GLOBAL - Towers Watson, Laborfonds, Hermes EOS, Royal London, Vontobel, Aegon AM, Impax, Glendevon King AM, Klimek Advisors

Towers Watson - Oliver Rowlands has been appointed senior consultant in Towers Watson's pensions consulting business. Rowlands, who will start in May, has spent the last 25 years at Aon Consulting (now Aon Hewitt), the last three as a main board director and EMEA retirement practice leader. He was formerly a partner at Clay & Partners and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Laborfonds - Gerhard Unterkircher is set to leave the pension fund Laborfonds, where he is head of risk management, and assume the role of vice-general manager at PensPlan Centrum, a service provider and outsourcer of Laborfonds' administration and accounting activities. Ivonne Forno, head of legal and administration, will replace him, becoming the fund's "number two" after general manager Giorgio Valzolgher. Both appointments are effective from 1 April.

Hermes Equity Ownership Services (EOS) - The advisory service has appointed Henk Marius and Roger Hirst as senior advisers to its international client base and engagement capabilities. Prior to joining Hermes, Marius was head of legal at Shell Asset Management Company and Shell Pensioenfonds in the Netherlands, looking after responsible ownership activities. Hirst, who has more than 27 years' experience as a financial analyst, previously ran the equity research division at Bear Stearns for eight years. 

Royal London - The UK-based mutual life and pensions company has appointed Phil Loney as group chief executive. He joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he is currently managing director of Life, Pensions and Investments. Loney, whose appointment is subject to regulator approval, will join Royal London in October at the latest, with Mike Yardley stepping down as group chief executive "at the appropriate time", the company said.

Vontobel Group - Axel Schwarzer has been appointed head of the asset management business unit, effective 4 May. A qualified lawyer, he has had a long international career in Deutsche Bank's asset management business. He also played a pivotal role in DWS Americas (formerly Scudder). He was most recently a member of the executive board at DWS and at the global management committee at Deutsche Asset Management, where he was responsible for the management of strategic distribution partnerships.

Aegon Asset Management - Jon Dadswell has been appointed head of institutional sales. He was previously head of property sales within Aegon AM, and he will continue to have responsibility for this area of its business. Dadswell joined the company's institutional business team in June 2007 from Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he worked for two years, most recently in direct sales to corporate pensions and local government pension schemes. Before then, he held similar roles with Henderson Global Investors, Gartmore and Morgan Grenfell.

Impax Asset Management - The specialist environmental investment manager has established a subsidiary in the US and hired Ken Locklin as managing director. Locklin has more than 30 years of financial experience, including 20 years in environmental markets. He joins from the Clean Energy Group, where he was director of finance and investment. Before then, he was a partner and portfolio manager with Energy Investors Funds, and a founder and senior adviser to the Massachusetts Green Energy fund.  

Glendevon King Asset Management (GKAM) - The fixed income boutique has appointed Richard Kendall as chief executive with immediate effect. He joined the company in February 2010 and was promoted to director later in the year. Before then, he spent 25 years as a solicitor in private practice, including 15 years as a partner of Ashurst LLP.

Klimek Advisors - Heidi Rauen will take up her position as partner at Klimek Advisors on 1 April, assuming responsibility for setting up the marketing and public relations functions at the Irish company, as well as taking on an executive role for all functions of Klimek Advisors Fund Consulting GmbH. She joins from Invesco, where she was head of public relations and event marketing for continental Europe. 

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