GLOBAL – Norges Bank Investment Management, Holland Financial Centre/APG, Mercer, Russell Investments, Blue Sky Group, JP Morgan, F&C Investments, Hymans Robertson

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) – Jessica Irschick has resigned as chief treasurer of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the NOK3.9trn (€524bn) Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. The resignation took effect yesterday. Irschick joined NBIM as chief treasurer in October 2009 and is leaving the organisation due to family commitments. NBIM said it had arranged an interim solution until a decision was made about how to fill the vacancy.

Holland Financial Centre/APG – Sjoerd van Keulen has stepped down as chairman of Holland Financial Centre – the institute tasked with promoting the Dutch financial sector – and also resigned as a member of the supervisory board of the €319bn asset manager and pensions provider APG. His decision came after the Dutch state took the ailing banc-assurer SNS Reaal Group into public ownership, following large losses on property investments. Van Keulen was chief executive at SNS Reaal from 2002 to 2009, when the risky property investments were made.

Mercer – Fiona Dunsire has been appointed UK market leader and chief executive. A senior partner and fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, Dunsire joined the consultancy as a graduate in 1988, and has more than 24 years of experience of consulting in the UK market. Her previous role was senior client leader in Mercer's investments business. Prior to that, she was business leader for the investment consulting business in the UK.

Russell Investments – Sjef Pieters has started as director of the 10-strong Nordics institutional sales team at Russell Investments, reporting to managing director Martijn Kuiper. Previously, Pieters was senior vice-president at Hong Kong-based hedge fund specialist Sail Advisors, head of Lyxor Benelux at Societé Générale and principal at Barclays Global Investors.

Blue Sky Group – Juliette Tesselhoff has been appointed as account manager at the €15bn asset manager and pensions provider Blue Sky Group as of 15 February. Previously, Tesselhoff was consultant for corporate clients at pensions insurer Delta Lloyd, where she gained ample experience with pension contracts, according to Blue Sky.

JP Morgan – Michelle Grundmann has been appointed head of investor services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She succeeds Oliver Berger, who relocates to London to head EMEA prospect sales with immediate effect. She joins from BNY Mellon, where she held various positions between 2003 and 2012, latterly as managing director in Frankfurt. Before she joined BNY Mellon, she was managing director and COO at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers KAG in Germany.

F&C Investments – Ben Fox has been appointed director of F&C's multi-alternative business. Fox was previously a founder and fund manager at Goodhart Partners. Over the past 15 years, he has managed retail strategies in the fund of funds team at Fidelity, and institutional strategies as head of fixed income research at Aon Consulting.

Hymans Robertson – James Verner has been appointed commercial director. He joins from Thomsons Online Benefits, where he was enterprise director. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving business development initiatives.

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