People moves: Pensions UK names head of DC and master trusts

Pensions UK – Phil Brown has been appointed head of DC and master trusts, bringing more than 38 years of experience across pensions, retirement income and financial services.

Brown has held senior roles at NEST, People’s Partnership, LV= and the Financial Services Authority, and has also worked as an independent consultant. He has contributed to industry initiatives through committees at Pensions UK, the ABI, ILAG, PICA, the Money Advice Service and HM Treasury’s FinTech and InsureTech boards.

The appointment coincides with the arrival of Joe Osborne, Nebojsa Martinovic, Sophie Smith and Jananie Janarthana to Pensions UK’s policy and advocacy team, where they will focus on consultation responses, member engagement and work across the Pension Schemes Bill, value for money, consolidation and long-term system design.

AP2 – Ingrid Albinsson, vice chair of the board of AP2, has now been appointed by the government as acting chair of the Swedish national pensions buffer fund, pending the appointment of a permanent chair.

Albinsson will be stepping into the shoes of the current chair Anna‑Karin Jatko, who is stepping down because she has been assigned a new operational role, according to AP2.

Albinsson, a former CIO of Sweden’s largest national pension fund AP7, has been a member of Gothenburg-based AP2’s board since 2023.

Future Growth Capital – Subbu Murugesan has been appointed head of valuations.

He joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was market and valuation risk director, overseeing valuation matters for private investments and stakeholder management with regulators, auditors and management.

Murugesan will oversee Future Growth Capital’s valuation function, monitor portfolios across direct, co-investments and fund investments, and ensure compliance with regulatory developments. He reports to James Harvey, chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

AP3 – Ulrika Löfqvist has started work in a new role as portfolio manager at the Stockholm-based national pensions buffer fund.

AP3 is one of the pension system’s three remaining buffer funds since AP1 and AP6 were axed as part of a reform at the end of 2025.

Löfqvist, who said on LinkedIn that she was joining AP3’s alternatives team in the new job, joins from AP6, the recently-liquidated Gothenburg-based private-equity specialist buffer fund, where she was investment director since August 2023.

Legal & General – Lucy Blanchard-Burton has been named head of mastertrust and independent governance committee (IGC).

She joins from Scottish Widows, where she was master trust pension manager.

She will lead a team supporting the L&G Mastertrust Board and the IGC and reports to Lesley-Ann Morgan, global head of DC.

The L&G Mastertrust has £41.9bn in assets under management, 413 participating employers and 2.2 million members. L&G’s contract-based workplace pensions book, overseen by the IGC, has 2.7 million members and £49bn in assets.

Verka – The German group that manages multi-employer occupational pension provider Verka Kirchliche Pensionskasse and the provident fund VK Kirchliche Vorsorge VVaG, has appointed Arnd Köhler as a new executive board member.

In his new role, Köhler leads the actuarial, portfolio management, and risk management department.

Köhler succeeds Eugene Scheinker, who decided to step down from his role at the end of December. At Verka, Köhler has served as head of the actuarial department since 2004, and as responsible actuary since 2012.

ICG – Sujey Subramanian has been appointed to lead its Asia-Pacific corporate investment strategy, effective 1 May.

Based in Singapore, Subramanian will expand the team and drive growth of the firm’s flexible capital approach across the region.

He joins from PAG, where he was deputy chief investment officer and head of Southeast Asia for the firm’s private equity strategy.

His earlier career included six years with TPG Capital in Singapore and investment banking with Merrill Lynch.

LBP AM – Émilie Goirand has been appointed head of ESG corporate debt and unlisted solutions, and Nicolas Bénéton as ESG investment specialist.

Goirand joins from MV Credit, where she was chief sustainability officer, and will coordinate ESG analysis for private corporate debt and unlisted multi-management strategies.

Bénéton brings more than 20 years of asset management experience, including roles at BNP Paribas Securities Services, Fitch Ratings, Cedrus Partners and Robeco, and will support the development and promotion of ESG strategies.

Both report to Héléna Charrier, head of SRI Solutions, with Bénéton also reporting to Mathilde Sauvé.