People moves: APG trading chief joins derivatives trade body

ISDA, APG, OPF, Standard Life Aberdeen, Rijn- en Binnenvaart, Capita, Aon Hewitt, SSGA, Insight Investment, Lombard Odier, Now:Pensions, PineBridge, Syntrus Achmea, Russell, BlackRock, Aviva Investors

ISDA – The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has appointed Thijs Aaten to its board of directors. Aaten is managing director of treasury and trading at the €443bn Dutch asset manager APG – which runs investments for the civil service scheme ABP – since 2010. He set up APG’s treasury centre, which acts as a central dealing desk and internal counterparty.

Aaten is also an external adviser to the €27bn ING Pensioenfonds, as well as a member of the investment committee of the €6.5bn sector scheme for painters and decorators (Schilders). He is the first senior executive on the ISDA board with relevant expertise in the pensions sector, and his appointment marks the trade body’s ongoing initiative to expand the scope of its board, ISDA said.

The association also appointed as directors Sian Hurrell (head of fixed income, currencies and commodities in Europe for RBC Capital Markets), Tom Wipf (vice chairman of international securities at Morgan Stanley), Rana Yared (managing director, strategic investments team at Goldman Sachs).

Oslo Pensjonsforsikring – Unni Hongseth and Gro Løken have joined the supervisory board of Oslo Pensjonsforsiking (OPF), having been voted in at the firm’s annual general meeting last month. Meanwhile, Hilde Kjeldsberg and Oluf Ulseth have left the board. The association of Oslo municipal employees (Kommuneansattes hovedsammenslutning – Oslo), which is the largest employee association to be covered by the pension scheme, named Roger Dehlin as its new trustee board member, replacing Mari Sanden.

Standard Life Aberdeen – The asset management giant, due to be created from the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management, has announced Barry O’Dwyer as the head of its pensions business. Following the merger, O’Dwyer will be chief executive officer for pensions and savings, a role he currently holds at Standard Life. The announcement was made in documents published this week outlining the merger. Among the other positions confirmed in the documents was that of Rod Paris, CIO at Standard Life, who will take the same role at the new firm.

Rijn- en Binnenvaart – Conchita Mulder has started as chair of the supervisory board of the €850m sector scheme for inland shipping (Rijn- en Binnenvaart). She succeeded Rudi Nieuwenhuizen, who served as chairmain since 1 July 2014. Her appointment is for a four-year term. Mulder is also a trustee at the civil service scheme ABP, as well as the €9.1bn pension fund of telecoms provider KPN.

Capita – Paul Trickett has been named as independent chair of Capita’s Atlas Master Trust investment committee. He holds a number of non-executive positions, including chair of Legal & General’s (L&G) master trust, chair of Railpen’s investment arm, and chair of insurance company Zurich’s staff pension scheme. In addition, Greg Mills has joined from L&G as head of engagement, and John Harris has moved from Now:Pensions to become business development manager for Atlas.

Aon Hewitt – The consultancy giant has hired Sonia Gogna to its fiduciary management team, to work with larger pension schemes. She joins from State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) where she was a senior investment strategist in the multi-asset business. She has also worked for Willis Towers Watson, specialising in asset-liability modelling and risk budgeting.

Separately, Lennox Hartman, global head of fixed income manager research at Aon Hewitt, is to join liability-driven investment specialist Insight Investment later this year, a spokesperson for Insight confirmed. He will join the firm’s consultant relations team. 

State Street Global Advisors – The asset management arm of SSGA has rehired Dave Ireland, appointing him as its new global head of defined contribution (DC). He joins from Wellington Management, the $1trn US-based asset management firm, where he was director of DC distribution. He previously spent 13 years at SSGA in various portfolio management and distribution roles.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers – The asset management arm of Swiss bank Lombard Odier has hired Jonathan Clenshaw as head of institutional sales for Europe, a newly created position. He will join the firm on 1 July and will work from Lombard Odier Investment Managers’ London office. Clenshaw joins from Deutsche Bank Asset Management after a 20-year career. Most recently he was head of UK and Ireland distribution and head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa insurance.

Now:Pensions – John Rowland has replaced Bo Foged as non-executive director on the board of Now:Pensions, the UK DC pensions provider. He was formerly chief information officer at AXA Investment Managers, and held several senior operations roles at Invesco. Foged is chief financial officer at ATP, the Danish pensions giant and Now:Pensions’ parent company.

PineBridge Investments – The $80bn investment manager has hired Alain Meyer as head of Switzerland and Austria. He will oversee the opening of a new Zurich office later this year. He joins from Aviva Investors, where he was head of institutional sales in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Syntrus Achmea – Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance (SAREF) has appointed Hugo van Dijk as business development manager. He will be tasked with the acquisition of real estate and mortgage mandates. He joins from Deutsche Asset Management. Prior to this, he worked at Zwitserleven and Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers. At SAREF, Van Dijk is to succeed Morella Hessels, who has left the company.

Russell Investments – The group has appointed Julian Brown to its UK consultant relations team as a director. He was previously head of UK consultant relations at BlackRock. He has also worked at consultancy firm JLT, and as an investment officer for Nottinghamshire’s pension fund.

Aviva Investors – Louise Kay has been appointed to the UK asset manager’s executive team. She joined Aviva Investors in 2015 as global head of client solutions. The now nine-person executive team includes CEO Euan Munro, global real estate chief executive Edward Casal, and Mark Versey, CIO for global investment solutions.