People moves: IFM’s Nikulina joins ShareAction’s trustee board

ShareAction – Luba Nikulina has joined the board of trustees at the responsible investment campaign organisation. Nikulina is a well-respected figure in the institutional investment industry, having worked at WTW for 17 years, most latterly as global head of research, before joining IFM Investors in September 2022 as its first chief strategy officer.

Writing on social media, she said there were “many parallels” between her new role at ShareAction and her professional journey in that “the values of sustainability, stewardship, and systemic change have always been central to my work”.

A registered charity, ShareAction aims to raise standards in responsible investment. It works with asset owners to try to hold companies and asset managers to account on environmental and social matters, and engages in policy advocacy to drive change via regulation.

Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT) – Michelle Ostermann, chief executive officer of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), has joined the CMIT, the body aiming to maximise the impact of capital market reforms in the UK.

“The addition of a leading figure from the pension fund and asset owner space enhances CMIT’s representation of the UK’s vast capital markets ecosystem and will strengthen the Taskforce’s thinking on further reform of the UK pension system to unlock additional capital for scaling businesses,” it said.

Ostermann joins with more than 30 years of international pension investment and senior leadership experience, and she has been CEO of the PPF – a UK-based statutory corporation established to provide financial security to members of defined benefit pension schemes in the event their employer becomes insolvent – since April 2024.

Alongside her role at the PPF, Ostermann is chair of the global pension industry association, the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM). Before joining the PPF, she held several other senior positions at leading firms, including as managing director of Railpen Investments and as senior vice president and global head of capital at PSP Investments in Canada. She also previously held roles at Sun Life and Manulife Investments.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer has announced the appointments of Julia Black, Anita Kimber, John Ball and Stéphane Malrait to the FCA board as non-executive directors, all serving three-year terms.

The chancellor has also extended Richard Lloyd’s second term for a year as a non-executive director on the FCA board.

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management – Nick Flanagan has been appointed as the firm’s head of consultant relations.

In his role, Flanagan will be responsible for managing the relationships Van Lanschot Kempen holds with a number of its consultants that provide research, oversight and a selection of fiduciary management and OCIO services to the firm’s UK institutional investors.

The appointment further bolsters Van Lanschot Kempen’s UK fiduciary management team and builds on the recent appointment of Patrick Race as managing director.

Flanagan brings more than a decade of experience, most recently from Northern Trust Asset Management where he was head of ETF sales, EMEA. Before this, his previous roles included institutional sales, with a strong focus on serving UK and Irish defined benefit pension schemes at DWS, LDI client team management at Insight Investment, and strategic client service at Legal & General Investment Management.

Flanagan will report to Vicky Casebourne, head of institutional relations, UK, at Van Lanschot Kempen.

PGGM – Jeroen de Munnik, head of institutional business at Dutch pension asset manager PGGM, will leave the firm on 1 July after 12 years in charge.

De Munnik, who is responsible for client relations, is leaving following a reorganisation that sees PGGM focus exclusively on its owner, healthcare sector pension fund PFZW,  for asset management services.

Hymans Robertson – The consultancy has appointed Sachin Patel as head of corporate DB. In this role, he will lead the team to support corporate clients as they navigate the vast array of complex issues and decisions they face for their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. 

Patel has been at Hymans Robertson since 2014 and is currently the head of corporate DB endgame strategy and a lead consultant in the corporate DB pensions team. He has vast experience helping corporates tackle day-to-day issues with their DB pension schemes, in particular planning their endgame journey within an increasingly varied DB pensions landscape.

MN – The Dutch pension asset manager has appointed Hester Borrie as interim director for fiduciary advice.

Borrie has worked for several asset managers in director roles over the past two decades, lastly for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which she left in 2023.

At MN, Borrie is taking over from Gerco Goote, who unexpectedly left for the US asset manager last month.

First Sentier Investors – Jamie Downing has been appointed as the new head of distribution in EMEA, as the business continues to strengthen the firm’s global distribution team.

In his new role, Downing will oversee both wholesale and institutional distribution in the EMEA region, complementing the existing team, with a specific focus on the UK, Nordics and Middle East markets. He will also be responsible for collaborating with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, First Sentier Investors’ owner, to explore and deliver new investment opportunities for clients in the region.

Downing will be based in London and brings a wealth of experience in the global asset management industry, with deep expertise in business development, client service and sustainable finance. He joins from bfinance, where he was global head of client consulting.

Carne Group – Lizzy Buss has been appointed as the firm’s managing director, business development.

She will be responsible for engaging with institutional investors, including existing and potential clients, as part of Carne’s UK growth strategy. In particular, the growing long-term asset fund (LTAF) market as well as more fund managers looking to transform their in-house fund operations by fully outsourcing their authorised corporate director to a specialist provider.

Buss joins from MUFG Investor Services, where she served as an executive irector and was involved in directing sales and growth of MUFG Investor Services’ asset servicing solutions to investors and managers in EMEA. She has more than 20 years of experience in developing businesses with various roles at other prime brokerages, family offices, banks and other financial services firms. 

She will be based in London, reporting to Mark Stockley, chief business development officer at Carne Group.

Asga Pensionskasse – The Swiss multi-employer pension fund has appointed Patrick Barblan as its new CEO, effective 1 January 2026.

Barblan joins Asga from Swiss Life, to succeed Sergio Bortolin, who is leaving the pension fund after 13 years.

Barblan, an expert in occupational pensions, has held various management positions at insurance companies, most recently at Swiss Life as deputy director and head of collective foundations. He has also served as head of administration group life at AXA, and as president of a group of experts on life insurance at the Swiss Insurance Association (SVV).

DAV – Susanna Adelhardt, board member of actuarial consulting specialist Heubeck, was elected as new chair of the German Actuarial Association (DAV), succeeding Max Happacher.

In her new role, Adelhardt, a specialist in occupational pensions, will further broaden the association’s activities internationally, working on projects such as the revision of Solvency II, the implementation of IORP II and IFRS 17, and the AI Act.

”We will continue to contribute with our expertise to discussions and represent our positions – be it at the European level in the Actuarial Association of Europe (AAE), globally in the International Actuarial Association (IAA), or in direct exchange with other national actuarial associations,” she said.

AustralianSuper – Australia’s largest superannuation fund has appointed Alex Stanić as head of core equity within the international equities asset class.

The senior appointment in AustralianSuper’s London office sees the fund continue its international expansion, adding industry-leading active management expertise to further internalise the management of international equities, the fund’s largest asset class allocation and help deliver sustainable long-term performance for members, it announced.

Stanić joins from Artemis Investment Management where he was head of global equities, a partner and lead manager of Artemis’s Global Select and Global Focus strategies. With 30 years of equities investing experience, he has previously held senior portfolio management roles at JPMorgan Asset Management, River & Mercantile Asset Management and Newton Investment Management.

Lufthansa – The German airline has promoted Samir Koudhai to senior director of compensation and benefits, succeeding Christian Thomas, who has retired.

Koudhai, who was previously head of HR insurance management at Deutsche Lufthansa, is expanding his role to now also be responsible for developing benefit structures, fringe benefits, and pension systems for the airline globally.

He has also been appointed as board member of the Versorgungskasse Kabine, the support fund (Unterstützungskasse) of the Lufthansa group.

Cassa Forense – Italy’s first pillar pension fund for lawyers has appointed Maria Annunziata as the new president, succeeding Valter Militi.

Annunzitata, a lawyer, is the first woman to hold the role of president of the pension fund’s 70 years’ history.  She has served as a board member of Cassa Forense since 2021.

In her new role, she will continue to review the pension fund. This year, Cassa Forense introduced a defined contribution system for new members as part of its review.

The latest digital edition of IPE’s magazine is now available