Russell Investments, Vidett, Ortec Finance, PineBridge, IFoA, LGIM, ATP, P+, AIMA, LGPS Central, FTN, Aon
LGPS Central – The UK-based asset pool for eight local government pension scheme (LGPS) funds across the Midlands, has appointed Trevor Castledine as its first chief commercial officer.
Castledine brings a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement, business development, and strategic leadership as well as significant LGPS experience, having previously held roles at Lancashire County Pension Fund and Local Pensions Partnership Investments, and also as an independent adviser to South Yorkshire Pension Fund.
Castledine was most recently a managing director with investment consultant bfinance. As chief commercial officer he will lead engagement with partner funds, central and local government, and the broader investment industry.
Swedish Fund Selection Agency – Mats Sjöstrand, former director general of the Swedish Tax Agency, has requested to resign from his role as chair of the Swedish Fund Selection Agency (Fondtorgsnämnden, FTN).
Sjöstrand, who was appointed in June 2022, said in a statement from the FTN on Tuesday that from the start his approach had been to stay on in the assignment for two years. “The build-up of FTN can be considered more or less complete and therefore it is an appropriate moment to hand over now,” he said.
The Swedish government on Wednesday appointed Henrik Braconier as member of the FTN’s board. Braconier is currently executive director of banking at the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen).
In January, it was announced that Hans Lindblad and Åsa Edman asked to resign from the board – departures which were to leave the board with five members. The FTN’s board, which is appointed by the government, consists of up to seven members.
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) – Paul Sweeting has been confirmed as the next president-elect of the IFoA.
Sweeting will assume the role of president-elect on 24 July at the IFoA annual general meeting when Kartina Tahir Thomson becomes president. Under the IFoA’s new governance reforms, agreed by council in December 2023, Sweeting will be the first president to serve a two-year term from summer 2025.
Sweeting is a senior advisor at the Hassana Investment Company, and an honorary professor of actuarial science at the University of Kent. He is a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, for whom he has acted as a volunteer for many years. He also helped design and write the textbook for the profession’s Enterprise Risk Management subject.
Sweeting has chaired a number of actuarial boards, committees and working parties, and served as honorary secretary for the Institute of Actuaries prior to its merger with the Faculty of Actuaries. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, the Royal Statistical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. In addition, he is a chartered enterprise risk actuary and a CFA charterholder.
P+ – Christina Gordon Christiansen has been appointed head of responsible investments at the Danish pension fund, having been promoted to the job from the position of ESG director, which she has held since 2022.
Gordon Christiansen is replacing Kirstine Lund Christiansen, who has moved to the bank SEB Denmark after seven years at P+. At SEB Denmark, Lund Christiansen has taken on the role of head of sustainable banking.
AIMA – The Alternative Investment Management Association’s global investor board has named Anne-Marie Fink, chief investment officer, private markets and funds alpha at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), as co-chair, effective immediately.
Fink will serve alongside founding chair Eduard van Gelderen, senior vice president and CIO at PSP Investments, who also sits on AIMA’s council.
Formed in 2022, AIMA’s global investor board serves as an advisory group that assists alternative asset managers in understanding the latest investor trends that influence their asset allocations. It also focuses on aligning expectations between investors and managers while promoting industry best practices to improve outcomes for all stakeholders.
Russell Investments – James Young has been appointed as director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland to further strengthen its coverage in the EMEA region. He will report to Riccardo Stucchi, EMEA co-head of private markets.
In this new role, Young is responsible for developing Russell Investments’ business across the DACH region, with a particular focus on private markets strategies. Utilising the firm’s deep expertise across private markets and other underlying asset classes, he will work closely with the firm’s investment and product divisions to create bespoke solutions designed around investors’ requirements and needs.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Young joins from Stoneweg where he was head of business development for real estate private equity and debt. Prior to that, he held senior sales positions at Artemis Investment Management and Thames River Capital/F&C.
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) – The asset management firm continues to grow its international footprint by appointing Olaf John as European client solutions director.
Based in the firm’s Frankfurt office, John will collaborate with the LGIM’s existing solutions and client teams in Europe to support business growth in strategically important markets across Europe. This new role was created in response to increased demand for solutions such as liability-driven investments (LDI). John will report to Volker Kurr, LGIM’s head of Europe, institutional.
John brings extensive experience spanning over 25 years in asset management. Most recently, he served as partner and commercial leader of investment solutions, as well as branch manager of the German division at Mercer Global Investments Europe.
Aon – Will Allen has been named executive managing director of capital advisory within Aon’s reinsurance solutions.
Reporting to Kelly Superczynski, Aon’s global head of capital advisory, Allen will be responsible for sourcing capital from global organisations – including institutional funds and family offices – to support Lloyd’s of London programmes, including Funds at Lloyd’s (FAL) and London Bridge structures, as well as risk transfer programmes involving the London Market and Aon’s broader client base.
Allen brings with him more than two decades of capital management experience to his new role, having built longstanding relationships with global capital providers, and with a recent focus on bringing capital into the insurance sector. He most recently served as CEO of London Innovation Underwriters, a company he founded to deploy funds into the Lloyd’s market.
Vidett – The UK professional trustee and pension governance firm has appointed four new professionals – including Mike Birch who joined as client director from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
Birch acts as a professional trustee with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers experiencing distress or undergoing corporate transactions. He spent almost eight years at TPR establishing and leading the Supervision Directorate and was involved in many of TPR’s high profile scheme engagements.
Other new recruits include Bobby Dillon, who joins as manager in Reading from Barnett Waddingham where he worked for more than 10 years implementing DB pension schemes, as well as facilitating and monitoring client governance initiatives. During his pension career, spanning 25 years Dillon has also worked in a variety of pension administration roles at Quantum Advisory, Hymans Robertson and HBOS (formerly Equitable Life).
Cat Lowe joins as senior business development executive in Birmingham with a remit to support the business development team and ensure clients get maximum value. She has 14 years’ experience working in marketing and business development, joining from law firm, Shoosmiths where she worked for nine years, most recently as new business manager.
Julia Palmer joins in Birmingham as a manager, bringing 25 years of pensions experience to the team. She joins from Hymans Robertson where she worked for 10 years, first as a project consultant, and latterly as an audit specialist where she project managed and coordinated external audits, mainly AAF and PASA; plus ran internal self-audits.
Ortec Finance – Amrit Summan has been appointed as investment strategy solutions lead. This strategic addition underscores Ortec Finance’s commitment to expanding its global footprint and strengthening its expert team.
Summan brings a wealth of experience in the field, having served as a pension’s actuary, solutions specialist, pensions and investment advisor, and investments professional for over 18 years. In her new role, she will oversee relationships with multiple global clients, bolstering Ortec Finance’s presence across asset managers, insurers, and pension funds.
Prior to joining Ortec Finance, Summan held key roles at Moody’s Analytics, where she led and developed complex multinational client relationships for scenario generation solutions and asset liability management.
PineBridge Investments – The global asset manager has expanded its EMEA client team with the appointments of Mick Schneider, James Quinn, and Olivia Zaidi.
Schneider has been appointed head of Switzerland, responsible for developing and implementing PineBridge’s sales strategy in the Swiss institutional and intermediary markets. He will likewise cover Liechtenstein and the Austrian intermediary market.
Schneider spent almost 10 years at BNY Mellon, most recently as head of wholesale, where he was responsible for institutional and wholesale business development in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Austria.
Quinn has been appointed head of intermediary sales, UK. Based in London, he will maintain and develop relationships with key intermediary investors in the UK, an area where the firm sees considerable room for expansion. Quinn joins from Robeco where he spent seven years, most recently as global wholesale and financial institutions manager.
Zaidi joins the Switzerland team in Zurich as a senior client relations associate. She will focus on relationship management with both new and existing clients. She joins from Muzinich & Co. and has also previously held positions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Swisspartners AG.
ATP – Søren Springborg has been promoted at the Danish statutory pensions institution to the role of director of communications, leading ATP’s group communications. He has been head of external media at ATP since the end of January.
ATP said that within its organisation, group communications included internal and external communication, branding and digital channels as well as analysis and stakeholder management.
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