People moves: Railpen hires head of investment risk, a new role

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RPMI Railpen, OAK BV, IFoA, Police Mutual Group, United Nations, Impax, Sackers, JP Morgan, Alcentra, Ninety One, Dimensional, Ricardo, Asset Management One International

RPMI Railpen – Richard Swart has been hired to the newly created role of head of investment risk at Railpen. In his new role, he is responsible for leading and developing Railpen’s investment risk function, building on its strong existing investment risk measurement and performance capabilities.

He was previously principal risk manager at PGGM, the €238bn asset manager for the Dutch healthcare pension fund, and has also held investment roles at APG Asset Management and Deloitte. He joined on 2 December and will report to Railpen’s chief fiduciary officer.

OAK BV – In January Vera Kupper Staub will succeed Pierre Triponez as head of Switzerland’s federal supervisory body for occupational pensions. Triponez has been president of the commission since its creation in 2012 and resigned after two terms in office. Kupper Staub, a former chief investment officer of the Pensionskasse for the Swiss city of Zurich (PKZH) and a former member of the board at ASIP, the Swiss pension fund association, has been vice president of the OAK for several years.

In a statement, the Swiss government, which appoints the OAK members, said the occupational pension system had become more secure overall during Triponez’ time in office. “The much stricter requirements in terms of transparency, governance and conflicts of interest are showing their effect,” it said.

A spokesman for ASIP said it welcomed Kupper Staub’s election as president and assumed good relations between the two bodies would continue.

Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) – Stephen Mann will be the professional’s body chief executive officer as of 6 January. He will be taking over from Des Hudson, who has been in a caretaker role as executive director since previous permanent CEO Derek Cribb went on garden leave at the end of June. Cribb officially leaves the IFoA at the end of this year.

Mann originally qualified as a lawyer, but “has worked extensively with the actuarial community throughout a career in financial services,” according to the IFoA. He has been a board director of the Aviva Life business and more recently served as CEO at the Police Mutual Group.

Grahame Stott, chair of the IFoA’s management board, said: “We are delighted to welcome Stephen Mann at a time when the IFoA is developing a new strategy with a clear focus on providing members with services and benefits appropriate to today’s business environment.”

United Nations – Mark Carney will take on the role of UN special envoy for climate action and finance after stepping down as governor of the Bank of England, supporting the UN secretary general’s climate strategy by galvanising climate action and transforming climate finance for the COP 26 meetings in Glasgow in November 2020.

A key focus of his role will be on shifting the financial system towards mobilising private finance to the levels needed to achieve the Paris Agreement ambition to keep global warming to at most 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

“This provides a platform to bring the risks from climate change and the opportunities from the transition to a net zero economy into the heart of financial decision-making,” said Carney. “To do so, the disclosures of climate risk must become comprehensive, climate risk management must be transformed, and investing for a net-zero world must go mainstream.”

Impax Asset Management – The specialist asset manager has created the role of head of policy and advocacy, which Chris Dodwell has taken up effective 2 December. He is a climate change and environmental policy expert with a specialisation in the financing and delivery of climate action in the UK and overseas.

Dodwell joined Impax from Ricardo plc where he was director of climate change, clean growth and strategic partnerships. Before joining Ricardo, he worked for 10 years at the heart of the UK Government’s work on climate change, carrying out roles including leading the UK’s implementation of the EU Emissions Trading System and heading the UK delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Sackers – The law firm has strengthened its finance and investment group with the appointment of James Geer, a structured finance lawyer, as a senior associate. He was previously at Clifford Chance for more than nine years where he focused on derivatives, structured finance and derisking transactions, acting primarily for financial institutions.

At Sackers, he will be part of the finance and investment group which is the focus of the firm’s expertise for finance and investment-related legal advice required by pension schemes as institutional investors, advising both trustees and sponsors.

Paul Phillips, head of Sackers’ finance and investment group, said: “We have seen an increasing demand from our clients for advice on complex derisking solutions. James’ arrival will enable us to continue to meet this demand and his experience of longevity swaps and all types of structured finance transactions will be invaluable.”

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) – Paul Kennedy will join the firm in early 2020 as head of strategy and portfolio manager, real estate Europe. He will be based in London and report to Peter Reilly, head of real estate Europe.

Kennedy will lead the European real estate strategy team and contribute market views to JPMAM’s real estate investment process. This team sits within JP Morgan Global Alternatives, the alternative investment arm of JPMAM with more than 700 professionals globally and approximately 50 individuals dedicated to European real estate based in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.

Alcentra – The private debt manager, which is part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has made several senior promotions. To support the continued growth of Alcentra, Daniel Fabian has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. In this role, he will manage the firm’s growth strategy and oversee day-to-day operations in order to continue to drive value for clients and employees. He has spent the past 12 years at Alcentra, of which the last four years have been as COO and chief financial officer.

Joining the senior leadership team are two newly appointed co-chief investment officers: Graham Rainbow – previously head of European loans – and Leland Hart – previously head of US loans and high yield. Both Rainbow, based in London, and Hart, based in New York, will retain their current portfolio management responsibilities and together will oversee and manage Alcentra’s investment portfolios.

The dual role has been created to accommodate the growth of Alcentra across its product strategies and allows the company to effectively deal with growing investor demand for debt capabilities globally. Following this reorganisation, Vijay Rajguru will leave the firm to pursue other opportunities.

Ninety One – Investec Asset Management, which is on track to list as Ninety One in the first quarter of 2020, pending shareholder approval, has announced the composition of its board of directors.

Gareth Penny will assume the role of independent non-executive chair. He brings a wealth of experience in chairing and serving on public and private company boards in both the UK and South Africa. For the last 12 years, Penny he as non-executive director (and remuneration committee cair) of Julius Bär Group, the Zurich-listed Swiss bank focused on wealth management. He is also chair of Norilsk Nickel, producer of nickel and palladium, and of the Edcon Group, a private company and Southern Africa’s largest non-food retailer. He spent 22 years with De Beers, where he went on to become group CEO.

Commenting on Penny’s appointment, Hendrik du Toit, founder of Investec AM and joint CEO of Investec, said: “It is a privilege to welcome someone of Gareth’s calibre as Chairman of the soon to be listed Ninety One. We stand to benefit from his deep understanding of international business, particularly in emerging markets, and his substantial corporate governance experience.”

The other independent non-executive directors joining Penny on the board are Colin Keogh, Busisiwe Mabuza, Idoya Basterrechea Aranda and Victoria Cochrane. Du Toit, who will assume the role of CEO of Ninety One upon listing, Kim McFarland, finance director of Ninety One, and Fani Titi, joint CEO of Investec, complete the Ninety One board.

“We have assembled a board that is strong, independent, diverse and experienced. We are confident that they will help us chart a successful future for Ninety One as an independent, global investment manager,” said du Toit.

Dimensional Fund Advisors – Lisa Dallmer is the firm’s new chief operating officer. She will serve on the executive committee and partner with senior leaders of the corporate, sales and marketing, and investment teams to develop and implement operational strategies that improve standards, drive efficiency, and enhance business capabilities.

“As Dimensional continues to grow, innovate, and enhance the solutions we provide to clients, we are pleased to add a key new leader to our team,” co-CEO Gerard O’Reilly said.

Dallmer brings to the role two decades of senior leadership experience in global financial operations. She has served as COO of global technology and operations for BlackRock in New York, COO of European markets for NYSE Euronext in Paris, and vice president of tech startup Archipelago, which was acquired by the New York Stock Exchange. Most recently, she has served as a strategic advisor to CEOs on fintech solutions.

Emerging Markets Investment Management – The emerging markets focused asset manager owned by Duet Group, has recruited Michel Sindelar as chief executive officer and chief investment officer of the newly formed EMIM Emerging Markets Multi Strategy Fund. He will start his new role in January 2020 in the group’s headquarters in London,

Sindelar’s expertise will complement the established team of EM specialist portfolio managers and research analysts. He as more than 25 years of experience both on the buyside and sellside across EM. He has a distinguished career in sales and trading at Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse in New York and London. He also worked at Credit Suisse Asset Management and Lombard Odier in Geneva.

Prior to joining EMIM, Sindelar was a managing director and head of European distribution and a member of the European equity management at BofA.

Sindelar’s hire follows the recent appointemnt of Erik Renander from Principia; Renander brings 20 years of investment experience and is the portfolio manager of HI EMIM Africa Fund, a multi asset UCITS strategy that focuses on Africa.

Asset Management One International – The Japanese asset manager has hired Andrea Favaloro as head of business development for EMEA. His previous roles include head of sales and marketing and member of the management committee at Generali Investments, and member of the executive committee at BNP Paribas Asset Management. Asset Management One has also appointed Frederic de Merode to the newly created role of head of distribution for the region, reporting to Favaloro.