People moves: Van Lanschot Kempen’s CEO to step down to non-exec role

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management (UK) – André Keijsers, the firm’s chief executive officer, will transition to a non-executive director role as of 1 September 2025 to pursue a new executive opportunity outside the fiduciary management industry.

As a non-executive director of the firm’s board, Van Lanschot Kempen will continue to benefit from Keijsers’s extensive knowledge and strong client relationships.

The firm has begun a process to appoint a permanent successor to Keijsers, with the aim of further establishing the business as the ‘preferred provider’ brand in the UK market.

Johan Cras, currently chair of the board, will assume Keijsers’s responsibilities on an interim basis. Cras has held several senior management positions within the firm. He led the UK team between 2016 and 2019, headed wholesale and institutional clients until 2022, and has served as chair of the board since then.

Border to Coast Pensions Partnership – Clare Keefe is joining the local government pension scheme (LGPS) investment pool as responsible investment integration manager.

The move follows a nearly two-year stint at Barnett Waddingham as senior sustainability investment consultant. Before that, Keefe worked in ESG at PwC.

The local government pension scheme (LGPS) asset pool, which is in demand from to-be-orphaned LGPS funds, is also hiring for a separate responsible investment role in connection with plans to launch a green, social and sustainability bonds fund.

SEI – Diane Seymour-Williams has been appointed as board chair of SEI Investments (Europe) Limited (SEIL), and David Lawton has been appointed as an independent non-executive director.

Seymour-Williams joined SIEL’s board in 2019 and steps into the chair role following the retirement of Patrick Disney, who served as chair of the board since 2019 and was the former head of SEI’s institutional business in the EMEA region and responsible for launching SEI’s business in the UK.

Seymour-Williams brings three decades of global investment experience, building businesses, structuring funds, and leading distribution and client relationship teams. She has held senior leadership roles as a portfolio manager, chief investment officer, and CEO at firms that include Deutsche Asset Management and LGM Investments. She was also a founding partner of Acorn Capital Advisers, focused on advising families and family offices on manager selection and strategic asset allocation.

Lawton brings 40 years of experience in financial services, regulatory, and public sector positions, including at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury, and currently has a portfolio of non-executive roles across the financial services sector. He was previously managing director and co-head of the UK regulatory advisory services practice at Alvarez & Marsal.

At the FCA, Lawton was most recently responsible for markets and wholesale conduct policy, as well as leading the FCA’s European and International strategy, chairing several prominent international committees and representing the FCA at the European Securities and Markets Authority Board of Supervisors.

EIFO – Christoph Junge, who until recently was head of alternatives at Danish pension provider Velliv, has announced he is joining the Danish state agency Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) this month as head of fund investments.

Junge and Velliv’s entire alternatives team were made redundant earlier this year after a change of investment strategy at the Ballerup-based institution significantly reduced the role of alternative investments.

Announcing his new job at EIFO on LinkedIn, Junge extended “a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reached out during my transition”.

Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) – Sarah Benioff has been appointed to the board of the MaPS as a new non-executive director.

Benioff joined the MaPS board on 11 August, bringing 30 years of leadership from across the charity grant-making and public sectors. She currently leads the Cripplegate Foundation, focusing on poverty and inequality.

Her appointment has been made by the UK minister for pensions, Torsten Bell.

Non-executive members of the MaPS board are responsible for providing oversight, support and challenge to the MaPS executive team, led by CEO Oliver Morley.

The MaPS is an arm’s length body of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), committed to ensuring that people throughout the UK have the guidance and information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

AP7 – Charlotte Sillén was promoted at the Swedish national pension fund in June to the position of head of fixed income, she announced on LinkedIn.

Sillén was previously senior portfolio manager at AP7, which manages the default option in the premium pension system. Before joining AP7 in October 2024, she was senior portfolio manager at AMF Insurance for six and a half years.

Meanwhile, Tomas Gylfe, who has been working at AP7 since the beginning of the year as senior portfolio manager, was promoted, also in June, to the role of head of asset allocation and research at the Stockholm-based state institution. Before joining AP7, Gylfe worked for nearly two years at the bank SEB, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Aviva Investors – The global asset management business of Aviva has appointed David Thomas as global head of insurance.

Based in London and reporting to Jill Barber, chief distribution officer, the newly-created role will see Thomas sit as a member of the global distribution leadership team. His appointment is the second senior hire to be announced by Aviva Investors’ distribution team in July, and follows the arrival of Sam Postlethwaite to the new role of head of global consultant relations.

In his role, Thomas will take responsibility for growing and developing Aviva Investors’ global insurance solutions business, demonstrating the firm’s understanding of the challenges, opportunities and constraints facing this group of investors and how best to navigate them. He will also lead Aviva Investors’ relationship with its largest client and parent company, Aviva, ensuring Aviva Investors makes use of the unique advantages of having a powerful insurance parent and continues to be the best asset manager for the Aviva group.

Thomas joins from Schroders where he was head of UK and Ireland insurance, business development, responsible for building relationships and working with UK insurers to help improve investment outcomes.

Charles Stanley – Celine Legaspi has joined the investment manager as sustainable portfolio lead and responsible investment analyst.

Legaspi was previously at investment consultancy Redington, where she led sustainable and impact investment research within the manager research team. She will lead the day-to-day management of Charles Stanley’s newly-launched sustainable multi-asset guidance portfolios.

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