People Moves: More Changes At State Street; JP Morgan Hires ESG Leader [updated]

State Street, JP Morgan Asset Management, Clara-Pensions, Franklin Templeton, Willis Towers Watson, AMX, Cambridge Associates, Robeco, NIBC, Jupiter, K3 Advisory, XPS, Mediolanum

State Street Corporation – Jeff Conway, head of global delivery and a former European CEO for State Street, is to leave the company after more than 30 years. His responsibilities will pass temporarily to Liz Nolan, State Street’s CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), until a permanent successor is found, the company said. 

In addition, Karen Keenan, chief administrative officer, has expanded her role to include oversight of State Street’s investment management business. Keenan takes over from Lou Maiuri, who has been appointed State Street’s new chief operating officer.

The changes follow State Street’s management restructure in 2017, which saw several changes to its leadership in EMEA and globally. State Street said it had also combined all “client-facing activities including service, relationship management and sales under the leadership of… Andrew Erickson to enable a more seamless client experience and consistent touch points across the globe”.

Global CEO Ron O’Hanley said: “An early focus of mine as CEO has been to match our leadership talent against our desire to be a high-performing organisation and the areas that will create the greatest capacity and advantage for us as a firm. These new appointments reflect this focus.”

JP Morgan Asset Management – The $1.7trn (€1.5trn) asset manager has hired Jennifer Wu as global head of sustainable investing. She joins from BlackRock where she was a member of the company’s sustainable investing team. As part of her role, Wu will lead JP Morgan’s Sustainable Investing Leadership Team, a group of global senior leaders focused on “sharing best practices for sustainable investing across asset classes”, the company said.

Wu joined BlackRock in 2014, and before that worked for the Asian Development Bank, overseeing infrastructure project finance and energy sector reform.

Clara-Pensions – The UK defined benefit scheme consolidator has added pension insurance expert Steve Groves to its corporate board. He is currently chair of financial services firm Key Retirement Group, and spent much of his career as group CEO of Partnership, a specialist pension insurer.

Lawrence Churchill, chair of Clara’s corporate board, said Groves’ appointment was the final senior hire for the group. 

“I know I speak on behalf of the entire team at Clara when I say that we are extremely fortunate to be welcoming Steve on board,” Churchill said. “He has devoted much of his career to providing de-risking solutions for DB pension schemes and this experience will greatly benefit Clara as it prepares to welcome its first members.”

Clara-Pensions and The Pension SuperFund, the two commercial DB consolidators launched last year, are waiting for final legislation to be signed off by the UK government before bringing on board their first clients.

Franklin Templeton – The US investment giant has appointed Rita Pfahls as deputy head of institutional sales for Germany. She will work with head of institutional sales Stefan Bauer to support sales activity across Germany, focusing on maintaining and expanding client relationships with corporates and pension funds.

Pfahls most recently worked for Universal Investment where she was department head for servicing companies and pension funds. She previously worked in product management at Allianz Global Investors, and has also worked at DekaBank and Dresdner Bank.

Schilders – The €7.2bn Dutch sector pension fund for painters and decorators has appointed Dick Vis as its new independent chairman on behalf of the employers. Vis succeeds Cathrin van der Werf, who has completed her maximum term on the board.

Vis is also member of the supervisory board of the staff pension fund of asset manager APG, chair of the €1bn pension fund of construction company Ballast Nedam, and chairman of the €506m Pensioenfonds Urenco Netherlands. Vis has also been a director of the Dutch Securities Institute.

Willis Towers Watson/AMX – The Asset Management Exchange (AMX), an institutional platform for investors and asset managers set up by Willis Towers Watson two years ago, has made a trio of hires as it aims to expand its global reach. 

Nick Horsfall has transferred from Willis Towers Watson’s investment business to become managing director for AMX’s client business development team. He is responsible for building client relationships with some of the largest UK pension schemes, and will also aim to bring liability-driven investment strategies onto the platform..

Cassie Waller has joined as global head of intermediaries from Syntax Research, a US-based hedge fund. She previously worked for State Street covering UK asset owners and consultants.

Pippa Rudling has been appointed consultant relations director, having previously held a similar role at Aberdeen Standard Investments. In her new role, Rudling will cover UK consultants as well as identifying “strategic intermediary partnerships” across Europe, AMX said.

AMX provides legal and operational frameworks for asset managers in an effort to boost scale and reduce costs. It currently has roughly $7bn in assets under administration.

Cambridge Associates – The US-headquartered investment and advice firm has promoted Noel O’Neill to president and head of global investing. He was previously head of global investment research, and has worked for Cambridge since 1995. In his new role he will oversee research functions the group’s four business lines: endowments and foundations, pensions, private clients, and fiduciary management.

Ashby Hatch has been promoted to replace O’Neill as head of global investment research. She was previously head of public investments research and has worked for Cambridge since 1993.

Robeco – The €162bn Dutch asset manager has appointed Alexander Preininger as head of EMEA institutional. In this newly created position, he is to facilitate clients who want to enter broader partnerships and work across regions, and to also enable local Robeco teams to increase cross-border sharing of knowledge and best practices.

Preininger joins from DWS Group (formerly Deutsche Asset Management), where has was head of institutional coverage for EMEA. At DWS, he has also worked as head of asset and wealth management in Japan and global co-head of client solutions in Frankfurt.

NIBC – Dutch investment bank NIBC has named Dick Sluimers as chairman of its supervisory board (RvC) as of 27 April. He has been an RvC member since 2016 and is to succeed Wim van den Goorbergh.

Sluimers was executive chair of the €463bn asset manager and pensions provider APG between 2008 and 2016. Prior to this, he was chief investment officer at the €407bn civil service scheme ABP, the owner of APG.

Jupiter – Charlotte Jones, chief financial officer at the UK listed asset manager, has resigned and will join FTSE 100 insurer RSA Insurance Group later this year. She is currently a non-executive director at RSA.

Subject to regulatory approval, Jones will leave Jupiter in August. She joined the asset manager in 2016 and has previously worked at Credit Suisse, where she was chief accounting officer, and Deutsche Bank, where she was deputy CFO.

Maarten Slendebroek, Jupiter’s chief executive, said: “Charlotte has been a valued colleague since joining Jupiter in 2016 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her, on behalf of the board, for her commitment and contribution during this time. It is always disappointing to lose someone of Charlotte’s calibre, but I understand that a move to a FTSE 100 CFO role is a great opportunity and I wish her all the best.”

Slendebroek is to step down from his role next month, and will be succeeded by former Janus Henderson co-CEO Andrew Formica.

K3 Advisory – K3, a newly launched consultancy service for UK pension schemes specialising in bulk annuities and consolidation, has appointed Nicola Duncan as an actuarial consultant. She joins from Mercer where she worked for seven years. She has previously held similar actuarial roles at Willis Towers Watson and Royal London.

Adam Davis, managing director at K3, said Duncan would work on project delivery and technical work on aspects such as solvency.

XPS Pensions Group – The UK pensions service provider has hired Susan Middleton and Julia Falk from JLT Employee Benefits to lead its transition management team. Middleton will lead the team as head of investment transitions, XPS said, while Falk will be a senior consultant.

Patrick McCoy, head of investment, said XPS had recruited “the leading investment transitions team in the market”.

Mediolanum Asset Management – The investment arm of Italian bank Mediolanum has named Charles Diebel as its new head of fixed income strategy. He joins from Aviva Investors where he was global head of rates, and has previously worked at Lloyds Bank as head of market strategy. He has also held senior roles at Nomura, RBS and Societe Generale.

The Ireland-based asset manager has made a number of hires in recent months, including Brian O’Reilly as head of market strategy, David Holohan as head of equity strategy, and Astrid Schilo as multi-asset strategist.