Folksam, Sampension, Norli Pension, UKSIF, BennBridge, APG, IA, Willis Towers Watson, BNP PAM, ShareAction

Folksam — The Swedish pensions and insurance group is appointing Michael Kjeller as its new deputy CEO. He currently works as the group’s head of asset management and sustainability, having worked for Folksam since 1988.

Björn Nordin, who has been at Folksam since 1995, has now been appointed head of staff – the former role of Folksam’s current CEO Ylva Wessén.

She took the top role at the firm in August last year, when the previous CEO Jens Henriksson moved, having been appointed to head up Swedbank.

As a result of Nordin’s new appointment, he is leaving his current role of chief lawyer and head of corporate law at Folksam.

Sampension — The Danish labour-market pension fund has appointed Lene Roed as a new member of its board of directors. She replaces former board member Bodil Otto.

Norli Pension — The Danish traditional pensions specialist has appointed Mikkel Dahl as its new CEO. The firm, which is owned by Nordic Insurance Consolidation Group, said Dahl is joining from advisory firm Deloitte where he has been a partner.

Before that, Dahl worked for Nordea Markets, where he was responsible for advising the pension sector on risk management and hedging strategies.

At Norli Pension, he is replacing the former CEO Mads Smith Hansen, who is leaving to return to Sampension, which announced his appointment in October last year.

Smith Hansen is to take up the role of chief operating officer at Sampension from 1 April.

UKSIF – Simon Howard is planning to step down after seven years as the CEO of the UK’s Sustainable Investment Forum.

He will remain in his role until the autumn of this year. The organisation’s nomination committee will immediately begin the search for a new CEO.

Michael Meehan, UKSIF chair, said: “Simon and his team have brought UKSIF and its members to the forefront of responsible investment in the UK over the past seven years, and have positioned the organisation very well for the rapidly changing sustainable investment landscape.”

BennBridge – The multi-boutique investment business has hired Doug Stewart as CEO. In his role, he will lead BennBridge in the next phase of its European expansion, focusing on growing the increasingly popular multi-boutique partnership model and widening client access to world-class investment talent.

Stewart joins from OppenheimerFunds, where he was CEO and head of EMEA for OppenheimerFunds’ European business from 2016.

During his three-year tenure, he was the driving force behind the group’s international expansion into EMEA, including setting up a London office and building the team and operating model.

He will report to Craig Bingham, CEO of Bennelong Funds Management, the Australian arm of the BFM Group.

APG – The supervisory board (RvC) of Dutch APG Group has reappointed Gerard van Olphen as executive chair for another four years.

The RvC noted that Van Olphen had further improved pension value for the participants of APG’s pension fund clients, which include the €465bn civil service scheme ABP.

APG is the largest asset manager and pensions provider in the Netherlands, managing €538bn of assets for 4.5m participants affiliated with 25,000 employers.

Investment Association (IA) – Keith Skeoch, CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen, has been appointed chair of the IA’s board.

Michelle Scrimgeour, CEO of Legal & General Investment Management, and Patrick Thomson, CEO for EMEA of JPMorgan Asset Management, have been appointed deputy chairs, in a move to bolster the IA’s long-term strategic direction and industry leadership.

The three were appointed to the most senior positions on the IA’s board, following a board meeting and vote last week, and will assume their roles on 1 May 2020.

Skeoch replaces Peter Harrison, group CEO of Schroders, as chair after his three-year term comes to an end. Scrimgeour and Thomson replace Skeoch as deputy chair of the IA Board.

Thinking Ahead Institute – Bob Collie has left the Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Group and the Thinking Ahead Institute, its main vehicle for driving its mission to change the investment industry for the benefit of the end saver.

BNP Paribas Asset Management – Jean-Charles Sambor has replaced Bryan Carter as head of the emerging market fixed income team, having been deputy head since the team was established in 2016.

He joined the asset manager that year from the Institute of International Finance, where he was Asia-Pacific regional director and CEO of IIF APAC Ltd in Singapore. Carter has left BNP Paribas Asset Management.

ShareAction – The responsible investment campaign group has three new trustees. Olivia Dickson, Shipra Gupta, and Alice Steenland joined the board in January, and will each serve a six-year term.

Dickson is a non-executive director of the Financial Reporting Council and a board member of the Impact Investing Institute, leading the latter’s work on impact measurement and reporting. She is also an adviser to the Partnership Board of the law firm Travers Smith.

Gupta’s last corporate role was as head of sustainability for EY Financial Services, EMEA. More recently, she has been working as an independent consultant in ESG and impact investing.

ShareAction said Steenland has more than 15 years of experience as a senior executive and board member in the sustainability area, where she focused in particular on finance, investment and innovative business models across all sectors of the economy. She was the founding chief corporate responsibility officer at the AXA Group.

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