People moves: French institutional investor association elects new chair

Af2i, 300 Club, AZL, Kempen, RPMI Railpen, London CIV, Brunel, CDP, Comgest, Mirova, KeyQuant, KPMG, Fixage Actuariat, SSGA

Af2i – The French institutional investor association has elected Jean-François Boulier as its new president. He succeeds Jean Eyraud, who had been head of the association since June 2011 and whose mandate could not be renewed. Af2i’s board designated Eyraud as honorary president, and, upon Boulier’s recommendation, adviser to the president.

Boulier has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services, including positions at Crédit Lyonnais and Crédit Agricole Asset Management. He was most recently at Aviva, where he served as CEO and chairman of the management board of Aviva Investors France since 2009. He was also chief executive of Aviva Investors Europe from 2010-2014. 

Boulier paid homage to Eyraud and thanked him for his “legendary commitment”, saying Af2i had under his presidency become a key player in the market. It had become a contact for public authorities on investment matters and, with other trade associations, helped communicate the views of French institutional investors on numerous recent policy matters, he said.

300 Club - PGGM’s Jaap van Dam has become the newest member of the group of investment professionals that aims to challenge mainstream investment practice. Van Dam is principal director of investment strategy at the Dutch pension asset manager, responsible for formulating and implementing strategic change for the group’s investment management practice. Before PGGM he held roles at Algemene Bank Nederland, MeesPierson, VermogensGroep and Zanders & Partners.

The 300 Club believes economic and investment trends are set to change the investing landscape over the next two decades, heading towards a turning point that presents huge risks to ordinary savers. It aims to raise ”to raise uncomfortable and fundamental questions about the very foundations of the investment landscape and investing”.

Stefan Dunatov, chairman of the 300 Club, said: “As someone with experience in initiating a strategic change agenda, such as his current work in integrating climate risks at PGGM, Jaap van Dam is a great addition to our ever-growing 300 Club. We welcome Jaap and look forward to working with him to continue to raise awareness around key issues in the investment industry.”

AZL – Chief financial officer Wim Hoogers is to leave pensions provider AZL, part of NN Group, as of 1 July. According to AZL, his departure comes in the wake of a review of the scale of the executive board. It said Hoogers had contributed significantly to AZL’s current position in the pensions market since 2002 and had indicated that he wanted to focus on positions on pension fund boards. Maarten van der Tuin, executive chairman, will take over the portfolio finance and risk management from Hoogers. The current tasks of Marcel Verheul (director client relations and advice) and Edward Heijkers (director of pensions and IT) will not change.

Kempen Capital Management – The asset manager has appointed Michel Iglesias del Sol as its new head of investment strategy within client solutions. He has also been appointed a member of Kempen’s management team. He will focus on dynamic and strategic asset allocation advice and will be involved in the research of innovative investment themes. Iglesias del Sol joins from Willis Towers Watson Netherlands, where he was head of innovations and a member of the executive team. He is to start on 1 September.

RPMI Railpen – Paul Nathan has been appointed chief operating officer (COO) of the investment manager for the £25bn industry-wide Railways Pension Scheme. Nathan will oversee the management of the middle office, business change, technology, and finance functions and will join Railpen’s investment leadership team. He will report to Julian Cripps, Railpen managing director. Nathan was COO at Old Mutual Global Investors at a time when they quadrupled their assets under management, and also worked in COO roles for the Church Commissioners and the Saïd Business School. 

Cripps said: “Having someone of Paul’s experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to strengthen systems supporting our developing internal investment capabilities. Paul’s appointment shows that we are able to attract the very best talent from across the asset management industry.”

London CIV – The pooling project for 33 London borough pension funds has hired Larissa Benbow to its investment team. Benbow, a former investment manager for the HBOS UK pension scheme, reports to Julian Pendock, chief investment officer.

Brunel Pension Partnership – The £25bn investment pool for local authority pension funds in the south of England has appointed three non-executive directors. Mike Clark worked at Russell Investments for 21 years, and has contributed to public policy through the Kay Review and Myners Review, as well as the UN Principles for Responsible Investing. Steve Tyson is a former CEO and CIO at Manulife Asset Management Europe, and is an independent adviser to two members of the Brunel Partnership, the Devon and Gloucestershire pension funds. Frédérique Pierre-Pierre is a former CIO and chief operations officer at Deutsche Bank and has also held senior roles at Credit Suisse.

CDP – The environmental data non-profit organisation has appointed Carole Ferguson to lead its investor research arm. She will be responsible for expanding CDP’s research capability across sectors and markets, providing in depth analysis of the environmental risk and opportunity exposure of companies for consideration within the investment process. She recently worked as a sell side mining analyst for SP Angel, a boutique specialising in resources. Before that she worked at Société Générale Asset Management for close to nine years setting up their responsible investment strategy and research, subsequently working within the fund management team with responsibility for the resources and utility sectors. 

Comgest – The asset manager has appointed Eric Voravong as an ESG analyst, becoming the third dedicated ESG analyst to join Comgest’s investment team. He will take specific responsibility for ESG coverage of Asian companies. Voravong has over 27 years’ industry experience working in senior roles for BNP Paribas and ADI Alternative Investments. He joins Comgest having collaborated with the firm on key strategic projects for over eight years as an independent adviser, including the formalisation of ESG integration which began in 2010.

Mirova – Hervé Guez, head of responsible investment research, will take on the additional role of head of equities and fixed income at the responsible investment affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management. Guez will be in charge of coordinating the fund management teams in Paris and will report to Philippe Zaouati, chief executive officer of Mirova and Jens Peers, global CIO for equities and fixed income, based in Boston. Guez has been head of responsible investment research at Mirova since the company’s inception in 2012.

KeyQuant – Serge Darolles, finance professor at Université Paris-Dauphine, has joined the Paris-based systematic asset management company as an external scientific advisor. Darolles has taught financial econometrics and empirical finance at Université Paris-Dauphine since 2012. Before joining Dauphine, he worked for Lyxor between 2000 and 2012, where he developed mathematical models for various investment strategies. He is also a member of the French asset management association’s scientific advisory board. At KeyQuant Darolles will assume responsibilities in the structuring and management of the research team. 

KPMG UK – Pat Race has been appointed partner in the consultancy’s pensions investment advisory team. He will join KPMG this month, coming from Mercer, where he was senior partner. He will work with the team led by Nick Evans on all aspects of pension investments.

Fixage Actuariat – Paul-Laurent Ferreri will join the French actuarial consultancy as partner, in charge of the insurance consulting practice. He previously led the management consulting practice of Willis Towers Watson France’s actuarial consulting branch. Fixage is the French member of Abelica global, a worldwide organisation of independent actuarial consulting firms. 

State Street Global Advisors – The asset manager has appointed Kathryn Sweeney as head of SPDR Americas institutional sales. Part of her role will involve collaborating with the Americas institutional client group team to drive ETF sales with asset owners. Sweeney joins SSGA from Goldman Sachs, where she worked for more than 19 years, most recently as global head of distribution and product strategy for the securities division.