People moves: SuMi Trust names new president and CEO

SuMi Trust) – The Japanese asset manager has named Takahiro Kobayashi as its new president and CEO.

Kobayashi will replace Yoshio Hishida, who held both positions since 2018, as part of a phased transition of responsibilities. Hishida will remain a non-executive director and will take on the role of global asset management officer for the whole SuMi Trust Group.

Kobayashi has 20 years of experience in the industry. He joined Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in 2004 and became executive officer of SuMi Trust Asset Management in 2023. As president, his role will be to continue to drive SuMi Trust’s global expansion, connecting with investors in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In his new position, Hishida will oversee and develop all asset management firms within the SuMi Trust Group, aiming to provide new solutions for investors both in Japan and overseas.

Lothian Pension Fund – The second largest Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) provider in Scotland has announced a change to its senior leadership team: Barry MacLennan has been appointed as chief operating officer, with effect from 20 October 2025.

MacLennan is an experienced finance leader in the pensions and investment sectors. His most recent role was CEO of Embark Investments, a wealth technology business that was bought by Lloyds Banking Group. His previous roles include lecturing at Napier University and leadership roles at Martin Currie and Standard Life.

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – The trustee of one of the largest pension schemes in the UK has appointed Claire Bowyer as group general counsel, sitting on the group executive team.

The appointment represents a planned transition with Bowyer taking over from the pension fund’s current group general counsel, Jeremy Hill.

Hill, who first joined USS in 2009 before rejoining in 2014, will retire from USS at the end of April 2026 and embark on a portfolio career focusing on financial services and pensions.

Bowyer will join USS from 1 March 2026. She is currently group general counsel of Cardano Group and deputy chief executive officer of NOW: Pensions. Her time at Cardano, and before that in private practice, has given her significant experience of pensions, investment, governance and related legal issues.

USS has also announced that Andrew Kyle will join as the new group finance director from 12 January 2026. He is currently chief financial officer at Brown Shipley & Co, having previously held various senior finance roles at NatWest Group, giving him extensive experience in financial services.

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management – The firm is recruiting an active management quant team, headed by Bruno Taillardat, with senior quant portfolio managers Xavier Marconnet and Frédéric Girod, who will also be joined by two other quantitative portfolio managers and a quant research analyst.

According to Edmond de Rothschild, the new quant team will build an active return strategy with a decision-making process, based on advanced mathematical models and using computer-driven algorithms and machine learning. The new product range will complement the firm’s traditional active management product range with an additional risk/return mechanism.

Taillardat has a 25-year track record in quant investing. He joins from Amundi in Paris where held a similar role since 2016. Prior to that, he was head of equity investments and quantitative and fundamental research at Unigestion for nine years. He will be based in Geneva, starting on 1 November and will report to Edmond de Rothschild AM’s CIO Benjamin Melman.

Marconnet joins from Unigestion, where he led the ‘Core AI’ active equity strategies, focusing on the integration of machine learning and responsible investing. He has 20 years of experience in quantitative development, strategy execution and algorithmic trading. He is a Chartered AI Investment (CAI) analyst.

Girod joins from Koch Supply & Trading. Previously, he was a quantitative analyst/data scientist at UEFA and founded Anaxagore Advanced Analvtics, where he developed data-driven strategies focusing on derivatives. He has a background in financial markets and quantitative trading from nine years at Unigestion.

Both Marconnet and Girod will also start on 1 November and will be based in Geneva, reporting to Taillardat.

The Diversity Project – Three new board members have been appointed as The Diversity Project steps up its mission to build a modern, diverse and inclusive investment industry in the UK.

Membership has reached a record 121 firms – up 21% in three years – with members representing more than £13trn in assets and 85,000 employees.

The three new board members include:

Mitesh Sheth, founder of OrgAlpha, previously CIO for multi-asset at Newton, and a longstanding member of the Project’s Race & Ethnicity workstream, Pathway Steering Group and Advisory Council. Following his leadership as CEO of Redington, in 2022, he was awarded an MBE for his services to diversity and inclusion within the financial services sector.

Stuart White, former UK CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management, appointed by the UK pension minister in 2024 as an independent board director of NEST. He is also a member of the Project’s Advisory Council and executive sponsor of the Mental Health Community.

Natalie Gill, head of global DEI strategy and industry engagement at PGIM. She has also held senior DEI roles at Santander and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and has been an active member of the Project’s steering committee.

Carne Group – The European third-party management company has appointed Saro Grano as CEO of its Swiss management company, Carne Global Fund Managers (Switzerland).

Building on Carne’s leading position in the market, Grano’s appointment will further support the firm’s commitment to being a strategic partner to Swiss asset and wealth managers, as well as global firms seeking to expand geographically, including into Switzerland and into new asset classes, the firm said.

Grano brings more than 20 years of leadership in asset management, including fund structuring fund governance and regulatory affairs. Most recently, he served as head of ETF platforms and strategic initiatives at Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) Asset Management, where he led the development and international expansion of the bank’s ETF business.

Since integrating GAM’s Swiss Private Label Fund business in 2024, Carne Switzerland’s assets under management have grown to CHF8.1bn as of June 2025.

M&G – Tim Page has been appointed as chief compliance officer for M&G’s asset management business. He joined on 22 September, reporting to Shawn Gamble, chief risk and compliance officer, and will become a member of the asset management executive committee, managed by Joseph Pinto, CEO of M&G Investments.

In his new role, Page will be responsible for overseeing the compliance function across M&G’s global asset management operations, ensuring the firm continues to meet evolving regulatory requirements while supporting its continued growth ambitions across multiple jurisdictions.

Page has 20 years of experience in financial services and joins from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he served for 10 years, including the last three years as managing director, head of international compliance, overseeing compliance activities across EMEA, Asia Pacific and Japan. He has a strong track record in building global compliance frameworks, delivering regulatory change, and advising on complex investment structures.

Ardian – The firm continues to expand its investor relations team in Frankfurt, appointing Nathalie Webler as director.

With more than 10 years of experience, Webler joins from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where she was vice president responsible for institutional clients in Northern Germany, Austria, the Baltics and Central Europe.

In her new role, Webler will focus on expanding and maintaining client relationships in Germany and Austria. Of the total volume of $192bn under management worldwide, more than $25bn come from Germany and Austria. This amount underlines the importance of these two markets for Ardian, t firm said.

Webler will work closely with Jan Mehlhorn, investor relations director, and report to Florian Kluge, COO investor relations and co-head of investor relations Europe.

Actuarial Association of Europe (AAE) – Matthias Pillaudin has been elected as the Association’s new chair until October 2026.

Pillaudin, a full member of Institut des Actuaires (France), is currently head of the actuarial department in life insurance at CNP Assurances. He has been a member of the AAE insurance committee and has served on the AAE board of directors since 2020, where he acted as honorary treasurer until 2024.

Several other board changes were made during the Association’s general assembly on 26 September, including electing Malcolm Kemp (UK) as vice chair for the next 12 months. He has served as a board member since 2023. Lutz Wilhelmy’s (Switzerland) term as immediate past chair has ended, as well as Frank Schiller’s (Germany) term as AAE board member.

FCLTGlobal – The non-profit organisation that mobilises companies and investors to focus capital on the long term has appointed Scott Chan, chief investment officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), and Greg Heckman, CEO of Bunge Global, to its board of directors.

Additionally, C.S. Venkatakrishnan, group CEO of Barclays, will assume the role of vice chair of the board.

The organisation also announced that Peter Grauer, chair emeritus at Bloomberg, will join its strategic advisory. A board member of Bloomberg since 1996, he became chair in 2001; he retired from his position in 2025. FCLTGlobal’s strategic advisory is comprised of global executives who help shape its research and programming.

International Capital Market Association (ICMA) – Anita Karppi has joined the organisation as senior director with responsibility for leading the “buy-side” team. She will have a focus on engaging non-traditional asset managers and investors, working closely with ICMA’s Asset Management and Investors Council (AMIC).

ICMA said Karppi has extensive knowledge of ETFs, asset management, private credit, hedge funds, and digital transformation. She has held senior leadership roles across strategy, business development, and thought leadership, including at Rothschild’s Five Arrows Private Equity, eToro, Market Structure Partners, FlexTrade Systems, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The latest digital edition of IPE’s magazine is now available