GLOBAL - BlackRock, Aon Hewitt, AXA IM, FRR, CDC, Pramerica, Funds@Work, Ortec Finance

BlackRock - David Snowdon has joined the BlackRock UK DC business, where he will focus on business development. He will be in charge of taking the BlackRock DC offering to market and building relationships with DC clients. Snowdon, who will report to Paul Gilbody, was most recently with Barclays, where he spent six years as an employee benefit consultant, in charge of providing advice to and developing relationships with corporate clients.

Aon Hewitt - The company has appointed René Van Leggelo to its global benefits team, which advises the headquarters of multinational companies on all aspects of their pension and benefit arrangements around the world. Van Leggelo, who will be based in Paris, joins from AXA, where he was head of international group pensions.  He was previously with Dexia Insurance and Pensions Solutions in Luxembourg, having earlier spent three years with Tillinghast-Towers Perrin and 14 years with ING Belgium.

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) - The firm has appointed Francisco Arcilla as global head of AXA funds of hedge funds. Arcilla, who started this week, will be responsible for the overall leadership of AXA IM's FoHF platform and accelerate its development as a provider of tailor-made investment solutions in the hedge fund space. He will be based in London and report to Thibaud de Vitry, global head of AXA IM's investment solutions business and member of the AXA IM board. Arcilla will also be a member of the AXA IM executive committee.

Fond de Réserve des Retraites - Nada Villermain-Lécolier, head of responsible investment, is to leave the fund on 14 October after eight years to join the French public financing institution, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC).

Pramerica - The asset manager has expanded its London team with two new hires.  Tim Whyman has joined the company as a vice-president and portfolio manager for emerging markets debt, while Caroline Ardant Bernard was named a principal and European leveraged finance and high-yield bond product specialist. Whyman, who joins from Nomura, where he was an emerging markets fixed income specialist, will be responsible for Eastern Europe and local rates strategy as part of the emerging markets debt portfolio team led by David Bessey. Ardant Bernard, who joins from BNP Paribas Investment Partners, will be responsible for developing, marketing and distributing European leveraged finance and high-yield bond products. She will also collaborate with the firm's UK, US and Asian sales forces.

Funds@Work - Maik Rodewald has joined the Germany-based consultancy Funds@Work as a senior consultant. Rodewald, formerly a senior editor at the FT group, will start a new unit, Insights@Work, together with Funds@Work founder Murat Ünal. Insights@Work will be an intelligence provider to the investment industry and take on shorter-term projects. Rodewald will continue to write for the FT and other publications.

Ortec Finance - Andrew Caird has been appointed head of investment performance UK. Based in London, Caird joins from Summit Investor Services, an analytics and compliance-monitoring software firm he founded in 2008. At Ortec Finance, Caird will be in charge of new business, account management and providing a UK perspective in product development.

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