DWS Group, B&CE, The People’s Pension, Legal and General Group, Nest Sammelstiftung, PTL, River and Mercantile, SUSI Partners, RobecoSAM

DWS Group – Kevin White and Simon Wallace have been named global co-heads of alternatives research and strategy, reporting to Pierre Cherki, head of alternatives and co-head of the investment group. Both have been with DWS for several years – White since 2015 and Wallace since 2011. White, who is based in New York, has worked closely with the alternatives team in his role as head of Americas strategy in alternatives, while Wallace has been head of research for Europe for alternatives.

“Kevin and Simon have been working closely with the team on key global initiatives on behalf of our clients in their regional leadership positions for several years and are well-positioned to step into their new roles,” said Cherki.

B&CE – The provider of £8bn authorised master trust, The People’s Pension, has appointed Sue Hunter as chief finance officer. Hunter will join B&CE on 12 November after a long period working at Legal and General Group in a variety of finance director roles. 

Nest Sammelstiftung – Thorsten Buchert is the new managing director of the CHF2.7bn (€2.4bn) Swiss collective foundation, succeeding Peter Beriger. Felix Pfeifer has been succeeded as president of the trustee board by Jeanette Leuch, who is a partner at invalue, one of the employers signed up to Nest for occupational pension provison.

PTL – The UK professional trustee and governance services firm has hired River and Mercantile’s former head of defined contribution pensions as head of proposition development, a new role. Britt Hoffmann-Jones has re-joined the pension industry after taking a career break to start a family.

SUSI Partners – As of January next year, chief executive officer duties at the Swiss infrastructure manager will be shared between Marco van Daele and Marius Dorfmeister. This is due to current ceo and founder Tobias Reichmuth stepping down from the management of the company to become chairman of the board of directors.

Van Daele is currently chief investment officer and will keep this role in addition to becoming co-CEO. Dorfmeister joined SUSI Partners recently from sustainability investment specialist RobecoSAM, which he left earlier this year alongside then fellow co-CEO Daniel Wild. At SUSI Partners, Dorfmeister has been global head of clients and member of the executive management since 1 October.

Björn Bajan, currently chairman of the board of directors, will become deputy to Reichmuth from the beginning of January.

River and Mercantile Group – Kevin Hayes, the group’s chief financial officer, has confirmed his intention to retire in the next six months. He joined the firm prior to its IPO in February 2014 and alongside his CFO role has been the global head of solutions over the last 12 months.

Hayes will be returning to the US where his family reside and will take up a new role outside asset management. He will remain on River and Mercantile’s board until its AGM on 9 December. He will not, however, stand for re-election as a director at the AGM.

Ilmarinen - Mikko Helander is resigning from his role as chairman of Ilmarinen’s board of directors, having been in the job since 2016, Finland’s largest pensions insurance company reported. He is being replaced by Matti Harjuniemi, currently chairman of the company’s supervisory board, who will take over as chairman of the board of directors on 1 January 2020. At the same time, Harjuniemi will step down as head of the supervisory board. Helander is president and chief executive oficer of Finnish retail group Kesko, and Harjuniemi is senior adviser at Finnish industrial machinery firm Metso.

The executive management of Finland’s pensions insurers is overseen by two layers of oversight – the board of directors and the supervisory board. Helander’s departure and Harjuniemi’s appointment are part of several changes being made to the composition of Ilmarinen’s two non-executive boards, as a result of the company’s new articles of association, which made certain changes including new rules on length of tenure.

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