VER, Towers Watson, S&P Capital IQ, UK National Employment Savings Trust, Capital Group, Credit Suisse, Aon Hewitt, John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust, Muzinich & Co, Babson Capital, AXA Investment Managers

VER – Jukka Pekkarinen, the current director general of the Finnish Finance Ministry, has been appointed chairman of the supervisory board at state pension fund Valtion Eläkerahasto (VER) for the new three-year mandate period, which begins on 1 March. He will replace outgoing chairman Antti Tanskanen. The current vice-chairman Hannu Kahra, professor of financial economics at the University of Oulu, will continue in the role within the newly appointed board. The new board members to be appointed by the Finance Ministry are Anna-Maija Karjalainen, who works within ICT at the Finnish government and Olli Luukkainen, chairman of the public sector negotiating commission JUKO. The board members who will continue in their roles are Minna Martikainen, professor at the Hanken School of Economics, Pirjo Mäkinen, head of administration at the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sector (JHL), and chairman of the Federation of Salaried Employees of Pardia, Pirjo Mäkinen.

Towers Watson – Kate Hollis has been appointed to the credit research team. She joins having spent 10 years at S&P Capital IQ, most recently as global head of fixed income/alternatives fund research. Prior to that, she spent five years working for various funds of hedge funds and 15 years in fixed income sales and trading, in London and New York, for Deutsche Bank, Daiwa Securities, Scotia McLeod and Schroders.

UK National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) – Sally Bridgeland has been appointed to the trustee board. Bridgeland, who spent seven years as chief executive of BP Pension Trustee before stepping down in April, was named as one of three new trustees by pensions minister Steve Webb. Caroline Rookes, a former director of private pensions at the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), and Jill Youds, the current chair of the Judicial Pensions Board, were also named as trustees of the £330m (€446m) fund.

Capital Group – Henning Busch has been appointed to the newly created position of managing director for institutional clients in Germany and Austria. He joins from Credit Suisse, where he was head of asset management for Germany and a member of the board of Credit Suisse Deutschland. Before then, he worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Aon Hewitt – Adrian Mitchell has been appointed as a partner and senior portfolio manager in the Delegated Consulting Services team. He joins from the John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust, where for the last three years he has been CIO. Prior to this, he was a founding partner and portfolio manager at Proxima Alfa UK Investments, and director and head of hedge fund investment at FF&P Asset Management. 

Muzinich & Co – Jamie Cane has been appointed as a credit analyst. He joins from Babson Capital, where he spent more than three years focusing on high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. Before then, he worked at Anglo Irish Bank, primarily in restructuring. 

AXA Investment Managers – Christophe Fritsch will assume the role of head of structuring in addition to his other responsibilities as co-head of securitisation and structured assets and business development.

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