People moves: Isio appoints new chief

Isio – The UK-based advisory firm has announced the appointment of Dan Thomas as its new CEO, effective 1 September 2026.

Thomas joins Isio with more than two decades of leadership experience spanning professional services, consulting, outsourcing, and growth transformation. His career has included senior leadership roles at KPMG, Dell, Huntswood and the Management Consulting Group.

He has worked closely with several private equity-backed businesses, advising on growth strategy, commercial transformation and AI-enabled professional services. More recently, Thomas has helped to co-create the go-to-market strategy for Unity Advisory, the PE-backed AI-native advisory firm.

Thomas succeeds Andrew Coles, who has led the business to a strong position – five years on from its first annual results in 2020, Isio has nearly trebled revenue and profit, the firm stated.

Barings – The firm has announced the expansion of its senior leadership team to advance strategic growth initiatives, including further scaling and enhancing its global product offering.

Brad Finkle will join Barings as global chief operating officer, a newly created role, and Bryan High, head of global private finance, will join the firm’s senior leadership team, both reporting to chair and CEO Mike Freno.

Additionally, Eric Lloyd, president of Barings, will assume the role of vice chair. He will continue to lead strategic initiatives as a member of the senior leadership team and executive chair of the board of Barings BDC, Inc.

As Barings’ global COO, effective 29 June, Finkle will partner closely with the senior leadership team advancing key growth initiatives while initially overseeing product strategy, management, and development to enhance the firm’s global product offering across institutional, insurance, and wealth channels, accelerate speed to market, and scale product delivery.

Finkle joins Barings from TIAA, where he most recently served as executive vice president and head of TIAA third-party solutions businesses. During his nearly two decades with TIAA and Nuveen, he held senior leadership positions, including chief administrative officer of TIAA Wealth Management, COO of Nuveen, and president of TIAA Investments.

Pension Fund of Commerce – Benedikt Gudmundsson has been promoted to the role of fund manager at Iceland’s Pension Fund of Commerce (Lífeyrissjóður verzlunarmanna, LV), moving up from deputy fund manager.

Gudmundsson, who has worked at the Reykjavik-based pension fund since November 2022, will be in charge of domestic alternative investments and domestic unlisted equities.

Chronos Sustainability – The UK-based sustainability agency is opening a new office in Southeast Asia and has assigned Gemma James, formerly of the Principles for Responsible Investment, as its first regional director of Asia.

The move will take effect at the end of July 2026, with James based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“From our work with the World Bank in Thailand and Malaysia to our recent animal welfare initiative in India, we are seeing growing demand across Asia for practical, high-impact sustainability solutions,” said Nicky Amos, managing director, Chronos Sustainability.

“As one of the world’s most dynamic and fast-growing regions, Asia presents significant opportunities for organisations looking to drive positive change. We are thrilled to have Gemma leading our work on the ground.”

ERAFP – Olivier Bonnet has taken on the role of head of responsible investment following Pierre Devichi’s exit from the French pension fund, it has been confirmed.

Bonnet will also continue as head of asset manager selection. Bonnet was head of socially responsible investment for seven years before switching to the latter role in 2016.

Nordea – Marie Giertz, the former CIO and CEO of Swedish pension fund Kåpan, has started a new job at Nordea in Stockholm as chief strategist.

Giertz was CEO of Kåpan from February to August 2025, at which point it was announced she was resigning to focus on her family.

Previndai – The Italian industry-wide pension fund for company managers has picked Francesca Brunori as its new president and Giuseppe Straniero as vice president.

Representatives of members and companies also appointed a new board of directors and supervisory body for the period 2026–2029.

The board of directors now includes Enrico Carnevale Miino, Giovanna Fantino, Mauro Fava, Gianni Filippa, Massimo Giusti, Santino Gronda, Paolo Parrilla, Carlo Ricchetti, Marco Rughetti, and Francesco Somma.

Broadstone – The consultancy has appointed Simon Grout as senior actuarial director to its insurance advisory and remediation division.

Grout joins from FTI Consulting where he was a senior advisor in the firm’s global insurance services practice. He brings nearly 40 years of experience as both an actuarial and management consultant in the insurance industry across EMEA.

In his new role, Grout will complement Broadstone’s existing actuarial offering, helping to broaden out its client services into further risk, governance and regulatory offerings.

Max Matthiessen – Sara Liljedahl has been appointed as risk manager at the Swedish insurance, pensions and investment intermediary Max Matthiessen.

She joins from Euro Accident, where she was risk analyst for 10 months, following five years at BNP Paribas Personal Finance in Stockholm, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Telemaco – The pension fund for employees in Italy’s telecommunications sector has appointed Stefano Castrignanò as the new chair and Marco Rendina as vice chair.

The fund’s new board of directors now also includes Daniele Carchidi, Salvatore Carta, Gabriele Della Capanna, Norma Marighetti, Natascia Treossi, Francesco Algieri, Romina Chirichilli, Mario Iannaccone, Simone Vaccarino, and Claudio Varani.

Chiara Rinaldi is appointed as the new chair of the fund’s statutory auditors board.