People moves: Aviva adds to master trust board

Aviva – The firm has announced three new appointments to the Aviva Master Trust board.

Rita Butler-Jones has been appointed as a trustee director. She has more than 35 years of experience in pensions and asset management. Most recently, she led the defined contribution (DC) business at Legal & General, responsible for strategy and growth, until retiring earlier this year.

Fiona Matthews has been appointed trustee director and chair of the member experience and communications committee. She is an experienced non-executive director and pension trustee, having sat on boards for master trusts, life assurance companies, and a large global pension consultancy. Matthews founded and led LifeSight – a DC master trust in the UK and EMEA – and was a trustee director of an automatic enrolment master trust.

Rekha Owen has been appointed as the new representative for The Law Debenture Pension Trust Corporation on the Aviva Master Trust board. She is an accredited member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees. She has over 20 years of experience in the pensions and investment industry, with senior roles in investment consulting, fiduciary management, and financial regulation.

Furthermore, Aviva Investors, Aviva’s global asset management business, has announced two new appointments representing the latest in a number of senior, strategic additions to the firm’s global fixed income team. Anna Chong joins as a sector lead, whilst Michalis Ditsas joins as a senior investment director; both based in London.

Chong will report into Gita Bal, head of fixed income research, and will lead fixed income’s resources, industrials and infrastructure hub, as well as managing Aviva Investor’s Fixed Income Early Careers programme. Chong joins from Federated Hermes, where she held the role of head of corporate credit research. She worked at JP Morgan before moving to Federated Hermes in 2017.

Chong will join three other sector leads as part of the firm’s newly restructured fixed income research team. This evolution reflects the broader transformation underway since Fraser Lundie, global head of fixed income, and Bal came on board – “focused on fostering a more collaborative, globally connected research culture”, Aviva Investors said.

Ditsas will report to Shane O’Brien, head of investment specialists. He has more than 20 years of experience as a fixed income investment specialist/director working at a number of investment firms, including JP Morgan, AllianceBernstein, and most recently. at Federated Hermes.

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA) – Gillian Taberner has been appointed as the new director for the £11.1bn pension fund.

Taberner will officially take up her new role in December 2025, succeeding George Graham, who announced his retirement earlier this year after seven years at SYPA. This move highlights the value of developing and retaining internal talent, as Taberner has served as SYPA’s assistant director – resources since 2019, providing her with a strong foundation for success in her new role.

In 2013, Taberner was appointed deputy Section 151 officer at Wealden District Council in East Sussex, a role she held for nearly six years. She then returned to South Yorkshire to join SYPA as assistant director – resources, bringing a wealth of experience in public sector leadership and financial management.

Tikehau Capital – The global alternative asset management group has added to its compliance team with the appointment of Alexandre Baladès as head of compliance of Tikehau Investment Management, and Andrew Craven as chief compliance officer for the Americas.

Compliance plays a pivotal role in upholding Tikehau Capital’s investment rules and principles, underpinning the group’s commitment to regulatory integrity and sound governance across all markets, the firm stated. As Tikehau Capital continues to expand globally, the group is focused on maintaining rigorous compliance standards to support its growth and protect the interests of its stakeholders.

Baladès is an experienced compliance and internal control professional. He has been the head of compliance and internal control at Groupe SOFIDY (Tikehau Capital) since 2018. Previously, he spent nearly eight years at Foncia, where he established the group’s compliance function and led internal audit missions.

Craven brings extensive experience in compliance leadership, having held senior roles at Man Group, Eton Park Capital Management, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. He has implemented and operated compliance programmes in both the US and Europe across many asset classes.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) – The firm has announced the appointment of Carolyn Schuster-Woldan as a managing director in its UK fiduciary management/OCIO team.

In this role, Schuster-Woldan will lead medium and large UK OCIO mandates.

Ed Francis, global co-head of OCIO at GSAM, said: “Carolyn brings deep experience of working with UK pension funds together with very strong client engagement skills.  Her appointment is a deliberate step in expanding our team’s capacity as we seek to sustain strong growth in our business.”

Francis said the appointment follows the recent addition of Simon Bentley as head of UK LDI and CDI, a senior appointment that represents further investment in this key element of GSAM’s OCIO offering.

Partners Group – Tarak Mehta has been appointed as partner in the firm’s private equity business and co-head of its goods and products vertical. He will be based at Partners Group’s global headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland.

Mehta will co-lead the private equity goods and products vertical alongside Manas Tandon, who is also a partner. As part of this role, Mehta will be responsible for originating new investments and overseeing transformational value creation initiatives at portfolio companies.

Mehta has more than 25 years of industry experience. Before joining Partners Group, he was CEO of The Timken Company, a manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products in the US.

Nedgroup Investments – The firm continues to strengthen its presence with the appointment of Denis Skeate to its client team.

Skeate joins from Ninety One, where he served as sales director within the UK client group, bringing more than 20 years of experience in asset management and a reputation for building enduring client partnerships.

This appointment follows a string of high-profile hires, including industry veteran Rob Burdett, who joined in 2024 to lead Nedgroup Investments’ international multi-manager business.

Nedgroup Investments’ boutique-led approach offers Fund Selectors and European investors access to specialist managers who are unconstrained by house views and empowered to deliver differentiated outcomes. This model continues to attract seasoned talent and investor interest.

Standard Life – The Phoenix Group business has promoted Claire Altman to the newly established position of business development and origination director, underscoring the firm’s commitment to proactive client engagement in the strategically important defined benefit (DB) and individual retirement markets.

Altman will oversee the development of all client relationships and business growth strategies within the retirement market and follows on from her previous role as managing director for individual retirement at Standard Life.

In her new role, Altman will lead Standard Life’s DB solutions strategy, heading up an experienced team of risk transfer specialists. With a strong focus on business development, she will be at the forefront of Standard Life’s client engagement, working closely with trustees, consultants, and existing clients to anticipate needs, identify opportunities and deliver innovative, tailored solutions.

The creation of the new role follows the decision earlier this year to integrate the retirement solutions and asset management teams within Phoenix Group into a single business area.

Altman will report directly to chief investment officer Mike Eakins, who leads the combined retirement solutions and asset management division.

Neuberger Berman – The firm is strengthening its Middle East North Africa (MENA) team with the appointment of Mohammad Alderbass as managing director. His role will include institutional client coverage and MENA equities portfolio management.

Alderbass joins from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Dubai, where he focused on institutional client coverage across the region. Previously, he spent eight years as a portfolio manager at the Kuwait Investment Office in London, the direct investment arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority, where he managed long-only equity portfolios across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and developed Europe.

CFA Institute – The global association of investment professionals has announced its board of governors, effective 1 September 2025, for the new fiscal year.

Marshall Bailey has been re-elected and will continue in his role as chair of the board of governors through the end of FY2026, at which point he will complete his service as chair and as a board member.

Tricia Rothschild has been elected to serve as vice chair. In addition, the board of governors welcomes one newly elected member, Kyung wook Hur and two current governors for a second term, Oyebanji Fehintola and Mei Gao. Board members were elected by the membership at the annual meeting of members on 22 July.

The FY2026 CFA Institute board of governors comprises 14 members who reside in eight countries: Canada, China, Germany, India, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, UK, and US. CFA Institute membership elects board officers for a one-year term and governors for three-year terms. CFA Institute fiscal years run from 1 September to 31 August.

NEST Sammelstiftung – The CHF4.4bn Swiss multi-employer pension fund has rebuilt its investment team.

Marc Novara, who was hired in June as new head of responsible investment, is not the fund’s CIO. He joined the pension fund from Swiss National Bank (SNB).

Sasha Cisar is the fund’s new specialist for sustainable investments, and Robert Gütter is taking over the position of investment analyst.

NTR – The sustainable infrastructure investor and asset manager has appointed Roger Pim as managing director, strategy and capital formation.

In this new role, Pim will lead NTR’s capital raising strategy, strengthening relationships with global investors and partners, as the business continues to support Europe’s ambitious decarbonisation and energy security agenda. He will join NTR’s management board and work closely with the senior leadership team to continue driving the business forward, building on the ongoing strong appetite for investment in the clean energy transition across Europe and the UK.

Pim brings a wealth of experience to the role, having held a number of senior investment and capital raising positions focused on infrastructure and private markets over the past 25 years. Most recently, he was a senior director and member of the leadership team of Aberdeen Group’s infrastructure business, which he helped set up, with responsibility for strategy and business development in addition to investment and asset management.

Publica – The CHF43bn Swiss pension fund has appointed Mario Bertschi as the new head of its pensions division, and a member of its executive board, effective 1 November.

Bertschi succeeds Patrick Bonadei, who will leave Publica at the end of October.

In the past three years Bertschi has been head of legal at Publica, working closely with its pension policy and legal committee, and its board of directors.

RBC BlueBay Asset Management – Doris Santillana has been hired for a newly created role as head of France, business development, as part of RBC BlueBay’s efforts to expand its local footprint in France and accelerate its growth strategy across Europe.

Reporting to Viola Patock, head of Continental Europe, Santillana will be based in the firm’s newly opened Paris office, sharing it with the RBC Capital Markets business, which has been operating in the country for more than 25 years.

Santillana brings over two decades of industry experience to the role. Most recently, she served as head of wholesale at Allianz Global Investors, where she led the firm’s wholesale team covering France and Monaco.

At RBC BlueBay, Santillana is joined by Edoardo Bergamo Andreis, associate director, business development, who has relocated from London to Paris to support the firm’s growth efforts across France and Monaco.

Faros – The German pension and asset consultancy has appointed Susanne Ballauff and Gregor Asshoff as new members of its supervisory board.

Ballauff joins from Wellington Management, where she was senior managing director and president of Wellington Management Funds Global (WMF) Group.

Asshoff is the former CIO of SOKA-BAU, the German organisation overseeing the pension funds for employees in the construction industry.

The other members of the supervisory board at Faros include Peter Doetsch (deputy chair), Andreas Keune, Paul Wessling, and Markus Neubauer, who has been elected as the new chair of the supervisory board following Stefan Bernhard-Eckel’s resignation.

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