Rabobank Pensioenfonds, Achmea, Storebrand Asset Management, JLT Employee Benefits, BNP Paribas, Impax Asset Management, Craigmore Sustainables, Dorsey & Whitney, NVP, UBS Global Asset Management

Rabobank Pensioenfonds – The €22bn Dutch pension fund has appointed Bernard Walschots as chief executive to succeed Jos Dirks, who has retired after nine years at the helm. Thijs Berenst, manager of the central treasury of Rabobank Netherlands, has been appointed as Walschots’s successor. Walschots, after having worked as Rabobank’s global head of financial markets research in London, had been CIO at the Rabobank scheme since 2007.

Achmea – Frans van der Ent has been appointed executive chairman of the Pension & Life division of insurer Achmea, as of 15 September. He is to succeed Bianca Tetteroo, who recently joined Achmea’s executive board. Van der Ent has worked at Achmea since 2007 and served as director of income protection since 2013. He was previously chief executive of Achmea’s Romanian subsidiary for six years, until the business was sold to insurer Aegon. Achmea is the parent company of the largest insurance group in the Netherlands. 

Storebrand – Jan Erik Saugestad has been appointed by the Storebrand Group to the position of executive vice-president of asset management, as well as chief executive of the subsidiary Storebrand Asset Management. He succeeds Staffan Hansén, who will become executive vice-president for the customer area of Sweden, replacing Sarah McPhee, who is leaving executive management at the company before retiring in early 2016. Saugestad is currently CIO at Storebrand Asset Management and has been the acting executive vice-president for the asset management unit since July 1.

JLT Employee Benefits – Kieran Harkin has been promoted to head of local government pension scheme (LGPS) investment consulting. He is already a director of the company, and previously worked at KPMG and HSBC Actuaries and Consultants, before joining JLT EB as senior consultant in 2013. At the consultancy, he manages relationships with several LGPS clients, including the Clwyd Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund and Lancashire Pension Fund.

BNP Paribas – Wouter Weijand has announced his departure from BNP Paribas Investment Partners. At the same time, the company announced that it would transfer its Amsterdam-registered dividend fund to its equity teams in London and Paris. Weijand started the Global High Income Fund in 2003, and had been working for BNP and its legal predecessors, Fortis Investments and ABN Amro AM, for 26 years. He declined to comment on the exact reasons for leaving. Gaetan Obert has been named head of the European team. He has been manager of a similar dividend fund at BNP. 

Impax Asset Management – Scott Thompson has been hired by Impax Asset Management as sales director. He will be responsible for the UK, Continental Europe and Asia, reporting to chief executive Ian Simm. Thompson comes to Impax from Craigmore Sustainables. Before then, he worked for ETF Securities. 

Dorsey & Whitney – Private equity lawyer Fabrizio Carpanini is joining international law firm Dorsey & Whitney as a partner in its corporate group in London at the beginning of November. He will lead the Dorsey London and European private equity practice. He joins from London-based law firm Olswang, where he worked for more than 15 years, most recently as partner and head of the corporate group. 

NVP – The Dutch industry association of private equity holdings companies has appointed Annemarie Jorritsma as chair. Jorritsma has served as deputy prime minister, and has been minister for several departments, for the liberal party VVD in the Netherlands. She was sworn in as a senator last June. Jorritsma succeeds Philip Houben, who served as chairman since 2010.

UBS Global Asset Management – Jesús Silva Gallardo has been hired by UBS Global Asset Management as head of Iberia in its real estate business (GRE). He will be based in Madrid. Silva Gallardo has worked at UBS since 2007 and was most recently responsible for the asset management of GRE’s property investments on the Iberian Peninsula. Before joining UBS, he worked for Rodamco. He is taking over from Peter Röhrenbach, who will be taking on the new role of head of satellite countries-Europe, which includes Iberia, France, the Benelux region and the Nordics. Röhrenbach will stay in Madrid, and Silva Gallardo will continue to report to him.

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