Russell Investments, BlackRock, EIOPA, PGGM, AXA Investment Managers-Real Assets, Topdanmark, PFA, Trondheim Kommunale Pensjonskasse, Bouwinvest, Blue Sky Group, Aquila Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, Sackers, Vontobel Asset Management, RobecoSAM

Russell Investments – Fons Lute has been appointed as client portfolio manager, responsible for advising clients across Northern Europe on their multi-asset investment strategies. He joins from BlackRock’s multi-asset team in the UK, where he was managing director. He has also worked at PGGM Investments, Fortis Investments and Blue Sky Group.

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) – The European Parliament has confirmed Fausto Parente, currently head of the Supervisory Regulation and Policy Directorate of IVASS, Italy’s insurance regulator, as EIOPA’s executive director. His five-year term starts on 1 April 2016.

PGGM – Ruulke Bagijn, CIO for private markets at PGGM, has been recruited by AXA Investment Managers-Real Assets. Bagijn will join in May and take up the role of global head of real assets private equity in Paris. Bagijn joined PGGM in 2009 as head of the private equity team. She was appointed CIO for private markets in 2012. 

Topdanmark – Peter Hermann has been appointed as a chief executive of Danish life insurance and pensions provider Topdanmark Livsforsiking (life insurance), a subsidiary of the Topdanmark group. Starting on 1 May, he joins from rival PFA, where was director with responsibility for prevention, health and actuarial services. Hermann replaces Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen, who left the top job at Topdanmark Livsforsikring – which the company says has a 6% share of the Danish pensions market – at the beginning of this month. Rothemejer left his job after being promoted to the position of chief commercial officer at group level. He now sits on the Topdanmark four-person group executive board

Trondheim Kommunale Pensjonskasse – Cato Westad has been appointed head of investment at Norwegian municipal pension fund Trondheim Kommunale Pensjonskasse. He started his new job on 1 March, replacing Stein Kjetil Rånes in the role. Westad has been working for the Trondheim pension fund since March 2014, focusing mainly on equities and other risk asset classes such as private equity. Before coming to Trondheim, he worked in Oslo for Pareto Asset Management and DnB Asset Management. Rånes has taken on a new job in Oslo as investment manager at Norwegian teaching staff trade union the Union of Education Norway (Utdanningsforbundet).

Bouwinvest – The Dutch institutional real estate investment manager has appointed Marleen Bosma-Verhaegh as head of research, with effect from 1 March. She was formerly responsible for international property investments and strategic client advisory at pension and investment manager Blue Sky Group in the Netherlands.

Aquila Capital – Manfred Schraepler has been appointed managing director to head the alternatives specialist’s financial asset and liquid private market business. He joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Fund Solutions Group, having previously worked in a senior capacity at a number of companies, including as director of marketing at IKOS CIF and head of structured funds at Deutsche Bank, London.

Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association – Georgina Beechinor, a senior associate at Sackers, the UK law firm for pension scheme trustees, employers and providers, has been elected the new chair of the PLSA Central London Group. Beechinor joined Sackers as a solicitor in 2001 and, since January 2008, has worked in the company’s Know-how team.

Vontobel Asset Management – Matthew Benkendorf, long-standing deputy for Rajiv Jain, has been appointed as Jain’s successor and as CIO of the Quality Growth boutique. Jain has resigned and will leave the company, effective at the end of May, as he moves on to “realise his own entrepreneurial plans”.

RobecoSAM – Junwei Hafner-Cai has been appointed co-portfolio manager for the RobecoSAM Global Child Impact Equities and Global Gender Equality Impact Equities funds. She has been part of the RobecoSAM equity-analyst team since 2010.

AXA Investment Managers-Real Assets – Germain Aunidas has been appointed global head of development. He replaces Jean-Manuel Rossi, who will retire from AXA IM-Real Assets after 25 years. Aunidas joined in 2014 as deputy head of development. He previously served at Unibail-Rodamco as a development director.

Topics