GAM, Hymans Robertson, M&G, LPPI, Neuberger Berman, PLSA, BNP Paribas AM, Broadstone, Aon, EY, Credit Suisse, Standard Life
Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) – The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) investment pool, which provides a whole scheme management model for the stewardship of client fund assets, has appointed Matthew Graham as chief business development officer and a member of the LPPI executive committee.
Joining in September, Graham will take responsibility for the marketing, communications and client management teams at LPPI. He will play a pivotal role in continuing to build the LPPI proposition and growth plan.
Graham joins with 25 years of business development and client management experience. He has worked with LGPS and other institutional investors across a range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, and private debt.
As head of UK and multinational pensions at Aviva Investors, Graham led strategy, business development and client management across the key client groups of LGPS funds, corporate defined benefit (DB) pensions and defined contribution (DC) pensions. He has worked with the LGPS for more than 15 years, during which time he has developed a deep understanding of the needs of LGPS funds, and strong relationships with both the pools and the underlying schemes. Most recently he has been working at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.
Credit Suisse Pensionskasse – The pension fund for the bank’s employees, now merged with UBS, has appointed Jürg Roth as its new chief executive officer, effective 1 September.
Roth succeeds Martin Wagner, who has decided to step down for personal reasons.
Roth has worked for over 30 years in various roles at Credit Suisse and now at UBS, advising and supporting Swiss pension funds, building up know-how and experience in the field of occupational pensions and institutional asset management.
Wagner has managed the Credit Suisse’s pension fund for more than 10 years. He will continue to work for the pension fund as a consultant.
Credit Suisse Pensionskasse, and the pension fund of UBS, are still run as separate entities following the merger. The scheme is aligning the pension plans to those of UBS.
Aon – Tim Banks has joined the firm as a partner in Aon’s UK wealth practice. He will lead sales for the firm’s investment practice across various channels, including DB pensions and insurance, as well as endowments and foundations.
Banks joins from AXA Investment Management where he was responsible for UK institutional sales of its core investment capabilities and specifically for insurers and defined contribution (DC) pension clients. He joined AXA IM in 2022 from Mercer’s fiduciary management business where he led sales and marketing to external clients and intermediaries.
Banks has spent most of his career in senior leadership roles, working with clients in pensions and investment and has been involved in a number of new industry initiatives. He has been a regular industry contributor and speaker, with a particular focus on innovative and sustainable solutions.
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPPAM) – Pieter Oyens has been appointed as chief marketing officer and Guillaume Wehry as co-head of global product strategy at the firm.
Oyens reports to Steven Billiet, head of global client group, and will lead the marketing organisation to ensure further alignment with the priorities of the products, investments and sales teams globally, regionally, and locally to best meet clients’ needs.
Oyens has more than 20 years of asset management and investment banking experience with different regional and global executive roles in sales, product development and derivatives. Previously, he was co-head of global product strategy at BNPPAM.
In addition, Wehry will lead the product strategy team alongside François Roux. As co-head of global product strategy, Wehry will report to Pierre Moulin, global head of products and strategic marketing.
Guillaume brings more than 25 years of experience in the asset management industry, of which more than 10 years were based in Asia. He has held various positions of responsibility within BNPPAM, Societe Generale Asset Management, and Amundi in Europe and Asia. In 2018, he joined BNPPAM as chief marketing officer Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, where he supported the business efforts in the region, specifically on the wholesale distribution side.
Standard Life – The firm has made four appointments within its DB solutions division, reflecting the growing pool of talent within the team and range of insight and expertise offered to the wider market.
Jack Hill has been appointed as a director of DB solutions, while Alex Oakley, Emma Haylock, and Joe Haswell have all been appointed as bulk purchase annuity (BPA) transaction managers.
Hill will be responsible for the development, origination and execution of DB solutions, including BPA transactions and other de-risking options. He has wide-ranging DB and BPA experience and has held senior roles focused on running Standard Life’s annuity portfolio.
Oakley, Haswell and Haylock will be responsible for leading BPA origination and transaction execution. All three previously worked as BPA pricing actuaries at Standard Life and bring a wealth of experience having supported some of Standard Life’s most significant BPA transactions, including those with the Gallaher Pension Scheme, Whitbread Group Pension Fund and WH Smith Pension Trust.
M&G Investments – Andrew Chorlton has been named chief investment officer of the firm’s £139bn fixed income division. He will succeed Jim Leaviss, who has decided to leave M&G to pursue personal interests in academia following a 27-year career with the firm.
Currently head of fixed income at Schroders and member of the firm’s group management committee, Chorlton will join the business later this year and will report to Joseph Pinto, CEO of M&G Investments.
Chorlton has more than 25 years of experience in fixed-income markets managing teams of experienced, high-performing fund managers. He has direct portfolio management experience in global fixed income, US multi-sector and credit strategies in both Europe and the US. In the role he has held since 2020, Chorlton has been responsible for a global division of investment, research, risk and product professionals.
He has led the development of multiple innovative strategies and client solutions across many areas of fixed income including sustainability, quantitative credit, semi-liquid credit, emerging market debt, tax-aware and opportunistic strategies into markets around the world including the launch of active ETF strategies in the US.
Leaviss has spearheaded the company’s growth in fixed income, and has been responsible for building a global fixed income platform, including developing one of largest credit research teams in the industry; launching innovative investment products to account for the evolution of bond markets; and the development of the next generation of investment talent.
Hymans Robertson – The pensions and financial services consultancy has announced the appointment of Alec Day as head of private sector actuarial services, and Susan McIlvogue as head of large DB scheme solutions.
In his new role, Day will oversee the continued development of the firm’s actuarial propositions, including trustee actuarial services, corporate actuarial services, risk transfer and wind-up transition services. He replaces McIlvogue who moves to a newly-created role which recognises the unique challenges facing, and opportunities available, to large DB pensions schemes. Both Day and McIlvogue started at the firm in 2014.
Neuberger Berman – The investment manager has further strengthened its institutional client relationship capability by naming Fekko Ebbens as head of institutional business for EMEA, a newly-created role.
Ebbens will continue in his current role as head of institutional coverage in Benelux but will additionally work closely with client coverage teams to execute Neuberger Berman’s institutional strategy and activities across the region. His appointment reflects Neuberger Berman’s investment in the institutional business, aligning with Jose Cosio’s leadership of the firm’s intermediary business across EMEA.
Ebbens, who joined Neuberger Berman in May last year to lead the institutional business in Benelux, brings extensive experience to his expanded role. Prior to joining the firm, he held several leadership and business development positions at UBS Asset Management – including head of EMEA institutional and global head of institutional client coverage.
GAM – The firm has appointed Randel Freeman to work closely with Albert Saporta to build out GAM’s alternative investment capabilities as co-head/co-CIO of its new specialist alternative investments unit: GAM Alternatives (GAMAlts).
Freeman has more than 30 years of experience in the global hedge fund investment management industry, having managed a range of alternative investment funds and managed accounts during his career. From 2017 to 2023, he was a member of the investment committee of SSVL Monaco, an activist fund focused on small and mid-cap European companies.
As co-heads, Saporta and Freeman will draw on GAM’s alternatives heritage and pedigree. As a complement to the firm’s existing strong investment capabilities across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, the firm is building out GAM Alternatives, a new alternative investments platform, presenting a strategic opportunity to meet growing investor demand.
Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) – Public policy expert Gregg McClymont is to join the board of the UK’s pension trade association, the PLSA, in October.
The former Labour politician, who was UK shadow pensions minister between 2011-15, joins at a pivotal time for pensions, with all sides of politics committed to a greater role for pension funds in supporting UK economic growth.
McClymont is currently an executive director at IFM Investors, an infrastructure investment manager created and owned by 17 Australian pension funds. He joined IFM from the People’s Partnership, where he was group director of policy and external affairs. He also spent three years as head of retirement at Aberdeen Asset Management after leaving Parliament.
McClymont will join the board following the PLSA’s October annual general meeting. He served previously on the PLSA’s policy board, when he also chaired the PLSA’s master trust committee. His experience includes previous roles at the PLSA’s Pensions Quality Mark (PQM), TISA and the Pensions Scholarship Trust.
Broadstone – The investments and insurance consultancy has appointed Bentley Cunnington as senior flexible benefits consultant in its employee benefits consulting division. He joins Broadstone with nearly a decade of experience in the rewards and employee benefits sector, having worked in management consultancy roles at KPMG, Benefex and Reward Gateway.
In his new role, Cunnington will provide high-quality, tailored consulting on employee benefits strategies, while strengthening Flexcel – Broadstone’s innovative flexible benefits platform — and expanding its client base.
He is one of the many employee benefits specialists to have joined the division over the past year in response to growing demand for Broadstone’s services, as employers look to support the health and wealth of their workforce.
EY – The firm has announced the appointment of Swapnil Katkar as a new partner to lead bulk purchase annuity (BPA) and capital markets solutions within EY’s pensions consulting business.
Based in London, Kathar will lead a team of 15 consultants across the UK to grow EY’s advisory and transaction solutions for pension funds and sponsors, with a focus on buy-ins and buyouts, captive insurance, reinsurance, and illiquid asset transactions. As part of his role, he joins EY’s UK pensions leadership team.
Kathar joins EY from PwC UK, where he led pension risk transfer and advised schemes ranging from small to multi-billion pound in size. Prior to this, he spent over 10 years at Citi within its investment banking division covering insurance and pension clients.
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