People moves: bfinance picks DACH director

Bfinance – The consultancy has appointed Armin Dolzer as director, client consulting, DACH. He brings nearly two decades of experience in pensions and insurance, with the latter being an increasingly important sector for bfinance and the hire strengthens the firm’s client-facing capabilities across the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) region.

Most recently, Dolzer served as director of relationship management at Berenberg, where he advised institutional investors on complex investment challenges. Prior to that, he spent six years in a similar capacity at Macquarie and seven years at MEAG, the in-house asset manager of Munich Re.

Dolzer’s focus on the southern DACH region and insurance sector clients complements Matthias Grimm’s established relationships and pension fund space, creating a more comprehensive offering across both geography and client segment. This division of responsibilities reflects the distinct investment challenges faced by insurers versus pension funds, particularly around asset-liability management, portfolio diversification, and regulatory capital requirements.

Dolzer and Grimm worked closely together at Berenberg for many years.

Industriens Pension – Lars Kufall Beck, group chief financial officer of insurance business Sampo, has been appointed as a new board member of the Danish labour-market pension fund.

He is also chair of the board of Oona Health/Dansk Sundhedssikring and board member of the employers’ association F&P Arbejdsgiver, and of the Danish pensions and insurance sector educational institute Forsikrings-og pensionskademiet, according to Industriens Pension.

NEST – Brendan McCafferty has been reappointed as chair of the UK’s largest workplace pension, effective from 31 January 2027. He has served as chair since February 2022 and will continue in post for a further two years beyond his initial five-year term.

Over McCafferty’s tenure, NEST’s membership has grown from 11 million to more than 14 million and assets under management from £24bn to over £60bn, according to NEST. He has overseen the institution set its ambition to increase private market investments to 30%, strengthening its commitment to investing in the UK economy.

PMT – Joep Schouten is stepping down from his role as board member at the Dutch pension fund for the metal industry, having been on the board since 2014.

According to IPE’s sister publication Pensioen Pro, a spokesman for PMT said no decision had yet been made regarding Schouten’s successor. For some time, PMT – which currently only has nine of its normal 12 board seats filled – has been considering operating with a smaller board.

Aon – Sean Deehan has been named as chief executive officer of strategy and technology group for APAC.

In his new role, Deehan will help expand access to Aon’s integrated advisory, analytics and technology-led solutions, enabling clients to make better risk and capital decisions and pursue profitable growth. A key focus will be expanding adoption of Aon’s Life Risk Modeling Suite in APAC, including PathWise, the firm’s platform for life and annuity risk modeling that helps actuarial teams run complex projections more efficiently.

Based in Hong Kong, Deehan will report to Sherif Zakhary, global CEO of Aon’s strategy and technology group and inpoint.

Deehan brings more than 25 years of experience across insurance, consulting, strategy and risk management, with extensive expertise in Greater China and across Asia Pacific. He has led businesses and growth initiatives across some of the region’s most dynamic insurance markets, with experience spanning strategy, actuarial leadership, M&A, market entry strategy, product innovation, risk management and client advisory.

Separately, the firm has appointed Anthony Pardoe as a partner within its UK retirement team.

Pardoe will help lead the continued growth of Aon’s data solutions offering, working with clients to deliver complex pension projects, including buy-in to buyout data cleansing and both benefit and Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) rectification. He will also play a key role in shaping the firm’s market-facing propositions and the development of technology solutions.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Pardoe was a director and head of GMPe (Guaranteed Minimum Pension equalisation) at Aptia for the past 10 months. Before that he was head of implementation at Capita Pension Solutions.

Pensioenfonds PDN – Nicole Beuken has been named new chair of the Dutch pension fund, which manages the pensions of all companies affiliated to chemicals firm DSM Nederland.

Beuken, who had a long career at ABP where she was general director for more than 11 years until late 2019, began the new role at Pensioenfonds PDN on 1 July. She was independent chair of PME since 2020.

Impax Asset Management – The specialist asset manager has named Andrew Morris as co-head of private equity infrastructure. He brings more than two decades of infrastructure investing experience, spanning infrastructure, private equity and real assets.

Morris was previously head of infrastructure equity at UBS Asset Management, where he led the business investing across the energy, digital and transport sectors in Europe and North America.

Morris joins Impax’s management committee and will work closely alongside Daniel von Preyss, co-head of private equity infrastructure, and replaces current co-head Carsten Johansen, who will leave the firm at the end of August.

Vanguard – Chris Cummings has been appointed as a non-executive director on the board of Vanguard Investments UK, the entity responsible for the management, oversight and regulatory compliance of Vanguard’s UK fund range.

Most recently, Cummings served as CEO of The Investment Association in the UK, a position he held from 2016 until June 2026.

Cummings served as a member of HM Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce and was a founding member of its Financial Services Trade and Investment Board. He also served on the chancellor’s Financial Services Industry Advisory Group and the Department for Business and Trade’s Financial Services Trade Advisory Group.

He was a board member of EFAMA, the European trade association for investment management, and previously, chair of IIFA, the international association for investment management. In addition, he is chair and trustee of the Just Finance Foundation, the financial literacy charity.