People moves: Hymans Robertson takes on partners following acquisition

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Hymans Robertson, PTL, Comgest, Calvert, Eaton Vance, Alpha FMC, River and Mercantile, Investment Association

Hymans Robertson – Andrew Udale-Smith and Leonard Bowman from Bath Actuarial Consulting (BAC) will be joining Hymans Robertson as new partners. The appointments follow the announcement that Hymans has acquired BAC.

The acquisition is expected to boost Hymans’ pensions and financial services to corporates across the defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) market.

Bowman and Udale-Smith founded BAC in 2012. They previously worked at Willis Towers Watson, where they held senior scheme actuary as well as management roles, for a combined period of more than 35 years.

At BAC, they grew a corporate consulting business from scratch, with clients whose DB liabilities range in size from £200m to over £20bn. They also developed governance and technology services, which are used by trustees and DC governance committees of some of the largest UK pension arrangements.

PTL – The independent trustee and governance services provider has hired Joanne Fairbairn as client director. She joins from Marks & Spencer, where she was head of pensions. Prior to that she spent 12 years at Tesco as group international and UK corporate pension manager. Fairbairn’s career in pensions spans 30 years; before moving in house she spent 14 years as an actuary and consultant at Mercer.

PensExpert – The Swiss consulting, asset manager and pension products provider has appointed Dimitri Wittwer as the new member of its board of directors. An expert in digital marketing, Wittwer will have the task to support PensExpert’s effort to expand digital channels.

Wittwer is strategy director and partner at Gridonic, a consultancy, where he develops digital strategies for insurance and financial service companies, among other things. Prior to joining Gridonic, Wittwer was a senior strategy consultant at Notch Interactive and marketing strategy manager at Credit Suisse.

Union Investment – The firm has named Sandra Hofer as new managing director in Austria. She has led Union Investment’s institutional business in Austria since 2015 and has been responsible for the acquisition and support of institutional customers, sales management and the design of investor solutions.

Hofer started at Union Investment in 2008 in the account management business for institutional clients in Linz. She then moved to Volksbank Invest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, now Union Investment Austria, in 2016. She was appointed head of institutional business Austria in 2018. Prior to joining Union Investment, Hofer served at Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich and Oberösterreichische Landesbank among other banking institutions.

Comgest – Ian Lewis has joined the firm as head of investor relations and David Rowe as head of marketing and investor services.

Lewis has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and joins Comgest from Nikko Asset Management where he was the global head of investment proposition and consultant relations. Previously he worked for a number of UK-based asset managers in a variety of senior management distribution roles.

Rowe has more than 20 years of global marketing experience and was previously global head of marketing at Jupiter Asset Management. Prior to that he worked at Neuberger Berman, Pimco and Threadneedle Asset Management.

Both Lewis and Rowe will report to chief operating officer Jan-Peter Dolff and jointly replace Philippe Lebeau, Comgest’s previous head of investor relations and marketing. Lebeau is transitioning to a new role at the firm where he will work on several strategic projects.

Calvert Research and Management – The subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. has expanded its corporate engagement team with three new hires: Preeti Bhattacharji, William Hsu, and Julia Marsh.

Bhattacharji, vice president, corporate engagement strategist, is responsible for strengthening Calvert’s corporate engagement approach and advocating for constructive change in corporate policies. She joins from F.B. Heron Foundation, and was previously associated with the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Hsu, corporate covernance and proxy voting specialist, was previously at Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Chevron Corporation, while Marsh recently received her MBA from the Yale School of Management, and was previously associated with Stojo Products, Inc., the Ecological Society of America and The Wilderness Society.

Alpha FMC – The asset management consultancy has hired Troy Mortimer to join as a director as part of the ESG and responsible investment leadership team. He was most recently head of sustainability and responsible investment at KPMG.

River and Mercantile – Roger Lewis has joined the firm in a new role as its group head of ESG. He will be responsible for implementing and overseeing the group’s ESG philosophy and core principles across its various investment divisions and integrating these important factors within the firm’s investment processes and asset management activities.

Lewis previously worked at Aviva Investors, where responsibilities included aligning ESG strategy and factors with investment functions across its £47.3bn real assets platform, which invests in property, infrastructure and private debt. Prior to this, he held roles at Legal & General Investment Management and JP Morgan.

Investment Association (IA) – Mark Versey, CEO of Aviva Investors, has been appointed to the Investment Association’s board of directors.

Announcing the appointment, Chris Cummings, IA’s CEO, said that Versey’s “vast experience and leadership will be invaluable as we chart our industry’s response to the continuing economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark’s industry insight will help guide the IA board and I look forward to him joining our team”.

Versey added: “The investment industry has an integral role to play in addressing both these issues and must use its considerable influence to ensure that capital continues to flow into activities best-aligned with achieving those goals. I look forward to helping shape the IA’s work as we prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead, and ensure our industry continues to serve the needs of savers and investors.”