People moves: LGPS Central names investment director for local investment

LGPS Central – The UK-based investment pool has appointed Paddy Dowdall as investment director for local investment, further strengthening its private markets leadership team at a pivotal time for UK pooling.

Paddy will join LGPS Central in early April. He will report to the head of private markets and will be responsible for leading the pool’s approach to local investment, working closely with partner funds and key stakeholders to deliver against evolving investment strategy requirements.

The appointment comes as LGPS Central grows to represent 15 partner funds, with significant local investment already committed at both fund and pool level. With assets under management expected to represent around £100bn, the focus will be on building on these strong foundations and supporting partner funds to develop and meet local investment objectives.

Dowdall brings extensive LGPS experience, with almost 14 years at Merseyside Pension Fund followed by a further 12 years at Greater Manchester Pension Fund. His career spans a wide range of investment and governance roles, giving him a deep understanding of local authority pension funds from a fund perspective.

In his role, Dowdall will work closely with partner funds, combined authorities, Homes England, the National Wealth Fund and a wide range of local delivery partners to help translate government ambition into investable opportunities.

bfinance – The independent investment advisory firm has recruited Matthias Grimm as senior director, client consulting DACH.

This strategic hire marks a significant milestone in the firm’s long-standing commitment to the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) region – one of its most important and enduring markets – where bfinance has maintained a dedicated presence since opening its Munich office in 2000, the firm stated.

Grimm joins bfinance with more than 15 years of specialised experience advising institutional investors on complex investment challenges. His expertise spans portfolio strategy, manager selection, risk management, and bespoke solution design, underpinned by a proven track record of delivering measurable value to pension funds, insurers, endowments, and other sophisticated asset owners.

According to Grimm’s LinkedIn profile, he spent the last 10 years at Berenberg, of which the last two were as head of institutional clients Germany.

Barnett Waddingham (BW) – Lucy Cresswell has been appointed to the role of head of pensions governance and secretariat.

As the non-pension side of BW’s market-leading governance consulting services, focused on corporates, charities and other organisations, continues to gain momentum and attract new clients, in her new role, Cresswell will make sure the firm remains laser-focussed on the continued development of its services to pension funds.

Cresswell joined BW in 2019 and brings 25 years of experience working with a variety of pension clients across the full spectrum of governance, executive and secretariat services, ranging from medium-sized schemes up to those with 100,000 members.

In her new role at BW, Cresswell will play a central role in developing and delivering the firm’s governance consulting services to pension schemes at a time when the Pensions Regulator and the Department for Work and Pensions are focused on improving the standards of pension scheme trusteeship, governance and administration.

London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) – Matthew Hopson has been named as LPFA’s new director of finance and corporate resources.

Hopson starts his new role in late April 2026, joining from the London Borough of Islington where he spent over three years, firstly as deputy director of finance and in the last year as acting director of finance.

Prior to his time at Islington, Hopson was the strategic investment manager at Westminster City Council where he managed the Tri-Borough pensions team.

Amundi – Alessia Berardi has been named head of global macroeconomics within the Amundi Investment Institute.

In this role, Berardi oversees global macroeconomics – developed and emerging market macro themes – and maintains the responsibility of emerging markets strategy. She is a member of Amundi’s global investment committee.

Berardi began her career in the financial industry in 1998, covering the main developed market economies. Since 2013, she has been leading the London research branch of Amundi with specific focus on global emerging markets, covering the different geographies from macroeconomics to asset classes. She was appointed head of emerging macro strategy research at the Amundi Investment Institute in 2022.

Rebalance Earth – The UK-based natural capital investment manager treating nature restoration as risk-reducing infrastructure has appointed Vijyanti Gorasia as head of structuring, strengthening its ability to deploy institutional capital into nature-based investments at scale.

The appointment comes as Rebalance Earth moves from proof of concept to active deployment, preparing to scale its first UK-focused institutional strategy and structure long-term investments that generate revenue through payments for ecosystem services, including flood risk reduction, water quality improvement, and biodiversity recovery.

In her role, Gorasia will lead the firm’s structuring of funds and underlying investments, ensuring projects meet the governance, risk, and return requirements of institutional investors. She will work closely across investment, finance, and delivery teams to design durable vehicles and contracts capable of supporting long-duration private markets capital.

Gorasia joins from Federated Hermes, where she was associate director in real estate fund management, leading structured investments, corporate restructurings, and joint ventures across an institutional UK real estate portfolio. Prior to this, she spent six years at Intu Properties, executing approximately £1.3bn of transactions across corporate development and investment roles.

ERAFP – Julien Méjane has joined the French public service pension fund as deputy director, administrative and operations director.

He has a background in the banking sector and in 2022 returned to General Inspectorate of Social Affairs, where he is involved in the evaluation of the performance of social security operators and their information systems strategies.

Legal & General – Tim Morris and Philipp Westermann, co-managing partners of Proprium Capital Partners, have been named L&G’s global co-heads of real assets.

The hires will further strengthen L&G’s asset management leadership team and deepen the partnership between the businesses, following its strategic acquisition of a 75% stake in Proprium, a global real estate investor.

L&G’s £1.1trn asset management business sits at the heart of the group’s strategy, with scaling global private markets a key growth priority. Building on its strong position in UK private markets, the duo will drive the expansion of infrastructure and real estate strategies across new markets, including Asia, Europe and the US, further strengthening L&G’s global real assets proposition and supporting delivery of its over £85bn private markets AUM target by 2028.

In dual leadership roles, Morris will take primary responsibility for leading L&G’s global real assets proposition. Westermmann will lead the continued growth and alignment of Proprium, providing strategic direction and operational support across the broader L&G real assets business. His leadership will be critical to Proprium’s expansion following L&G’s strategic acquisition.

Canbury – The sustainable investment consultancy has hired Christine Chow as a director, UK and Asia, bringing expertise and experience across sustainability, stewardship and AI governance.

She previously held senior roles at UBS, HSBC Asset Management, and Federated Hermes and joins Canbury after a one year stint as the inaugural CEO of the group that oversees the Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker brands.