People moves: SEI Master Trust adds director to board

SEI – Chris Hogg has been appointed to the SEI Master Trust board of directors. In addition to his board responsibilities, Hogg will serve as a member of the risk and operations sub-committee.

With 25 years of experience in the pensions sector, Hogg has held senior roles in a variety of trustee executive functions, responsible for hundreds of thousands of members and accountable to trustees for both defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Hogg most recently served as chief executive officer of the National Grid UK Pension Scheme. He is experienced in managing pension schemes and providing strategic guidance, including investment management, risk management and operations, and member engagement. Hogg previously served as CEO to Royal Mail’s pensions trustees and held roles at Aon and KMPG.

London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) – The local government pension scheme (LGPS) administering authority has appointed Luke Webster as a new member of its board.

Webster brings experience from finance, investment, and public sector management to the LPFA. He currently serves as bursar of Corpus Christi, University of Oxford, where he is responsible for non-academic operations, including the management of the College’s estates and endowment to support teaching, research, and student access.

Webster began his career in 2005 as an accountant at the London Borough of Lewisham and has since held several senior positions in finance and investment. From 2013 to 2015, he served as chief finance and risk officer at the LPFA. From 2015 to 2025, he was chief investment officer of the Greater London Authority (GLA), and from 2017 to 2025 he founded and led London Treasury as CEO.

In addition to his new role at the LPFA, Webster currently serves as a non-executive director at London Treasury and is a member of the investments committee of the Masonic Charitable Foundation, one of the UK’s largest grant-making charities.

Rebalance Earth – The UK-based asset manager pioneering investment in nature as critical infrastructure, has appointed Ruston Smith as chair of the board.

Smith has more than 40 years in the pension fund and investment industry, including experience chairing large pension funds, asset managers and private market companies. His appointment comes shortly after the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) committed £25m to Rebalance Earth’s forthcoming Nature-based Infrastructure Fund; with a roadmap to scale to £10bn in assets under management over the next decade.

Smith joins a highly experienced leadership team that blends financial, scientific, and operational expertise. “With the team now in place, Rebalance Earth is ready to enter the next phase of its mission: to demonstrate how investing in Nature can make the UK more resilient, more prosperous and help create a world worth living in,” it said.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – Alessandro Gianesini has joined the GRI as chief financial officer. He has a remit to lead on financial reporting, operations and budgeting; on compliance with laws and regulations; and on the development of technology.

Gianesini previously worked at Transparency International as head of finance, where he oversaw financial and risk management. Earlier in his career, he gained extensive experience as an auditor, working for KPMG in Italy and in the US.

M&G Investments – Martin Kwiatkowski has been named director of asset management operations, reporting to chief operating officer Richard Godfrey.

Kwiatkowski joined from Aberdeen, where as COO of Investments, he had responsibility for service delivery, implementation of transformative change and management of first-line risk and controls across public and private markets. Throughout his 23 years at Aberdeen, he held several leadership roles, including investment operations director.

Investcorp – The global alternative investment firm has announced four senior additions to its Strategic Capital Group (ISCG), with the goal to further strengthen its ability to support post-acquisition value creation and strategic growth across its portfolio of alternative asset managers.

Amir R. Rezvani joins as head of Middle East coverage, based in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. He leads ISCG’s strategic initiatives and investor engagement across the region, drawing on his regional expertise and deep knowledge of the institutional landscape.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Rezvani was with Investindustrial in its investor relations and syndication group, where he led fundraising efforts across EMEA and the Americas from London and New York.

Jon Hays joins as head of wealth coverage, based in New York. He will lead fundraising and distribution efforts for ISCG and its GPs within the private wealth channel.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Hays was a founding member of the global investor relations team at Hunter Point Capital, where he served in a similar role marketing the firm’s GP stakes strategy and the strategies of its underlying GP partners.

Svein Floden joins as an operating partner, based in New York. He will focus on designing innovative product and distribution strategies for ISCG’s GPs, with particular emphasis on the wealth management and insurance channels.

Floden brings over two decades of experience in asset management and distribution. Prior to joining Investcorp, he served as head of intermediary distribution at Insight Investment, a BNY Mellon affiliate, and held senior leadership roles at Deutsche Bank Asset and Wealth Management.

Lindsay Shagrin joins ISCG as a vice president, based in New York. In her role, she will coordinate capital formation efforts with ISCG’s GPs, leveraging her deep relationships with North American institutional investors to enhance distribution strategies for ISCG GPs and the broader platform.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Shagrin was part of Blackstone’s multi-asset investing group within the institutional client solutions team.

Barnett Waddingham (BW) – The UK professional services consultancy has named Nick Cooper as CEO of BW SIPP, as the business enters a new phase focused on market growth.

Cooper brings over three decades of experience across the SIPP and master trust markets, including international experience. Over the past year, he has played a pivotal role in the transformation of BW SIPP as head of SIPP proposition.  His appointment follows a carefully planned leadership transition from Simon Foster, ahead of his retirement later this year, ensuring continuity of strategy while bringing fresh commercial focus to the business.

Prior to joining BW, Cooper held senior roles at firms including Aviva, Zurich and Clerical Medical, developing retirement propositions and managing strategic partnerships. He also played a key role in the development of Embark Group’s SIPP proposition for digital wealth platforms and spent three years as head of master trust proposition for XPS and SEI, giving him a comprehensive understanding of the evolving pensions landscape.

The leadership transition comes as BW SIPP completes a major period of operational and technological transformation under Foster’s leadership.

Gallagher – Alistair Lester has been appointed as CEO of Gallagher’s private equity and M&A client practice. He will lead the firm’s existing transactional risks teams in the UK, Europe and Middle East (EMEA) and oversee the expansion of the practice to deliver a comprehensive suite of services and solutions to businesses of all sizes engaged in acquisitions, mergers, and other transactions.

Lester joins from Aon where he has worked for the last eight years, most recently as global co-CEO of M&A and transactional solutions. He has nearly 30 years of industry experience, having also worked at WTW and brings extensive experience of M&A and post-deal value creation for both corporate clients as well as private equity and other alternative asset managers.

Reporting to Michael Rea, CEO of Gallagher’s broking business in the UK, Lester will lead Gallagher’s UK and EMEA transactional solutions teams.

SimCorp – The financial technology subsidiary of Deutsche Börse has appointed Peter Sanderson as its CEO.

Sanderson brings extensive and diverse expertise to SimCorp, refined over a distinguished career spanning key leadership roles in the financial industry. As group CEO for GAM Investments from 2019 to 2024, he gained firsthand insights into SimCorp’s software as a direct client, enhancing his understanding of the platform’s strategic value.

Prior to that, his decade-long tenure at BlackRock Investment Management saw him excel in senior positions, including managing director of multi-asset investment solutions, financial markets advisory, and as a member of the European executive committee, where he shaped critical initiatives across diverse financial sectors.

His earlier experience at Mondrian Investment Partners and KPMG further reinforced his comprehensive industry acumen. Sanderson’s depth of knowledge and leadership capabilities position him uniquely to guide SimCorp toward its ambitious goals.

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