GLOBAL – Achmea, PPF, Investec, Barnett Waddingham, ECU, Gordons, ING Investment Management, MAS, Netspar, Schroders, SPF Beheer, Spängler IQAM, Standard Life Investments, Xafinity

Achmea – Gerry Dietvorst has retired as international pensions researcher at the Dutch insurer. He is to remain active part-time as professor for 'future provisions' at Tilburg University, editor of Pensioen Magazine and chairman of the Association for Pensions Law. Dietvorst is one of the founding fathers of the online Pensions Register.

Pension Protection Fund (PPF) – Barbara Judge, current chairman of the PPF, has been re-appointed for a second three-year term at the lifeboat fund, starting next month. A trained corporate lawyer, Judge is a former commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission and has held a number of non-executive and chairman roles. She served a three-year term as deputy chairman of the UK Financial Reporting Council and, in 2009, stepped down as deputy chairman of the UK's Friends Provident after 15 years in the role.

Barnett Waddingham – Ben Harris, Debra Jackson, Mark Roberts and Ian Ward have been promoted to partners, responsible for trustee and corporate consulting, as well as self-administered schemes, in the consultancy's regional offices.  

Investec Asset Management – Richard Saunders, former chief executive of the UK Investment Management Association, has been appointed to the asset manager's board as non-executive director. Saunders has previously worked at HM Treasury, United News & Media and press secretary to then-chancellor of the exchequer Norman Lamont.

ECU Group – Andrew Broadhurst joins as head of international currency management services, having previously worked as head of global business development at Overlay Asset Management. Broadhurst spent a further 16 years at JP Morgan Investment Management, working in overlay strategies for its multi-overlay portfolio.

Gordons – The law firm has recruited Terry Saeedi and three of her colleagues from Eversheds to launch a pensions practice. Saeedi will be joined by senior associates Matthew Ambler and Craig Looker, as well as pensions professional support lawyer Ruth Bamforth.

ING Investment Management – Jerry Brewin has been named new head of emerging market debt (EMD) and Marcelo Assalin lead portfolio manager for local currency. Their appointments come after former co-heads of EMD Rob Drijkoningen and Gorky Urquiet were hired by Neuberger Berman, taking with them 17 colleagues from ING. Brewin previously worked at Aviva Investors in London, moving from London to The Hague for the role. Assalin joins ING IM's Atlanta office from the US investment management business, where he was head of EM sovereign debt. Sylvain de Ruijter, acting head of EMD since January, will resume his role as head of core fixed income. In other news, the manager this week appointed Stan Beckers as chief executive at the ING Investment Management, succeeding Gilbert van Hassel after six years in the role. Beckers joins from BlackRock, where he was managing director and co-head of BlackRock Solutions in the EMEA region.

MAS – Gábor Borza, CIO at ING Pension Fund in Hungary, was last month named president of the country's actuarial society, MAS. Borza has been CIO at ING Life and Pension for nearly four years, has served as vice-chairman of the Hungarian pension association Stabilitás and is a current member of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority's occupational pensions stakeholder group.  

Netspar – Else Bos has been appointed as a member of the supervisory board at Netspar, the network for pensions research and professionals. Bos has been chief executive at the €140bn pensions provider and asset manager PGGM since last March. She previously worked in various positions at ABN Amro and NIBC Asset Management.

Schroders – Lars König has been named director of institutional sales responsible for German and Austrian clients. Prior to joining, he spent three years at Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland, where he worked with local Pensionsfonds. Before then, he worked at Feri Institutional Advisors and JP Morgan Deutschland.

SPF Beheer – Joos Nijtmans has started as board secretary at SPF Beheer, the pensions provider and asset manager of the railways pension fund SPF and the public transport scheme SPOV. Nijtmans left pensions provider and asset manager MN, where he acted as team manager for policy advice and actuarial matters.

Spängler IQAM – Ilona Wachter has been named head of relationship management for institutional clients in Germany. Wachter has previously worked at DZ Bank, HypoVereinsbank and Norddeutsche Landesbank, before moving into asset management, where she worked for Qioniam Asset Management and BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

Standard Life Investments – Dirk Tiermann joins as investment director for semi-institutional sales in Germany and Austria. Tiermann most recently ran Tinion Capital and has worked as head of banks and sales director at Fidelity.

Xafinity – Jeff Hunt has been named deputy-managing director of Xafinity Consulting. Joining from TradeRisks, Hunt is set to become managing director in April, when Robert Birmingham assumes his role as executive chairman. Hunt previously worked at KPMG and oversaw significant growth in its pensions practice prior to leaving in 2008.

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