People moves: Kazemian appointed as head of risk transfer at ZEDRA

ZEDRA – Payam Kazemian was appointed as head of risk transfer at ZEDRA, after being with the company since 2021.

The appointment reflects the changing dynamics of the risk transfer market, with increasing insurer capacity, a broader range of solutions and growing demand from trustees and sponsors for specialist advice and governance support when considering complex de-risking decisions.

Kazemian brings more than 20 years of experience in the pension industry, having worked with scheme sponsors, trustees, consultants, and asset managers through his role as a professional trustee at ZEDRA.

He has worked in pensions structuring teams focusing on pension investment strategy design, de-risking, and end-game journey planning at several investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citibank.

Railways Pension Scheme – The £36m UK-based pension fund managed by Railpen has appointed Martin Hunter and John McBride as its trustee directors 

Hunter is chief executive officer of the Transport for London (TfL) Pension Fund and director of pensions. He brings extensive experience of operating large, open defined benefit (DB) pension schemes within the transport sector. Having previously served the railways pension schemes as head of integrated funding at Railpen, Hunter offers a strong understanding of the schemes, alongside first-hand knowledge of the trustees’ responsibilities and decision-making processes.

McBride, meanwhile, brings more than 30 years of experience in the rail industry, including senior leadership roles with the British Transport Police (BTP). He retired in 2018 as chief superintendent and, in 2022, rejoined the BTP Force Superannuation Fund Management Committee as an elected pensioner representative. Through his work on the committee,  McBride continues to apply his extensive experience in governance and risk management to support member-focused decision-making.

The duo replace two trustee directors who retired on 1 July: John Wilson, who was a trustee director since 2008, and Peter Holden, who was a trustee director since 2019.

Industriens Pension – Simon Bjørn Rex has been hired by the Danish pension fund as senior portfolio manager to work on optimisation and management of Industriens Pension’s total listed equities portfolio of around DKK118bn (€15.8bn).

Rex, previously called Simon Kristiansen, whose most recent role has been senior investment strategist at Nordea, will join Industriens on 7 September and report to head of equities Morten Rask Nymark.

Rex was also previously an investment strategist at CBRE Investment Management in London.

Stichting Mediahuis Nederland Pensioenfonds – Jeppe Machielsen has been appointed chair of the Dutch publishing company’s pension fund, a role he started in late June. He succeeds Arno Reekers in the top non-executive job at the pension fund.

Machielsen also serves as chair of the Vlakglas industry-wide pension fund and as a non-executive board member at the pension fund Nationale APF.