People moves: LGPS Central names general counsel

LGPS Central – The investment pool has appointed Jenny Lewis as general counsel and company secretary, as part of a planned evolution of its senior structure in support of the organisation’s continued growth and development.

Lewis has been with the firm since 2019 and was previously head of legal. She has more than 20 years of pensions, legal and governance experience and has worked with clients in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) sector throughout her career. Prior to joining, she was a director in the pensions team at Gowling WLG, where she specialised in public sector pensions.

In her new role, she will lead LGPS Central’s growing legal and governance team, providing strategic counsel to the board, executive and wider business while helping shape confident and well-governed decision making across the organisation serving partner funds and supporting its continued development as an LGPS asset pool..

AP7 – Malin Pellborn has been appointed head of communications at the Swedish national pension fund, filling the gap left by Johan Florén, AP7’s long-time communications chief, who left earlier this year and joined the research consortium Sustainable Finance Lab Sweden in May as public affairs officer.

Pelborn, who will be part of AP7’s management team in the new job, joins the SEK1.8trn (€150bn) pension fund from retail organisation Coop Östra, where she was a member of the group management team.

Before that, she worked at Roslagens Sparbank and SBAB, and has also been CMO at Skandia. She will start work at AP7 on 1 November.

Aptia – The UK-based consultancy has appointed Jo Tyler as its UK chief operating officer. She joins from Mercer, where she served as COO and a member of the UK executive leadership team.

Having extensive experience in pensions administration, consulting, governance and operational leadership, Tyler has held several senior pension administration roles before joining Mercer in 2009, where she went on to hold several leadership positions across the organisation’s wealth, health and career businesses.

Throughout her career, Tyler has led large-scale transformation, business-critical programmes and regulatory change. She also served as a trustee director of the MMC UK Pension Fund and played a founding role in the creation of the Mercer Master Trust.

In her new role, Tyler will oversee Aptia’s operational strategy and delivery, supporting the continued growth of the business while ensuring clients and members receive exceptional service. She will work closely with teams across the organisation to drive innovation, operational excellence and resilience, while helping Aptia continue to evolve in a rapidly changing pensions landscape

Russell Investments – The global investment solutions provider has appointed Brahim Ben Ammar as head of Middle East based in the firm’s Dubai office. He joins from Banco Santander International, where he served as executive director.

Ammar brings more than 25 years of experience to the role, primarily in business development and international distribution across the Middle East and North Africa. During his career, he has held other senior positions at Lombard Odier, Pictet Asset Management and Clearstream Banking Group.

At Russell Investments, Ammar will focus on expanding the firm’s existing business in the region and supporting key strategic partnerships and initiatives.

Aegon Asset Management – The firm has appointed Iain McGowan as partnership director.

In a new role for the business, McGowan will strengthen and grow relationships with some of Aegon AM’s key UK-based institutional partners. Based in Edinburgh, he will report to Aegon AM’s head of UK client group, Adrian Hull.

McGowan has more than 30 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Aegon AM, he was director of investments at Scottish Widows for six years where he was responsible for the firm’s investments on behalf of its customers and its relationship with its major asset management partners. He has also led several major investment transformation programmes in this role. Additionally, McGowan was a member of the Scottish Widows independent governance committee and chaired an overseas fund board.

ZEDRA – Sam Burden, who has been with the global professional services provider for 4.5 years, will lead its Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) as head of GAA, further strengthening support for workplace pension providers as the market prepares for significant changes to Value for Money (VfM) requirements.

The pensions industry is moving towards implementation of the new VfM framework, following the latest consultation and further developments in the government’s plans for the defined contribution (DC) market, ZEDRA stated. The framework is intended to bring greater transparency and consistency to how workplace pension schemes demonstrate and assess value, with implementation beginning with larger schemes from 2028, it added.

Separately, ZEDRA has also appoointed Koh Pi Hann as head of fund services in Asia, as the firm continues to strengthen and grow its funds service offering across the region.

Pi Hann brings more than 15 years of experience in the funds industry across Asia, spanning both the sell-side and buy-side in roles at BNY Mellon, HSBC Securities, Apex Group, and most recently worked at a Singapore-licensed fund management firm.

Based in Singapore, Pi Hann will work closely with ZEDRA’s global team to support fund managers and investors with the technical expertise, operational insight and relationship-led service required to navigate an increasingly complex funds environment.

His appointment reflects the continued investment the business has made in its funds capabilities and its commitment to delivering specialist, locally informed fund administration support to clients across Asia, the Americas, and Europe in particular.

Hymans Robertson – Craig Payne has been named principal consultant in Hymans Robertson’s LGPS GAP team.

The appointment comes at a critical time for the LGPS. The scheme is implementing significant governance change and responding to increased administration challenges. Payne will be a key member of the governance and administration consulting team at the leading pensions and financial services consultancy. He will provide solutions and support to LGPS funds on these critical governance and administration challenges.

Payne has 20 years of experience working in the LGPS, specialising in governance and administration and helping funds to make decisions that meet the needs of their members. Prior to joining Hymans Robertson, he worked at Aon as a director within its public sector pensions team.