Appointments: West Yorkshire, NILGOSC, Quietroom, Aon, 3173

The £18bn West Yorkshire Pension Fund is hiring three investment professionals for its in-house team.

Job adverts posted on LinkedIn this week show that the fund – one of the biggest within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) – is seeking an investment manager specialising in private markets and property, and two professionals for its in-house listed equity team.

Leandros Kalisperas, the pension fund’s chief investment officer, said the roles “look to build upon the existing centre of investment excellence here in West Yorkshire”.

The private markets and property position will involve managing West Yorkshire’s UK and global property funds, as well as feeding into its private markets and alternatives portfolio. This includes assets managed through the Northern LGPS pool and GLIL.

The equity positions, meanwhile, involve analysis, research and allocation work on the listed equity portion of West Yorkshire’s portfolio – approximately 60% of the fund’s total assets.

NILGOSC seeks new chair and committee members

The Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) is seeking to appoint a new chair and two independent members.

The committee oversees Northern Ireland’s primary LGPS fund, which had £9.5bn in assets as of 31 March 2023, according to its latest annual report.

In a job advert, Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities said: “As the chair or member, you will have the opportunity to influence the future and direction of the Local Government Pension Scheme, as well as involvement in the delivery of a highly effective investment strategy.”

Applications are open until 22 July, and more details are available on the Department for Communities website.

In April, eight members of the committee – Paul Francey, Michael Rafferty, JJ Tohill, Antoinette McMillen, Kenneth Clayton, Alan Law, Shane McCurdy and Peter Moore – were reappointed for four-year terms.

Director promotion and new faces at Quietroom

Communications consultancy Quietroom has promoted Russ Hope to director and added two new hires to its team.

Hope has worked at Quietroom - which specialises in pensions and investment communications – since 2013. He has helped broaden the consultancy’s work to take in customer journeys, experiences and digital tools, alongside traditional communications.

CEO Chloe Taylor said Hope was “plugged into what’s happening outside pensions, investment and insurance”, meaning he could “bring cutting-edge thinking from other industries to help us find better solutions to our clients’ problems”.

Quietroom has also appointed Vedika Maheshwari as sales and marketing executive, and Jaspal Gill as finance manager.

Dalriada and Spence parent appoints general counsel

3173 Limited, parent to Dalriada Trustees and Spence & Partners, has appointed Fiona McGowan as general counsel.

McGowan will work with the company’s senior executive team and board on issues including risk management, compliance and regulatory developments.

She joins from Abrdn where she was head of legal, a role she also held at Standard Life Investments, including through its 2017 merger with Aberdeen Asset Management. McGowan was previously head of legal at Ignis Asset Management.

Bill Galvin, CEO of 3173 Group, said: “We are seeing an increasing demand from corporate sponsors for informed and effective trusteeship and for efficient and integrated pension scheme administration.

“Fiona will help ensure our clients, our members and our businesses continue to benefit from our drive for higher standards as we focus on driving down the costs of delivering quality outcomes for pension scheme members.”

Aon hires for financial wellbeing role

Fleur Iannazzo has joined Aon’s financial wellbeing team, working with multinational clients. She previously ran her own financial coaching business working with high-net-worth individuals.

Oliver Walker, senior partner in Aon’s Wealth business in the UK, said Iannazzo’s experience of “behaviour-based financial coaching and regional cultures” would benefit the company’s work in this area.

Iannazzo added: “Organisations clearly understand the benefits of supporting employees in their physical and emotional wellbeing. It is timely that awareness of financial wellbeing is now growing and will be just as important for employee support and maintaining engaged workforces.

“Given the current global economic environment and its effect on individuals’ financial stress, the financial wellbeing market is growing significantly. Nonetheless, it is still in its infancy and important strides need to be made to enable clients to drive positive financial behaviour change within their organisations.

“It is essential that businesses offer clients approachable, relevant and engaging interventions that can act as a catalyst for change in individuals’ financial wellbeing and resilience.”