The Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (BCPP) is the latest of the UK’s local authority pension fund pools to appoint its CEO.

Rachel Elwell will join the group in December from Royal London where she has worked since 2011 as staff pensions director and investment office director.

BCPP has been set up to pool the assets of 12 local government pension schemes (LGPS) across England, with total assets of roughly £43bn. It appointed outgoing RPMI Railpen chief executive Chris Hitchen as its chair in July.

In a statement announcing Elwell’s appointment, BCPP said it was to open an office in Leeds and build a team of roughly 70 in-house staff for its asset management operations. Elwell will be responsible for ensuring the company is able to start operations in 2018 in line with the UK government’s timetable for LGPS asset pooling.

Hitchen said: “I am thrilled that we have secured a CEO with Rachel’s combination of investment experience, client focus and integrity. I am confident that, together with our shareholders, we will build BCPP into a high quality, long-term-oriented asset owner.”

Councillor John Weighell, chair of the North Yorkshire Pension Fund and BCPP’s shareholders’ committee, added: “The shareholding local authorities are unanimous in welcoming Rachel’s appointment.

“We should also like to join her in thanking the project team of local government officers for the excellent work they have done and continue to do on BCPP’s behalf. We couldn’t have got here without their dedication, wisdom and perseverance and their employers’ commitment to make this happen.”

Before joining Royal London in 2011, Elwell was a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a qualified actuary.

The eight LGPS pools are expected to begin accepting money from their founder pension schemes from April, although some are well ahead of this deadline.