People moves: UK trade body names DB policy chief

PLSA, NN Group, IASB, Legg Mason, JP Morgan Asset Management, Union Investment, Natixis, UBS, Deutsche Asset Management, First State, RobecoSAM, Hermes Investment Management, Fidante, Barnett Waddingham, FundRock

Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) – The UK occupational pensions trade body has appointed Caroline Escott as defined benefit and investment policy lead. She will lead the PLSA’s investment related public policy, research and publication work. Before joining the PLSA Escott worked as a senior policy adviser for the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (formerly APFA). She has also worked at Hume Brophy, the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association, and as a parliamentary researcher.

NN Group – Satish Bapat has been appointed chairman of the new executive board of NN Group for NN Investment Partners and Delta Lloyd Asset Management, part of the recently acquired insurer and asset manager Delta Lloyd. Bapat has been chief executive of NN Investment Partners since 1 April, taking over from Stan Beckers, who has retired. The board now comprises Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen (CIO), Hester Borrie (CCO) and Martijn Canisius (CFRO). The latter has joined from Delta Lloyd. The other board members originate from NN IP. The board still has a vacancy for chief human relations officer.

International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) – Nick Anderson and Ann Tarca have been appointed members, taking the board to its full capacity of 14. Anderson joins from Janus Henderson Investors in the UK, where he served as global equity portfolio manager and head of equity research in the group’s socially responsible investment team. He will join the IASB at the end of August. Tarca joins from the University of Western Australia’s Business School, where she has been an accounting teacher and researcher since 1996 and a professor since 2011.

Legg Mason – Victoria Rock has been appointed head of alternatives product to head up a newly established global alternatives team from the company’s London office. She previously acted as consultant to the Baltimore-based asset manager’s international product team. She has also been global head of the hedge fund platform at Citigroup Global Private Bank. Chris Larsen has also been appointed to the global alternatives team.

JP Morgan Asset Management – The asset manager has created a new global special situations group as part of its alternatives business. Brad Demong and Leander Christofides, who left JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank last year, have been appointed co-chief investment officers to run the new group. Anton Pil, managing partner of JP Morgan Global Alternatives, said the move “represents an immediate, significant expansion” of the firm’s existing private credit offering in its alternatives business.

Union Investment – Christian Kopf will take over from Frank Engels as head of fixed income fund management in September. Kopf was most recently a partner at Spinnaker Capital in London, an investment management company specialising in investments in emerging markets. He held joint responsibility for the macro segment, which covers investments in government bonds, interest-rate products and foreign exchange, and was fund manager of the Spinnaker Emerging Markets Macro fund. He was also head of the global investment committee. Engels became head of multi asset portfolio management at the start of this year.

Natixis Global Asset Management – Oliver Bilal has been hired as head of international sales and marketing, overseeing all related distribution and institutional activities across Europe, Asia, Latin American and the Middle East. Bilal was previously head of EMEA at UBS Asset Management. Natixis has also made several internal appointments, such as giving Beverly Bearden, executive vice president of human resources, the additional role of deputy chief executive.

Deutsche Asset Management – Arjen Jonk has been named as head of passive investments for Benelux at Deutsche Asset Management. He will be tasked with relationship management for important Dutch clients and will be also responsible for passive products in the Benelux. Jonk joined  Deutsche AM in 2012 as a sales manager at its Benelux team. The asset manager is looking to appoint additional passive investment specialists, who are to report to Jonk.

First State Investments – Todd Warren will succeed Joanne Warner as head of global resources, effective 1 July. Warner will retire from fund management in August after 20 years as portfolio manager within the global resources team. Warren has been at First State for over 15 years, and is being promoted from global resources portfolio manager. Tai Lomnitzer will become deputy head of global resources.

RobecoSAM – The investment specialist focused on sustainability investing has made four client relations appointments. Stéphane Matile was appointed head of wholesale clients/country head for Switzerland and Rüdiger Zeppenfeld was named head of institutional clients. Johannes Weisser and Susanne Linhardt were appointed senior client portfolio manager and client portfolio manager. All four started on 1 May.

Hermes Investment Management – The asset manager wholly owned by the BT Pension Scheme has made four appointments to its sales and client relationship teams. Antoinette Eltz joins from Twelve Capital and will be responsible for strengthening support for Hermes’ European clients. Thomas Shuttlewood joins as a client service manager from Fidelity Worldwide Investment. Dan Churchouse and Siman Thind have been appointed associate directors within the UK wholesale and UK institutional teams respectively. Churchouse joins from Kames Capital, while Thind moved to Hermes earlier this year from Morgan Stanley.

Fidante Partners Europe – The multi-boutique investment firm has hired James Munce as chief operating officer. He will start his role on 24 July. His most recent role was as a director and chief operating officer of the Fund Solutions Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Barnett Waddingham – Jane Ralph has been appointed corporate actuary, with responsibility for leading the firm’s expansion of its corporate client base in the Midlands. She spent the last 25 years at Mercer in a variety of roles. Most recently her role was to identify and then manage or transfer pension risk for a range of UK and multinational corporate clients.

FundRock Management Company – The Luxembourg-based fund services company has appointed Enda Fahy as head of its illiquid alternatives function. The intention is that he will build out the company’s real estate, private equity and private debt offering. He relocates to Luxembourg from London, where he was head of the Cosgrave Group family office.