presence in the North and driving business initiatives and expansion in the area. This appointment follows the recent appointment of Barry Widdows as senior investment consultant and Southwest lead at the end of 2023.
Prior to this role, Chesner was a director at Isio, where he played a key role in shaping investment strategies for clients. Earlier in his career, he progressed through roles from senior consultant to director during his time at Deloitte.
bfinance – The independent investment consulting firm is establishing an office in Dubai to support and grow the firm’s Middle Eastern and African (MEA) client base – formerly serviced from its London headquarters.
Alex Denby, managing director, is moving to from London to Dubai to head the new office and is joined by fellow senior colleague Amir Saleem, director, client consulting.
The firm, which turns 25 years old this year, completed a management buyout last year, moving back into employee ownership under the ongoing leadership of CEO David Vafai. The new Middle Eastern branch is the firm’s eleventh location. Its other offices are in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Toronto, Montréal, Chicago, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich.
The MEA region has been a key growth area for bfinance; clients here represented more than 20% of the firm’s revenues in 2023, up from approximately 10% a decade ago.
Broadstone – The consultancy appointed Rachel Coles as a workplace engagement consultant.
Coles will be responsible for delivering member engagement programmes to Broadstone’s defined contribution (DC) clients, an integral role in helping employees understand how to manage their finances. This will involve promoting and delivering pensions, savings and financial wellbeing content via a variety of mediums to clients.
She joins Broadstone’s DC workplace savings team within its rapidly growing employee benefits consulting division which currently supports around 800 employers to deliver innovative benefit and wellbeing solutions for their employees.
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