Nordea Asset Management, Nordea Life & Pensions, Willis Towers Watson, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, M&G Investments, ABV, Aon, Northern Trust Asset Management, Standard Life Investments, Aberdeen Investment Management, Xerox HR Services

Nordea Asset ManagementNils Bolmstrand has been named head of Nordea Asset Management, filling the gap left by Christian Hyldahl, who left in October to become the next chief executive at ATP. Bolmstrand is head of Nordea Life & Pensions and before that held managerial posts at Nordea Asset Management. He will take up his new position on 1 January 2017, taking over from Christophe Girondel, who has been acting head of the subsidiary since Hyldahl’s departure. Bolmstrand will be replaced temporarily at Nordea Life & Pensions by Johan Nystedt, who has been appointed as that business’s acting head. 

Willis Towers WatsonMary O’Connor has been appointed to head up client and business development activities for Willis Towers Watson Great Britain. She will also continue to co-lead the Global Financial Institutions Industry Group. She will report to Nicolas Aubert, head of Great Britain for the company, and to Eric Speer, global industries lead. O’Connor will sit on the boards of Willis and Towers Watson, subject to regulatory approval. Alexis Faber, who has been co-lead for the global financial lines business in corporate risk and broking alongside O’Connor, will take on sole leadership for this global business. Before joining Willis Towers Watson, O’Connor was a senior regulator at the UK Financial Services Authority, where she worked as head of approved persons, and she has also been a partner at an international law firm. 

Columbia Threadneedle InvestmentsMichelle Scrimgeour has been appointed as chief executive for Europe, the Middle East & Africa, as well as chief executive of Threadneedle Asset Management. She will also join the executive leadership team of Ameriprise Financial. Columbia Threadneedle is the global asset management group of Ameriprise Financial. Scrimgeour comes to the group from M&G Investments, where she is chief risk officer and a director of M&G Group. Before working at M&G, Scrimgeour worked at BlackRock, previously Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Mercury Asset Management. 

ABVHarmut Kilger has been re-elected chairman of the German association for Versorgungswerke serving certain professional trades. Hartmut Rüdiger will replace Helke Stoll as one of Kilger’s two deputies. Stoll, who had held the role for 20 years, did not stand for re-election at the association’s general assembly. Brigitte Ende remains the second deputy. There were also changes among the representatives of the different professions on the board of the association. 

AonNeil Latham has been hired by Aon to work in its retirement and investment practice as a principal consultant in its defined contribution (DC) team. He comes to Aon from Punter Southall, where he worked for 13 years, and was head of DC investment solutions there. In his new job, Latham will focus on investment solutions for UK DC schemes, both trustee and contract based. 

Northern Trust Asset ManagementRosina Barnett is joining Northern Trust Asset Management in the newly created role of head of UK consultant relations, based in London. Before coming to Northern Trust, Barnett worked at Fidelity International and BlackRock as a consultant relations director. She has also worked at Legal & General Investment Management. 

Standard Life InvestmentsArchie Struthers has been appointed as Standard Life Investments’ head of investments, and is to join the firm on 9 January. He has been global head of investment solutions at Aberdeen Investment Management. In his new job, he will report to Rod Paris, CIO with responsibility for investment governance, the investment operating platform MyFolio and derivatives counterparty management. Struthers will take on the responsibilities of Bill Lambert, Standard Life Investments’ head of investment process, who is retiring in March 2017 after 13 years at the company. 

Xerox HR ServicesJohn Breedon has been hired as head of DB client strategy at Xerox HR Services. His most recent job was head of investment consulting at Jardine Lloyd Thompson, having been head of corporate consulting at the firm before that.