People moves: Finland’s State Pension Fund former CEO joins Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard Kennedy School – Timo Löyttyniemi, who retired earlier this year as chief executive officer of Finland’s State Pension Fund (VER), has been appointed a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School.

Löyttyniemi will spend time in Boston and at Harvard on several occasions during the 2026/2027 academic year. He will lead several study groups and work on a writing project focused on financial stability. The appointment complements his existing academic role at Aalto University, where he lectures on financial stability.

Löyttyniemi announced his retirement from VER in June 2025 after more than two decades at the helm of the €24.2bn fund. He initially joined VER as CEO in 2003, leaving in 2015 to become vice chair of the European Union’s Single Resolution Board. He returned to VER in 2020 and retired at the end of 2025 after reaching pension age.

IPE reported at the time that Löyttyniemi planned to remain active in the pensions and investment industry following his retirement.

The Harvard appointment adds an academic dimension to his post-VER activities, alongside his continuing role at Aalto and other professional commitments.

The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government is based at Harvard Kennedy School and focuses on issues at the intersection of business and government, including financial and economic policy.

Bosch – The German multinational engineering company has appointed Matthias Schöpplein as the new director of corporate pensions.

Schöpplein has served at Bosch since 2017, most recently as senior manager corporate learning and commercial management. In a LinkedIn post, he expressed “gratitude” to Dirk Jargstorff for trusting him with the new position.

Jargstorff continues to hold the role of senior vice president, compensation, benefits and pensions, at Bosch, and CEO of Bosch Pensionsfonds.

Danica – Jesper Bjerre has resigned as chief operating officer (COO) of Danica. A replacement has been appointed and will take office before the end of the year, the firm announced.

“Jesper Bjerre has played a very important role in Danica, and we greatly appreciate his contribution, both as a colleague and a leader. However, after careful consideration, I have decided that in the future we need a new profile with different skills and experience in the COO position. Therefore, Jesper has resigned,” said CEO Mads Kaagaard.

Bjerre has been employed since 2019, most recently as COO and part of the management team at Danica. 

The new COO will take office before the New Year, and the name will be announced later in the year. Kaagaard will take over the role until the new officer is in place. 

Standard Life – Wendy Redshaw has been appointed as the first-ever group chief Digital and technology officer at Standard Life as the firm accelerates its ambition to become the UK’s leading retirement and savings and income business.

The role will bring together Standard Life’s technology, digital, data, security and AI capabilities to help deliver better outcomes for customers, make it easier for people to engage with their financial futures and support the company’s growth ambitions, the firm stated. 

Redshaw brings extensive experience leading digital and technology transformation across global banks, most recently as NatWest Group’s chief digital information officer for retail, where she built an impressive career leading large-scale technology, digital and transformation teams. She brings deep knowledge and will use her experience to drive innovation and deliver business growth.

At Standard Life, Redshaw will lead the enterprise technology function, helping the firm strengthen the capabilities that support millions of customers, enable greater innovation and deliver the scale needed to achieve its ambition. In the role, which reports to group CEO Andy Briggs, Redshaw will sit on the group’s executive committee and will play a fundamental role in delivering the strategy and building an even stronger business for the years ahead.

Broadstone – The UK consultancy has appointed Steven Bell and Liam Hudson as senior defined contribution (DC) consultants.

Bell and Hudson join Broadstone’s DC team, which sits within the wider employee benefits consulting division, to strengthen its offering in the sector and enable the business to achieve its ambitious growth objectives.

Bell brings considerable knowledge and experience in helping companies and trustees navigate evolving challenges, gained through a 28-year career working for several global pension advisory consultancies. Having advised corporate and trustee clients on a wide range of legislative and strategic pension issues, he joins from Aon, with a particular focus on trust-based schemes, reflecting growing demand from schemes transitioning towards more modern DC arrangements.

Hudson joins from Howden with significant expertise in helping clients respond to regulatory change and evolving workforce needs, advising a range of organisations on pension strategy, governance, provider oversight and member outcomes. At Broadstone, he will play a key role in enhancing the firm’s DC pensions offering and delivering expert client advice.

Aptia – John Herbert has been appointed as actuary senior director. The move further strengthens Aptia’s actuarial consulting expertise and its support for pension schemes navigating an increasingly complex regulatory and funding environment.

Herbert brings more than 35 years of experience advising trustee and corporate clients on actuarial, funding and risk management matters. He joins Aptia from Equiniti, where he specialised in benefit equalisation and remediation projects, helping pension schemes address inequalities arising from Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) and delivering complex pension rectification programmes.

In his role at Aptia, Herbert will provide strategic actuarial advice to a portfolio of defined benefit (DB) pension funds, working closely with clients to develop tailored solutions and oversee the delivery of key projects. He will also support the onboarding of new clients and help enhance business processes and service delivery across the organisation.

M&G Life – Joyeeta Kanungo has been appointed as director of product and structuring in its corporate pension solutions (CPS) team as it continues to expand its CPS business following the launch of BPA Plus.

In her newly created role, Kanungo will lead the products and structuring team, bringing together product strategy, structuring and investment expertise to develop attractive propositions across M&G’s pension risk transfer (PRT) and workplace pensions business that meet the evolving needs of pension schemes and their members.

With 18 years of experience in the pensions, insurance and retirement markets, Kanungo joins from Standard Life, where she served as head of market risk and matching adjustment, including asset structuring and capital management of its mortgage solutions business.

Kanungo joins M&G as the business continues to build momentum in the BPA market.

Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) – The Swiss institution overseeing first-pillar social security funds and occupational pensions has appointed Stephan Cueni as its new deputy director, and Ann Barbara Bauer as its new head of the mathematics, analysis and statistics division, effective 1 September.

Cueni and Bauer succeed Bruno Parnisari, who has left the institution. Cueni has served at the FSIO since 1991, most recently as head of the international affairs business unit.

Bauer has led FSIO’s data foundations and analyses division, working on reform projects for the first and second pillar pension system.