SPF Beheer, Manulife Asset Management, AXA Investment Management, Lyxor, Unigestion, Newton Investment Management, Neuberger Berman, PGIM Fixed Income, Veritas, Franklin Templeton Investments, BMO Global Asset Management, East Capital Asset Management, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Univest Company (Unilever), Aegon Asset Management, Duet Group, Martin Currie, UNEP FI

SPF Beheer – Garry Meulendijks has started as head of actuarial management at SPF Beheer, the €18bn asset manager and pensions provider for railways pension fund SPF and public transport scheme SPOV. He had been working at the actuarial department of SPF Beheer for the past 12 years, most recently as senior actuary. Meulendijks has succeeded Ben de Groot, who has taken early retirement after almost 11 years in the job.

Manulife Asset Management – Martin Powis and Alan Burnett have been appointed to distribution roles at Manulife Asset Management for the UK and Ireland, based in the London office. Powis has become head of institutional sales and relationship management, while Burnett is now head of wholesale sales and relationship management. Powis was most recently director of UK institutional sales at AXA Investment Management, covering corporate pension plans and third-party insurance relationships. He has also worked at DB Advisors, Ignis Asset Management and Gartmore Investment. Burnett, meanwhile, previously worked at Lyxor, developing its alternatives and absolute return multi-asset business in the UK wholesale market. Before that, he worked at Martin Currie Investment, Liontrust Asset Management, AXA Asset Management and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Unit Trust Management.

Unigestion – David Chesner has been appointed as a director on the institutional clients alternatives team at Unigestion and will lead the sales strategy for the asset manager’s alternative investment products and services. He joins from international alternative asset manager Duet Group, where was was responsible for client relationships and business development across Europe and Asia. Carlos Stelin is also joining the alternatives team as a director, and he, too, worked at Duet Group previously, having been part of its investor relations team, liaising with European institutional clients. Leila Haddioui has been hired as senior vice-president in the alternatives team, joining the company from Abbeville Partners, where she was responsible for business development. Janice Cheung is another new hire on the alternatives team, becoming sales assistant joining from AXA Investment Managers, where she was part of the UK wholesale sales team. The new alternatives staff will join Caroline Bradshaw, director, who has been with the institutional sales team since 2014.

Newton Investment Management – Matt Pumo has been appointed as head of UK consultant relations as a new addition to the international business development team. Pumo will work alongside Ross Byron-Scott and report to Julian Lyne, recently appointed global head of distribution. He joins Newton from Neuberger Berman and has previously worked at Gartmore Investment Management and Liontrust Asset Management.

PGIM Fixed Income – Bas NieuweWeme has joined PGIM Fixed Income as managing director, leading the global client service, consultant relations, distribution, liability-driven investing and marketing teams. He will report to Michael Lillard, head of PGIM Fixed Income. Meanwhile, Peter Cordrey, global head of product management and distribution, will retire in the fourth quarter after 20 years with the company. 

Veritas – Samuel von Martens has been voted in as a member of the supervisory board of Finnish pension insurance company Veritas, replacing Tony Karlström, who has resigned. Von Martens will continue in the role until the end of 2017, as Karlström resigned in the middle of the term. 

Franklin Templeton Investments – Charukie Dharmaratne has taken on a new role at Franklin Templeton Investments as senior PR executive, responsible for communications in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She previously worked at CNC Communications & Network Consulting. 

BMO Global Asset Management – Otto Donner has been hired by BMO Global Asset Management as sales director for the Nordic Region. Donner joins from East Capital Asset Management, where he was head of sales for the Nordics, and responsible for institutional, wholesale and retail clients across the Nordic countries, Baltics and the UK. In his new job, he reports to Robert Elfström. 

Columbia Threadneedle Investments – Kath Cates has joined the board of Threadneedle Asset Management Holdings, from 10 May, as well as the board of Threadneedle Investment Services, from 29 March – in both cases becoming a non-executive director. Her most recent executive role was global COO at Standard Chartered Bank, based in Singapore. Cates is also a non-executive director of RSA Insurance Group, where she chairs the board’s risk committee, and a member of the group audit and remuneration committees. In addition to this, she is a non-executive director of Brewin Dolphin. 

Univest Company (Unilever) – Rogier van Aart has joined Rotterdam-based Univest Company – part of Unilever – where he will advise the Unilever pension funds on strategic and tactical asset allocation. He was previously employed by Aegon Asset Management in The Hague for nearly 11 years, where he had the same role as he is now taking on at Univest.  

Martin Currie – Mark Whitehead, head of income at Martin Currie, has joined Alan Porter as co-manager of the Legg Mason IF Martin Currie Global Equity Income Fund. He has also been appointed lead manager of the global equity income investment trust, Securities Trust of Scotland. Whitehead joined Martin Currie last November from Sarasin and Partners, where he was head of the equity income team and lead portfolio manager for the global equity income range.

UNEP FI – Eric Usher has been appointed head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative (FI), which he has been leading in an interim capacity since 2015. Before becoming head of the UNEP FI Secretariat, Usher was responsible for a programme portfolio advancing new public/private instruments for financing cleaner energy infrastructure and improving energy access. He was seconded to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for development of the Green Climate Fund. Before joining UNEP, Usher was general manager of a solar rural-electrification company based in Marrakesh. 

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