IFRS Foundation, ISSB, Capital Group, Mercer, The Pensions Authority, La Française, AP Pension, MSCI, AIMA, Nordea, BPL Pensioen, Schroders, ATP, American Century Investments, Legal & General, Nykredit

IFRS Foundation Trustees – The UK-based organisation has started a search for up to 11 members of the newly-formed International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to work together with ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber  and the ISSB vice-chairs, who will be announced shortly.

The ISSB will work alongside and in close cooperation with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and be tasked with developing IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards that meet the information needs of investors.

The ISSB’s composition is set out in the Foundation’s constitution  and will comprise up to 14 members in total.

Access information about how to apply and the role specifications can be found here.

Capital Group – The firm is expanding its UK institutional business team with the appointment of Max Watson as managing director, consultant relations.

Watson joins Capital Group from Neuberger Berman where he was vice president for EMEA consultant relations, a position he held for the last four years. He was responsible for managing relationships with institutional consultants in the UK. Prior to this, he was a relationship manager for the firm’s UK intermediary client group, and also held positions at Alcentra and Payden & Rygel.

With more than 11 years of experience working in the investment management industry, Watson will be instrumental in developing and strengthening Capital Group’s relationships with institutional consultants in the UK. Based in London, he will report to Louise Barnard, head of UK institutional business.

Mercer – Benoit Hudon  has been named president and chief executive officer of Mercer UK, subject to approval from the Financial Conduct Authority. Hudon succeeds Sylvia Pozezanac, who has left Mercer. In addition to his new role, Hudon maintains his UK wealth leader role and joins the Mercer executive leadership team. He will report to Martine Ferland, president and CEO of Mercer and vice chair of Marsh McLennan, the parent group.

Hudon has over 25 years of experience in risk and human resources management consulting. He brings to the CEO role a passion for the collective success of clients and colleagues, a deep understanding of the UK market and business, and a track record of driving innovation and results.He has led Mercer’s UK wealth business since 2018.

He has spent the past nine years at Mercer creating more secure financial futures for Mercer clients and their employees in various leadership roles, including global defined benefit leader, Europe and Pacific wealth leader, Mercer Canada retirement leader and Mercer Canada retirement innovation leader.

The Pensions Authority – The Irish regulator is seeking expressions of interest in serving as a member of the audit and risk committee (ARC) from persons with an appreciation of the role of the Pensions Authority.

Candidates must demonstrate knowledge and experience of working in a relevant area, e.g. pensions industry, finance, risk management, legal or IT; an understanding of financial management, risk management, financial control systems and internal audit; ability to work as a non-executive on an ARC.

The initial term of appointment is for three years, with the option to extend for an additional three years to a maximum term of six years. The deadline for applications is 12 pm UK time on Monday 31 January 2022.

Further information in relation to the role requirements and application process can be found online.

La Française – The international asset management firm, with total assets in excess of €56bn, continues to pursue its development strategy for the German market and has appointed Maximilian Mudra as sales director, institutional business development in Germany.

Mudra will be responsible for client relationships and further expanding La Française’s investment expertise across all asset classes with institutional investors. He will report to Kay Scherf, managing director for sales and marketing at La Française Systematic Asset Management GmbH.

AP Pension – The Danish pension provider has appointed Rya Lene Terney as its new head of corporate social responsibility (CSR). She replaces Peter Holm, who left AP Pension to become head of corporate sustainability at Danish mutual pension provider Velliv in December.

AP Pension said Terney started work in her new role on 3 January. She joined the firm from her most recent role as CSR manager at cleaning technology company Nilfisk, where she had worked since May.

In a post on LinkedIn, Terney said she was looking forward to getting to know a new industry, and a new business and new colleagues who were also “passionate about the green transition, diversity and social responsibility”.

MSCI – Remy Briand, MSCI’s current head of ESG & Climate, has been appointed chief product officer, a newly created role. He will also become head of index as Diana Tidd, current head of index and chief responsibility officer, dedicates herself fully to the role of chief responsibility officer, guiding environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies for the firm and focusing on the comprehensive integration of ESG practices across MSCI’s strategy process, governance structure and business operations. 

Eric Moen will assume the role of head of ESG and Climate. Moen has been with MSCI for over two decades and over the last 10 years, he has focused on leading the expansion of client solutions across MSCI’s ESG business, working closely with Briand. 

Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – Helen Idenstedt, head of external partnerships and innovation at Sweden’s AP1, has been appointed as a member of the newly-formed Global Investor Board of the AIMA. The association announced the formation of the board just before Christmas, saying it was creating the panel “to further strengthen its engagement with the investor community and its growing allocator membership”.

Idenstedt said in a LinkedIn post that she was honoured to be part of the new board. Other founder members of the Global Investor Board include Michael Weinberg, managing director, head of hedge funds and alternative alpha hedge fund investments at APG Asset Management US.

Nordea Asset Management(NAM) – The asset manager has appointed Henry Valpas and Christian Ankerstjerne to its private equity team and Alexander Westenberg to its private credit team. The trio will work under Lea Vaisalo who runs NAM’s alternative investments unit, the firm said.

Valpas will start work in the new job at the end of January, moving from his current role as a senior portfolio manager within the private equity team of Finnish pension insurance company Elo. The change is a return to NAM for Valpas, who worked there for eight years until May 2020 as senior portfolio manager, private equity.

Ankerstjerne started work in his new role at the beginning of January, coming to NAM from his job as a senior mergers and acquisitions adviser at Danish shipping company A.P. Møller Mærsk. NAM said Westenberg, meanwhile, would be joining in February from his current role at ATP, where he is a senior investment manager, working in the Danish pension fund’s direct investment arm.

BPL Pensioen – Gerard Riemen, the former president of the Dutch Pension Federation serving between 2010 and 2019, has joined BPL Pensioen as its new president on behalf of trade union FNV. Before joining the €23.6bn pension fund for the agriculture sector, Riemen worked for pension consultancy Sprenkels & Verschuren until October 2021.

Schroders – The asset manager has appointed Tim Goodman to the role of head of corporate governance, where he will focus on further developing Schroders’ engagement and voting on corporate governance matters globally.

Goodman brings with him 29 years of experience across the environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) sectors, as well as the responsible investor and corporate communities sectors more broadly. He will be based at Schroders head office in London.

Prior to joining Schroders, Goodman spent 14 years at Federated Hermes, including most recently as director of engagement where he focused on the energy, technology, consumer goods and retail sectors. He also previously worked in the insurance industry and held various senior management roles before becoming a company secretary at the UK-listed Domestic & General Group plc.

Goodman is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, having obtained the institute’s prize for the best overall performance when he qualified. He is also a former member of the US Council of Institutional Investors’ Corporate Governance Advisory Council and a former chair of the UK Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Committee, where he co-authored several publications.

ATP – Fidelis New Energy is hiring two former senior staff members from ATP to head up its European operations, Ulrik Dan Weuder andLotte Kemplar. The infrastructure manager announced it was opening a European headquarters in Copenhagen, appointing Weuder as managing director of Fidelis Europe, and Kemplar as general counsel, Fidelis Europe and deputy general counsel, Fidelis New Energy.

The pair both worked for Denmark’s biggest pension fund, with Weuder having been head of global direct investments until September 2020, and Kemplar as its senior legal counsel until January last year.

Fidelis said Weuder had over 25 years of experience in planning, investing and managing large infrastructure and complex equity investments, while Kemplar had over 15 years of experience in deal structuring and infrastructure transactions.

Weuder was executive director of Danish state recover fund Danmarks Genopretningsfond after leaving ATP, and until this month.

American Century Investments – Sarah Bratton Hughes has been named senior vice president and head of ESG and sustainable investing at the firm. Hughes, who joined the firm 3 January, also leads the ESG and investment stewardship team.

“Over the past five years, we have made tremendous progress in our environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts, building a solid foundation, deepening our ESG knowledge and developing innovative tools and resources. As we look ahead, we want to accelerate our sustainable investing efforts and believe Sarah will help take us to that next level,” said Victor Zhang, senior vice president and chief investment officer.

Hughes is responsible for driving and executing American Century’s sustainable investing strategy and the management of its ESG research platform and active ownership practices. Hughes and her team serve as the center of ESG expertise for all the firm’s investment teams – implementing firmwide ESG research and training, innovating ESG assessment tools, managing the ESG engagement and proxy voting protocol and driving sustainable investment initiatives and client solutions.

Prior to joining American Century Investments, Hughes was the global head of sustainability solutions at Schroders, where she was responsible for delivering innovative, best-in-class sustainability solutions to clients globally. Prior to that, she was head of sustainability for North America, where she led the strategic development and execution of sustainability initiatives. She was also responsible for ESG integration for all North American-based investment teams, including equities, fixed income and private assets.

Legal & General – Andrew Kail has taken over from Laura Mason as CEO of Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), the insurer’s pension risk transfer division of Legal & General. This was effective from 1 January 2022.

Mason has become CEO of Legal & General Capital after having headed LGRI since January 2018. Kail joined Legal & General Retail Retirement in 2021, having previously spent 30 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in a wide variety of roles. As head of financial services he led PwC’s 6,000 strong team in asset and wealth management, banking, insurance, and real estate, having previously worked in its audit, strategy, regulation and technology divisions.

“It is a great privilege to lead such a successful global team in the pension risk transfer markets,” said Kail. “There are still significant opportunities for Legal & General to help pension schemes de-risk, in the UK and internationally, through collaboration, innovation and drawing on the strength of the Legal & General Group.”

Nykredit – Claude Jeppesen has joined Nykredit as a portfolio manager in the Danish firm’s alternative investments and manager selection team. She joined in December, having previously been a financial analyst at Windspace and before that a global real estate investment analyst at PFA.

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