NEST – The UK’s National Employment Savings Trust has named former Railpen CEO Chris Hitchen to its trustee board, one of four new appointments. Hitchen is currently chair of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the eight UK local authority pension asset pooling entities. It is Hitchen’s second spell as a trustee of the defined contribution master trust, having previously sat on the board from 2010 to 2015.

The UK’s work and pensions secretary, who approves NEST trustee appointments, also named Clive Elphick, Martin Turner and Mutaz Qubbaj to the board of trustees, which now has 14 members.

Elphick is an independent director at National Grid, which manages the UK’s energy transmission network, and is a former board member of the Environment Agency. Turner has held a number of senior risk and operations roles at Barclays and Lloyds Bank, while Qubbaj is CEO of fintech company Squirrel. 

Otto Thoresen, chair of NEST, said: “The strength of any board relies on the range of experience and skills it can draw upon. That’s why NEST has looked outside the pension industry and appointed individuals from other sectors, who can bring fresh ideas and new perspectives.”

In addition, NEST has also reappointed Graham Berville and Ian Armfield to the board. The pair took up their positions in 2014, and will serve an additional one year and two years, respectively. CEO Helen Dean – who has led NEST’s executive team since September 2016 – has also been appointed to the board as part of a move to a unitary board structure. 


AP3 – Kerim Kaskal has taken on the role of acting CIO at the SEK345.2bn (€33bn) Swedish buffer fund following the recent death of CIO Mårten Lindeborg. Kaskal was CIO at AP3 until October 2015, when he left to launch his own investment fund business. He has previously worked at Nektar Asset Management and Brummer & Partners.

Separately, the fund has also hired Maria Björklund as a senior portfolio manager for alternative investments. She joins from pension provider AMF where she was also a portfolio manager working in alternatives since joining in 2015. She has also worked for the Posten Pension Foundation specialising in private equity.


PKA – Dewi Dylander  has been appointed by Danish pensions provider PKA as leader of a newly established sustainability department. She has been chief legal counsel at ATP and a deputy director at the statutory pension fund since the beginning of 2016, and before that was head of the Danish FSA’s reinsurance and non-life insurance department.

PKA described the function of the new department as strengthening its work in contributing to a sustainable society, while at the same time maintaining quality pensions for its members.


B&CE – The provider of UK master trust The People’s Pension has appointed Jim Islam and Jim McKinnon to its board of directors. Islam has been head of group finance at Lloyd’s of London since November 2016. Before that he worked at Legal & General for several years, including as CEO of L&G Unit Trusts and managing director of the corporate business division, which covered L&G’s workplace pensions and group protection business lines in the UK and France.

McKinnon is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries in the US and a fellow of the UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. He spent more than 40 years at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in the US, most recently in the role of chief information officer. Since returning to the UK, he has been carrying out a number of roles including that of trustee and director at a healthcare group. 


AllianceBernstein – The $546bn (€480bn) asset manager has hired Zachary Green as global head of liquidity sales, a newly created role. Green will be responsible for sales, marketing, product development and commercialisation of the company’s cash management business.

He was previously a product specialist and client service executive at Western Asset Management for more than 10 years, working on the group’s liquidity products. Prior to that he started and led the institutional sales department for Reserve Management.


TPT Retirement Solutions – Adrian Cooper has been appointed head of direct distribution at the UK workplace pension provider, a newly created position. Cooper will lead a dedicated team focused on promoting TPT’s ‘DB Complete’ offering to the sponsors and trustees of defined benefit pension schemes.

He was most recently at Barnett Waddingham and is currently chair of the Central London Group at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. Before that he held senior management roles at law firm Sackers and consultancy group Towers Perrin, now Willis Towers Watson.  


T Rowe Price – The US asset manager announced today that Scott Keller will take over as head of global investment management services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 1 January 2019. He will be responsible for institutional and intermediary business in the region. 

Currently Keller holds the corresponding position for the Asia Pacific region, having joined T Rowe Price from UBS in 2014. At UBS he was head of pan-Asia, leading its institutional and intermediary distribution efforts.

Nick Trueman will take on Keller’s Asia Pacific role, while Elsie Chan is adding T Rowe Price’s Asian institutional arm to her responsiblities. She is currently head of global investment management services for Asian intermediaries.


Independent Trustee Services – Mark Evans has joined ITS as a director to lead trustee appointments on behalf of the firm. He has 25 years of experience advising clients at major consultancies, with previous roles including head of corporate consulting and head of DB consulting at Capita and principal at Aon.


Fisch Asset Management – The CHF10.8bn (€9.6bn) Swiss fund manager has hired two bond managers and an analyst to its fixed income teams as part of a “programme of substantial investments” in its capabilities. 

Gerrit Bahlo joined Fisch as a convertible bonds manager on 1 July. He was previously a convertibles manager at Man GLG, and had previously worked for the company as a credit and product specialist. Maria Stäheli joined the company’s corporate bond team on 1 August as a portfolio manager. She was previously a senior portfolio manager for investment-grade corporate bonds and other asset classes at the Swiss National Bank.

Credit analyst Daniela Savoia also started on 1 August, joining the group’s emerging markets team. She moved from JP Morgan in New York, where she specialised in Latin American investments.

Fisch CEO Philipp Good said the appointments represented “a major step forward in our plans to expand capabilities and competencies”. Two more appointments were expected in the next few months, the company said.