People moves: State Street Investment Management names new UK chief

State Street Investment Management – Stephen Yeats has been appointed as chief executive officer of State Street IM’s UK-based investment management entity.

As UK CEO, Yeats will be responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the entity. He joined the firm in 2007 and has extensive leadership experience in asset management and a deep understanding of the UK investment management landscape.

Currently, Yeats serves as global head of systematic fixed income for State Street IM. He will continue in this role alongside his new responsibilities, overseeing a team of investment professionals globally who manage more than $700bn in fixed income solutions. He also previously served as UK head of investments for the firm.

Yeats succeeds Alex Castle as the firm’s UK CEO, following the latter’s departure from State Street IM at the end of September 2025. He will report to Ann Prendergast, head of EMEA for State Street IM.

Fondoposte – The board of directors for the €3bn Italian pension fund for postal workers has appointed Antonio Nervi as the new chair.

Nervi, who represents Fondoposte’s member companies on the pension fund’s board of directors, held the chair post from July 2008 to May 2014, and in 2021. His election follows the sudden death of Antonio Nardacci, who was chair of the pension fund for almost eight and a half years.

The board of directors also elected Vito Romaniello, representing employees on the board, as the new vice president. Giacomo Di Pasquale, also representing the employees, is a new member of the board.

M&G – Rosie Fantom has been appointed as head of origination and execution for the firm’s corporate pensions solutions business. She will be instrumental in accelerating M&G’s growth in the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market.

In her new role, Fantom will lead a 10-strong team and be responsible for identifying and securing new business opportunities, shaping client propositions, and overseeing the structuring and execution of pension risk transfer transactions. M&G will launch the industry’s first with-profits BPA in 2026, allowing pension scheme members to share in the benefits. This is the latest innovation from M&G, following the launch of the first value share BPA in 2024.

Fantom is a qualified actuary and brings a wealth of experience with more than 17 years in the pensions risk transfer market. Most recently, she was head of bulk annuities at Barnett Waddingham, where she led transactions for the £2bn Old British Steel Pension Scheme and £850m for the Arcadia pension schemes.

Nordea Asset Management – The firm has hired Lucette Yvernault and Marton Huebler as part of the continued expansion of its data-driven investment capabilities into systematic fixed income.

Yvernault will join as head of the systematic fixed income team, while Huebler will join as senior portfolio manager. Their addition represents a significant step in strengthening Nordea AM’s capabilities in systematic and risk-controlled active fixed income investments, while still leveraging its existing data-driven research approach in multi-assets.

Yvernault joins from Fidelity International, where she led the development of a multi-billion-euro franchise as head of systematic fixed income, focused on actively managed, low-tracking-error fixed income solutions and customised mandates. She brings more than two decades of experience in designing global fixed income portfolios.

Huebler, previously a portfolio manager at Fidelity International, has extensive expertise in quantitative fixed income investing. He has held several senior roles, including head of quantitative fixed income research, and has a strong track record in managing fixed income portfolios and systematic strategies.

Yvernault will report to Asbjørn Trolle Hansen, Nordea AM’s head of multi-assets. Both hires will be based in London.

Achmea Investment Management – Bert van den Berg, the former CIO of the Shell Asset Management Company (SAMCo), has joined Dutch fiduciary manager Achmea Investment Management as its new manager of the firm’s manager selection and monitoring department.

“The combination of societal relevance, impact and the ambition to renew immediately appealed to me,” he said in an Achmea IM LinkedIn post.

Van den Berg worked at SAMCo for 18 years, until the firm was dissolved earlier this year after the Shell pension funds decided to move their fiduciary assets elsewhere.

Publica – The CHF43bn Swiss pension fund has elected Emmanuel Vauclair, currently CEO of the pension fund of the Swiss broadcasting corporation, Pensionskasse SRG SSR, as the new director, effective 1 May 2026.

Vauclair succeeds Doris Bianchi, who has been appointed as the new director of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO), the institution monitoring the functioning of the first and second-pillar pension systems.

Vauclair has been the CEO of Pensionskasse SRG SSR since 2016. Prior to joining the pension fund, he worked at consultancy Aon Suisse. He is a member of the Swiss Actuarial Association, a member of the Swiss Chamber of Pension Fund Experts (SKPE CSEP), and a recognised occupational pension expert by the occupational pension supervisor, the Oberaufsichtskommission Berufliche Vorsorge (OAK BV).

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