The Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PIP) has appointed Paula Burgess as its chief executive, effective immediately.

PIP announced today that Mike Weston – who has led the group since 2014 – has stepped down as CEO.

Burgess was previously PIP’s chief operating officer, having joined in 2015 from CCLA Investment Management. She helped set up the company and design its first offering, the PIP Multi-Strategy Infrastructure fund, which launched in 2016.

Before joining CCLA in 2011, Burgess spent 11 years with Russell Investments in a number of roles, including head of risk and compliance for alternative investments in the US.

PIP was set up by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, the UK’s trade body for pension funds, in collaboration with the Pension Protection Fund and other major UK asset owners.

Mike Weston

Mike Weston

Weston – who was CIO at the Daily Mail & General Trust’s defined benefit pension scheme for five years before joining PIP – oversaw the launch of the platform’s specialist and multi-strategy funds, as well as bespoke mandates for individual pension schemes.

PIP’s specialist funds include a solar energy fund run by Aviva Investors and a portfolio of public-private partnerships run by Dalmore Capital.

The group has so far secured “investment commitments and external investments of close to £2bn”, it said. 

Most recently, it completed the outright purchase of a Scottish hospital, becoming the sole equity stakeholder alongside Scotland’s government.

In July, PIP invested alongside Dalmore Capital in a portfolio of wind farms operated by EDF Renewables.