People moves: Irish pension fund association names CEO

Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) – Joyce Brennan has been appointed as chief executive officer for the association. She replaces Jerry Moriarty who stood down from the role earlier this year.

Brennan is currently managing director of General Investment Trust and has more than 25 years of experience in the pensions sector with previous roles at Irish Pensions Trust, Mercer and KPMG, and is an experienced director, leader and actuary.

She has been a council member of the IAPF for the past three years and vice chair of the IAPF for the past year. Brennan also holds a number of non-executive director roles in the insurance sector. She will start her new role on 1 August 2025.

PKA – Andreas Dankel has joined the Danish pension fund as chief ESG manager. An experienced portfolio manager, he worked at Danske Bank for 16 years, most latterly as head of fixed income until October last year.

Dankel has worked part-time since then for Impactable Investment Group, an impact investment specialist.

PGGM – The Dutch pension asset manager has appointed Gabriëlle Krapels as chief policy officer.

Krapels will be responsible for strategic policy advice and the investment strategy for the healthcare sector scheme PFZW, PGGM’s owner and only asset management client.

The appointment of Krapels marks the completion of PGGM’s new executive board that will be operational from 1 June.

Commenting on the appointment, PGGM Investment Management CEO Geraldine Leegwater said Krapels’ “knowledge about integrating return, risk and sustainability in the investment policy is of added value to realise the common strategy of PFZW and PGGM”.

Krapels joins from APG Asset Management, where she held a similar role, advising APG’s pension fund clients on their responsible investment policies.

Folketrygdfondet – Toril Eidesvik and Thale Susanne Kuvås Solberg have been appointed by the Norwegian Finance Ministry as new members of the board of Folketrygdfondet, the Oslo-based manager of the Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN).

Their terms begin on 16 May and last for four years. At the same time, Liselott Kilaas and Elisabeth Maråk Støle left the institution’s board.

Capital Group – The asset management firm has appointed Marco Rateitschak as head of institutional Middle East and EMEA sovereigns. Based in Geneva, he will report to Benno Klingenberg-Timm, head of institutional for Europe and Asia client group.

Capital Group has been covering the Middle East for many decades. Rateitschak will be responsible for expanding the firm’s institutional business in the Middle East and with sovereign institutions across EMEA. He will continue to deliver investment services tailored to client needs while deepening relationships with more institutional clients across the region.

Rateitschak joins from Vontobel Asset Management where he was head of sovereign institutions Middle East. He previously worked with UBS Asset Management for 14 years, based in Zurich and Dubai, where he serviced institutional clients in the MENA region.

RBC BlueBay Asset Management – The firm has appointed Thomas Mauseth as a director to its Nordics business development team. This follows the appointment of associate director Pedro Divino in January this year.

Both Mauseth and Divino are based in the company’s Stockholm office and report to RBC BlueBay’s head of Nordics, Annica Woronowicz.

Mauseth has close to two decades of experience in financial services, most recently working at UBS Asset Management in Stockholm as director, client relationship manager institutional, leading the business development process for Denmark and Norway. Prior to this he held roles at Nomura Asset Management, Wellington Management International and AXA Investment Managers.

Divino has nearly 10 years of experience within the investment industry in London, Luxembourg and Stockholm. Prior to RBC BlueBay, he worked at AllianceBernstein as client relations manager and associate – EMEA client group, servicing Nordic clients.

In addition, Henrik Dedichen, previously an associate within RBC BlueBay’s client experience team in London, relocated to Sweden in March of this year to join the team in Stockholm.

Broadstone – The consultancy has appointed Bill Pedersen to its board as non-executive director.

Pedersen is a highly-experienced executive in the financial services sector with a career spanning 35 years at Milliman, an international consulting and actuarial firm specialising in life insurance and financial services, property and casualty insurance, healthcare and employee benefits.

In his over three decades at Milliman, Pedersen was chief financial officer for 20 years and spent his last five years as the firm’s first COO prior to his retirement in 2020.

The appointment bolsters Broadstone’s expertise in the life and non-life insurance sector as well as the Lloyds and London markets, the firm stated.

First Sentier Investors – Ashley Conn has been appointed as chief financial and strategy officer. He will join the firm in late May.

Conn, who will be based in Sydney, has a strong background in finance and investment banking, bringing more than 25 years of experience to First Sentier Investors.

He joins from Super Retail Group, where he served as the interim general manager of group finance and prior to that, was the CFO at ASX listed McMillan Shakespeare and CSG.

Conn’s appointment is a significant step for First Sentier Investors as his leadership and expertise will play a crucial role in achieving the company’s strategic priorities and fostering a culture of collaboration across the business. He succeeds Noel O’Brien, who served as interim chief financial and strategy officer following Suzanne Evans’ departure earlier this year.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners – Torben Möger Pedersen, who was CEO of PensionDanmark for nearly 32 years until 2023, has been appointed as senior adviser at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

The infrastructure investment company said that at PensionDanmark, Möger Pedersen – currently chair of the non-profit foundation CIP Fonden – had been influential in setting up the first CIP fund back in 2012. In his new role, CIP said, Möger Pedersen will focus on international investor relations and public affairs.

Aviva – Chris Noon has been appointed as chair of the Aviva Master Trust.

Noon has more than 30 years of experience working across the UK pensions market with employers, and directly with master trusts. He is an experienced chair and non-executive director, having previously been the chair of the board for one of the UK’s largest pension consultancies, Hymans Robertson.

Elizabeth Renshaw-Ames has been chair of the Aviva Master Trust since 2020, and her current term is coming to an end. Noon starts his new role on 12 May 2025.

AP Pension – Jens Almegaard, the former communications manager of Industriens Pension and two other Danish pension funds, has been appointed board member of AP Pension.

Almegaard, who managed the communications department at PFA and then PensionDanmark between 1996 and 2000, began his term on the AP Pension board in April, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

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