Kirchliche Zusatzversorgungskasse des Verbandes der Diözesen Deutschlands (KZVK), the €38bn German occupational pension fund for employees of the Catholic Church and charitable organisations, has appointed Susanne Weitz as head of asset management and an executive board member, effective 1 April 2027.
Weitz, currently head of group finance at energy company E.ON, will succeed Oliver Lang, who will retire in June 2027 after nine years as head of asset management and an executive board member at the pension fund.
At E.ON, Weitz is responsible for corporate financial steering, capital markets, and asset and liability management.
Before joining E.ON, she held the positions of senior vice president of finance at innogy and senior vice president of controlling and accounting at RWE, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her responsibilities spanned finance, risk management and controlling.
KZVK said it had selected Weitz for her extensive financial management experience at large energy companies and her expertise in capital markets.
“Susanne Weitz will be an asset to the executive team. She is highly experienced in the field of finance and will certainly be able to provide many new ideas,” said Christian Loh, chair of the pension fund.
KZVK has also restructured its asset management operations and adjusted its investment allocations in recent years.
In 2024, the fund appointed Christoph Metz as chief investment officer, moving him from public savings bank Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa).
Its asset allocation has since shifted towards greater diversification across asset classes and regions, according to the fund’s financial statement.
KZVK has increased its equity exposure through target funds, reallocating assets from US equities to mandates focused on Europe, Japan and emerging markets.
At the same time, it has reduced exposure to fixed income investments carrying higher risk premiums, including high-yield corporate bonds, and to government bonds from developed countries. The fund has also increased its private markets investments, including through a fund investing in Japanese companies.
Supervisory board chair Daniel von Borries said Lang had “successfully restructured” KZVK’s investments.
“Lang managed to steer KZVK’s growing invested assets – currently totalling €29.9bn – professionally through the volatile markets of recent years,” von Borries said.
Loh added that Lang had “significantly advanced KZVK’s investment operations”, adding: “His expertise remains the foundation of the investment strategy of KZVK.”
