Syntrus AchmeaBNP Paribas Investment PartnersRussell Investments, Absolute Return Partners, Dalriada TrusteesFranklin Templeton InvestmentsUnion InvestmentKirsteinPineBridge Investments

Syntrus Achmea PensioenbeheerMichel Tanis has been appointed as chief executive at pensions provider Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer with immediate effect. He succeeds Margreet Oostenbrink, who has stepped down for personal reasons after two years in the job. Tanis, 44, has been working at Syntrus Achmea for four years, most recently as director of the staff department Information Management & IT. He has previously worked at consultancy McKinsey and General Electric. 

BNP Paribas Investment PartnersSimon Roberts has been hired by BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) to lead a new team of global equity managers. Roberts is based in London and will report to Guy Davies, director, equities. Jonathan Barnett has also been appointed to the team, having previously held positions at Moore Capital and Caxton Associates. James Mann and Stewart Lambert have also been hired. Mann has worked at NewSmith and BlueCrest Capital and Lambert has worked at Balyasny Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Roberts has previously worked at Fidelity, Lazard Asset Management and other firms. 

Russell InvestmentsAlexandre Martin is joining Russell Investments as portfolio manager in its transition management division. He will be based in London and report to Richard Webb, senior portfolio manager implementation services. Martin comes from Société Générale in Luxembourg, where he was most recently assistant portfolio manager. 

Absolute Return PartnersAlison Major Lépine is joining Absolute Return Partners (ARP) on 9 March, having spent nearly 10 years as an investment manager at Railpen Investments, the asset manager of the UK’s Railways Pension Scheme. In the role of investment manager, she will report to Nick Rees, managing partner, and will work at the firm’s offices in London. 

Dalriada TrusteesMike Crowe has been appointed as trustee representative by Dalriada Trustees in the UK. He comes to the firm from Aegon UK where he was a senior manager in the legal team. He will be based in Glasgow.

Franklin Templeton InvestmentsStephanie Ouwendijk has been hired by Franklin Templeton Investments as a vice president and portfolio manager. She will be part of the manager’s emerging markets debt opportunities team, which is part of the fixed income group. Based in London, she reports to the leader of the emerging markets debt opportunities team William Ledward, senior vice president and portfolio manager at the firm. Ouwendijk joins Franklin Templeton from Ashmore Group, where she had beem fund manager since June 2010. 

Union Investment Benjardin Gärtner is to become the new head of equity fund management at Union Investment, and is due to take up the new role by the middle of this year. He was most recently at Deutsche Bank, where he was head of the German equities team and a member of the corporate banking & securities management committee (Germany). At Union Investment, will report to Björn Jesch, the overall head of portfolio management. Gärtner succeeds Michael Schmidt, who left Union Investment at the end of last year for personal reasons. 

KirsteinHenrik Hoffmann-Fischer, investment consultant and Kirstein in Denmark, as been appointed to the position of principal at the consultancy. Hoffmann-Fischer has worked at Kirstein Financial Market Research since 2009. The title principal is new within Kirstein, and is given to staff who have made extraordinary efforts over a number of years, the firm said. 

PineBridge InvestmentsAnik Sen has been appointed as global head of equities at PineBridge Investments, and will be based in New York. He will report to David Jiang, the firm’s chief executive. Sen joined PineBridge is 2008, and moved from the London Office to New York in June 2014 as interim global head of equities. Before working at the firm, he was a portfolio manager at Brevan Howard.