RPMI Railpen – The investment manager for the UK’s railways pension schemes has appointed Steven Tirrell as head of strategy and planning. He joins the investment executive committee and reports to Michelle Ostermann, managing director, investments.
Tirrell will lead the Business Change team, which works to enable Railpen to meet its long-term objectives and secure the future of the 350,000 members of the pension scheme.
In this newly created role, Tirrell is responsible for the development and implementation of the strategy for the investment business. This includes leading the delivery of departmental business plans, having ownership of the annual budgeting process and expense management, and measuring the success and effectiveness of change initiatives.
Tirrell joined Railpen in February 2020, bringing almost 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including leadership and strategic roles at PwC, Morgan Stanley and Citi.
KPA Pension — Swedish pension fund KPA Pension has appointed Charlotta Brisell to the newly-created role of business specialist. The Folksam subsidiary confirmed to IPE that she would be joining the firm from her current role as as ministerial secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Finance’s insurance, pension and public authority control unit, and is scheduled to start work in her new position on 17 August.
Before working for the ministry, Brisell was a financial analyst at the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) for nearly six years.
KPA Pension said Brisell’s role was part of a new team it had put in place at the beginning of this year, which would include two business specialists working on different focus areas. The other specialist role has been filed internally, according to a spokeswoman for the municipal pensions provider.
Neuberger Berman – Caitlin McSherry will be joining the asset manager as director of investment stewardship on the ESG investing team. She will work directly with the firm’s portfolio managers and research analysts to engage with portfolio companies, and will oversee the firm’s proxy voting processes.
McSherry joins Neuberger Berman from State Street Global Advisors, where she served as vice president and ESG analyst. She began her career with Brightfields Development LLC, where she managed the development of utility-scale renewable energy projects and crafted environmental liability risk management strategies.
Neuberger Berman recently claimed pioneering status for a decision to disclose a meaningful number of key proxy votes in advance of annual shareholder meetings.
DWS – Desiree Fixler has been appointed to the newly created role of group sustainability officer, reporting to CEO Asoka Woehrmann. She joins from US alternative investment specialist ZAIS, where she served as portfolio manager and managing director for impact investing.
The group sustainability officer role will come into effect in August 2020. DWS said it was designed to ensure DWS implements an ESG strategy that is consistent across all regions, and “fully aligns with our duties both as a fiduciary and as a corporate”.
Fixler will join DWS shortly after the asset manager made organisational changes to simplify its structure.
Capital Group/Schroders – Jessica Ground is leaving Schroders, where she was most recently global head of stewardship, to join Capital Group as global head of ESG with effect from September.
Ground accumulated more than 20 years of service at Schroders, having joined the first as a graduate in 1997 and rising to become a senior figure in responsible investment. She is chair of the Investment Association’s stewardship committee and board member of the Investor Forum.
At Capital Group, she is to work with various teams to advance ESG. Rob Lovelace, vice chairman at the manager, said ESG was an area of great strategic importance for it and its clients, and that it would “continue to invest resources to it”.
At Schroders, Andy Howard has been promoted to the position of global head of sustainable investment, as part of which he will take on responsibility for overseeing the listed asset manager’s stewardship activities.
Howard joined Schroders in 2016 as head of sustainable research. He will report to Charles Prideaux, global head of investment, and “further drive active ownership across our group” in addition to retaining his existing responsibilities in sustainability research.
ATP Real Estate — The property investment arm of Denmark’s biggest pension fund ATP announced it has appointed Jan Johansen to its four-strong management board as chief property officer. He is replacing the current director of property management Christian Hartmann, who is set to leave the firm at the end of July.
Johansen joins ATP from construction firm CG Jensen, where he has held a range of managerial roles, currently working as chief quality officer. ATP Real Estate said the appointment comes as it shifts its focus further towards construction and project development, with a view to pushing forward the utilisation of existing building rights. It said Johansen, who is set to assume overall responsibility for rental facilities, renovations, new construction and operation, would begin work in his new role by 1 December.
Willis Towers Watson – In Germany the consultancy has recruited Thomas Obenberger from Aon to its team in anticipation of increased demand from Pensionskassen needing to respond to new requirements and legislative changes, including new statutory insolvency protection and more comprehensive supervisory expectations for risk management.
WTW described Obenberger as a renowed pensions expert, with more than 20 years experience, includiing more than 18 advising Pensionskassen. At Aon, he was head of the legal department since 2005.
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries – Tan Suee Chieh has begun his presidential term, taking over from John Taylor, while Louise Pryor joins as the next president-elect.
Suee Chieh, who is one of the founding members of the COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group, would like to see the IFoA reinvented.
“The global COVID-19 crisis has prompted new ways of doing things both in our professional and personal lives,” he said. “We now have a unique opportunity to shape the future, instead of simply responding to it. I think it is imperative that the IFoA takes this opportunity to reinvent itself for the digital age and for a rapidly transforming social agenda.”
Schroder Adveq – Schroder’s private equity subsidiary has hired Christiaan van der Kam from Unigestion for the role of head of secondaries. He has also previously worked at New Amsterdam Capital and ATP Private Equity Partners.
Rainer Ender, head of Schroder Adveq, said: “The strengthened secondaries team under the leadership of Christiaan van der Kam is an important element of Schroder Adveq’s global investment practice. Schroder Adveq applies a ’one investment team‘ philosophy across all transaction types, including primaries, secondaries and co-investments.”
EDHEC-Risk Institute – The institute’s international advisory board has three new members: Noël Amenc, CEO of Scientific Beta, part of SGX group; Kevin Bong, director of economics and investment strategy at GIC Private Limited; and Albert de Wet, senior portfolio manager, FirstRand Group Treasury.
The role of the international advisory board is to validate the relevance and goals of the research programme proposals presented by the institute’s management and to evaluate research outcomes with respect to their potential impact on industry practices.
UKSIF – The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association is recruiting for a new head of public policy and programme director to replace Ben Nelmes, who is leaving to set up a new think tank focussing on the electrification of UK road transport.
Nelmes joined UKSIF in November 2018, having most recently before that worked in the House of Commons on a range of environmental issues and exiting the EU.
According to UKSIF, it is a “recognised leader in the sector for our work on persuading the government to change pensions’ law on responsible investment, and we are determined to do more in that area and more widely”.
The organisation’s CEO, Simon Howard, is due to step down this autumn after seven years at the helm of the organisation.
K3 Advisory – The specialist independent bulk annuity and consolidator advisory business has appointed Thomas Crawshaw as a senior actuarial consultant. According to K3, Crawshaw has more than 15 years of experience advising DB schemes, including via being a scheme actuary, PPF levy work, liability management and financial reporting.
Aviva Investors – Andy Seed has been appointed to the newly created role of head of defined contribution (DC) solutions within the asset manager’s solutions function.
Based in London and reporting to CIO Al Denholm, Seed will coordinate the development of Aviva Investors’ offering in the DC retirement savings market. He will also work to ensure close collaboration between Aviva Investors and Aviva’s workplace pensions team and broader UK savings and retirement unit.
Seed’s appointment comes after he spent the last 12 months advising Aviva on a consultancy basis. Before that he spent three years as head of distribution for Scottish Widows’ workplace savings unit within Lloyds Banking Group.
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