Universities Superannuation Scheme, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton Investments, Aberdeen Asset Management, Sacker & Partners, Forster-Chase, B&CE

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – Sir Martin Harris has stepped down as chair of the trustee board after nine years in the role. He officially stepped down at the end of March, with the scheme set to announce his successor in the coming days. Harris joined the UK’s largest scheme as a director in April 1991, when he served as vice-chancellor of the University of Essex. He became deputy-chair of the £41.6bn (€57bn) pension fund in 2004, taking over as chairman two years later.

BlackRock – The asset manager has appointed an Independent Governance Committee to oversee contract-based workplace pension schemes for UK clients. The new committee consists of chairman Allan Whalley, an independent trustee, Colin Richardson of Pitmans Trustees and Claire Altman of Capital Cranfield Trustees. The committee also includes senior BlackRock figures Paul Bucksey, head of the UK DC business, and Mark Allen, chief executive at BlackRock Life. 

Franklin Templeton Investments – Mats Eltoft has been appointed sales director for the Nordic region, responsible for developing the institutional business in Sweden. He joins from Aberdeen Asset Management, where he was a senior business development manager covering the Swedish institutional market. Before then, he spent two years at Bank Sarasin in Germany, where he was a vice-president covering the Nordics.

Forster-Chase – Babloo Ramamurthy, chairman at B&CE and former head of the EMEA region at Towers Watson, has been appointed one of the inaugural board members at executive search firm Forster-Chase, along with Rodney Baker-Bates, chairman of international insurance broker Willis. Forster-Chase was founded by Leo Meggitt and Christopher Grove.

Sacker & Partners – The UK law firm for pension scheme trustees and employers has promoted Sebastian Reger to partner. Reger joined Sackers in January 2014 to boost the firm’s finance and investment group. He advises his clients on all aspects of their investment and hedging activities. 

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