Hymans Robertson, La Française, Rothesay, EFAMA, Clara-Pensions, PineBridge, ICG, Vidett, Storebrand, Industriens, AMF
EFAMA – At its annual general meeting held on Friday 16 June in Amsterdam, EFAMA elected Sandro Pierri, CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, as the association’s president for a two-year term, running until June 2025.
Pierri has been the CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management since 2021. He has more than 30 years of experience in various leadership roles within the asset management industry, including as former CEO of Pioneer Investments.
Massimo Greco, vice-chair asset management EMEA at JP Morgan Asset Management, was also elected as EFAMA’s vice-president. He has held that role at JP Morgan AM since earlier this year, after heading EMEA funds for the firm since 2012. He has 25 years of senior leadership experience and has previously served two terms as an EFAMA board member.
Clara-Pensions – The UK pensions provider has appointed Richard Zugic as chief financial and operating officer.
He joins with 25 years of experience in the pensions and life insurance industries. He is a trustee of the Abbey Life Staff Pension Scheme, and joins from Phoenix Group where he was the interim chief financial officer of Phoenix Re, and previously the group chief actuary. He has a strong track record of delivery including the creation of Phoenix’s bulk purchase annuity proposition.
As Clara progresses with preparations for its first transactions, it is restructuring the responsibilities within the senior management team. Kim Toker, chief operating officer, and Andy McKinnon, CFO, will be leaving the business at the end of June 2023. Their responsibilities will be combined in the new role of chief financial and operating officer.
McKinnon has been an integral member of Clara’s senior team for the last two years. As a co-founder of Clara, Toker has been instrumental in developing Clara’s member- first focus, growing the team and building relationships with The Pensions Regulator, Clara’s strategic partners and the broader pensions industry.
AMF – Malin Omberg has been appointed deputy chief executive officer of the Swedish blue-collar pension provider. Omberg will continue in her current role of chief of staff alongside the new one – a position that has been vacant since autumn 2022.
Johan Sidenmark, AMF’s CEO, said he welcomed the board’s decision to appoint Omberg, adding: “Her breadth, competence and good insight into AMF’s various business areas means that she is well suited to step into my place if necessary.”
Omberg joined AMF last October in the chief of staff role, from Swedbank, where she had been head of schemes and regulation within the payments department. Before that, she worked in several different senior roles at the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
Storebrand Asset Management – Anna Jönsson has been appointed as the new CEO of Storebrand Asset Management’s Swedish branch.
The subsidiary of Norwegian group Storebrand said Jönsson would retain her current role as head of institutional sales and distribution at Storebrand Asset Management alongside the leader job. Jönsson took up the CEO role on 19 June.
Vidett – The UK-based professional trustee and pension governance firm has expanded its teams in London, Manchester and Birmingham through the appointment of four professionals. This strategic growth follows the merger earlier this year between 20-20 Trustees and Punter Southall Governance Services, establishing Vidett as a player in the industry.
Karen Wells joins as a new client director in London and brings over 30 years of experience in both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. Previously, she was a pensions manager at BMW Pension Services Ltd and also worked as a principal at Mercer for 15 years, where she provided expert advice to companies and trustees, particularly in the areas of governance and pension scheme management.
In Manchester, Caroline Eastwood joins as client director. She was a senior pensions manager at Nationwide Building Society, and before that Skipton Building Society, where she supported both trustees and sponsors in outsourcing the administration of their £8bn DB scheme. Before moving in-house, she was a member of the Mercer Governance Trustee Services team.
Claire Broadhurst joins as a senior trustee consultant in Birmingham from Taylor Wimpey where she was pensions specialist, carrying out the pension scheme governance and secretarial responsibilities for the £2bn+ scheme. She has also worked as the pensions lead for LGSS, where she led the team responsible for employer administrative duties, ensuring their statutory responsibilities were met.
Rich Ingham joins as a senior trustee consultant in London from Mercer where he was a pension consultant. Gaining experience in secretarial, governance and consulting matters, he became scheme secretary of JLT’s in-house pension scheme and assisted the scheme merger following Mercer’s acquisition. Throughout his career, he has helped trustees and sponsoring employers to achieve various objectives, such as implementing new DC strategies, negotiate parent company support packages, develop new governance policies and manage schemes through to buy in/out and wind up.
PineBridge Investments – The private global asset manager has appointed Mick Sweeney as CEO of PineBridge Investments EMEA.
In this role, Sweeney will oversee the general management of PineBridge’s EMEA business, with overall responsibility for day-to-day operations throughout the region. As part of his role, he also serves on PineBridge’s global senior leadership team.
Sweeney joined PineBridge in 2019 as CEO of PineBridge Investments Ireland Ltd. Prior to joining PineBridge, he was CEO of Bank of Ireland Wealth Management, as well as serving as interim CEO of the bank’s New Ireland Assurance business.
Rothesay – The UK pensions insurance specialist has named Graham Butcher as its chief financial officer following Andrew Stoker’s decision to step down from the role at the end of September this year.
Butcher joined Rothesay in 2007, and in his current position as head of strategy and chief underwriting officer, is responsible for Rothesay’s strategic initiatives, business planning and the pricing, underwriting and risk management of new business.
As CFO, Butcher will take on responsibility for all divisions of Rothesay’s finance function, including financial and product control, actuarial assurance and capital management, in addition to his current responsibilities overseeing the strategy team and new business underwriting. He will also join Rothesay’s board as an executive director.
Stoker joined Rothesay as its CFO in 2014 and over the last nine years has played a key role in supporting the growth of the business into the UK’s largest specialist pensions insurer, as well as building its industry-leading finance and capital teams. Over the next few months, Butcher and Stoker will work closely together to support a smooth transition of responsibilities.
Industriens Pension – Magnus Tor Ry Hessler has been hired by the Danish pension fund for industrial workers as the new team leader of its actuarial department, and started the new job this month. His previous role was as senior actuary at Danish pensions mutual Velliv, and before that he worked as an actuary at Danica Pension.
ICG – The global alternative asset manager has appointed Mathew Cestar as global head of credit based in ICG’s London office.
The newly-created role will see Cestar provide strategic and operational leadership to ICG’s credit platform globally spanning private and public debt, as well as driving growth, development, and innovation. He brings over 25 years of experience in global capital markets, investment banking and technology to the role.
Cestar joins ICG from ION, a private fintech company with leading market positions in financial software and data, where he was CEO of ScION Tech Growth. Prior to this, he held numerous leadership roles at Credit Suisse in London and New York.
Groupe La Française – The supervisory board of Groupe La Française appointed Guillaume Cadiou as chair of the company, effective immediately. Formerly CEO of Groupe La Française, Cadiou succeeds Patrick Riviere, who will retire.
Riviere will have spent 15 years within the group, first as CEO and later as chair. During that time, Riviere and the management team implemented an ambitious growth strategy, enabling La Française to become a recognised player in the asset management landscape, in France and across Europe.
Hymans Robertson – The consultancy has promoted Lisa Whitfield to head of strategic relationships in the pensions market. She’ll join the pensions leadership team and will focus on developing the firm’s key strategic relationships with professional independent trustees, law firms, third party evaluators, covenant assessors and other key influential stakeholders throughout the industry.
Whitfield joined Hymans Robertson in 2017 and has more than 30 years of experience within financial services, having started her career as a graduate at JP Morgan. In her time at Hymans Robertson, she has had a strong focus on building relationships with key professional stakeholders across the market.
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