Pensions industry movers and shakers w/e 10 November

Heywood Pension Technologies appoints new chief people officer.

Heywood Pension Technologies has announced the appointment of Sue Clarke as its new chief people officer.

Clarke has previously served as the HR director for the UK businesses of Equiniti. During her tenure, she was responsible for shaping and implementing the HR strategy for over 3,000 employees.

Heywood hopes Clarke's appointment will allow it to continue its focus on its people and foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ex-professional trustee joins risk transfer team at Hymans Robertson.

Nadeem Ladha has joined the risk transfer team at consultancy Hymans Robertson as a senior advisor on a short-term contract focusing on risk transfer projects.

Nadeem was previously a senior professional independent trustee at a professional trustee firm, where he specialised in leading pension schemes through risk transfer transactions.  He was previously at Hymans from 2005 to 2011.

James Mullins, partner and head of risk transfer solutions at Hymans Robertson, said:

“We are excited to welcome Nadeem back to Hymans Robertson. His professional trustee experience, strategic insight and innovative approach will bring a huge amount of value to our risk transfer clients.

“As we continue to grow, we are seeing more pension schemes who want to tailor their risk transfer projects to meet their specific needs and objectives, rather than just make do with an off-the-shelf buy-in. Nadeem's specific skills and trustee experiences will be extremely valuable in continuing to deliver proactive, strategic and tailored advice to our clients."

ZEDRA Governance appoints client director.

ZEDRA has appointed Alastair Meeks as client director.

He will be based at the firm’s London office. Meeks has previously spent 28 years at Pinsent Masons LLP as a solicitor, going on to chair the Association of Pension Lawyers. 

He finished his time there as a partner running the firm’s independent trustee and pension scheme secretarial business. 

Kim Nash, managing director at ZEDRA Governance, said: “Alastair’s legal expertise will be very helpful in this role, particularly for schemes facing major litigation, where corporate restructuring has had a material impact on covenant, or in evaluating the strategic options arising from surpluses. He’s a fantastic addition to our team and we look forward to working with him.”

Experienced actuary joins First Actuarial.

Kathy Deverell-Smith has joined First Actuarial from Isio. 

She will be based in First Actuarial’s Manchester office and focused on delivering services to both trustees and employees. 

Deverell-Smith started her actuarial career at Willis Towers Watson. 

Following a move to Deloitte, she joined KPMG, which then became Isio. 

Deverell-Smith said: “I’ve moved to First Actuarial because it’s clear that the firm shares my people-first outlook. That comes across in the way we prioritise the scheme members we serve, the trustees and employers we advise, and the wellbeing of the people we work with every day.” 

SEI appoints Ian Love head of asset management business for UK, EMEA, and Asia.

Investment manager SEI has appointed Ian Love as head of its asset management business for the UK, EMEA, and Asian regions. 

Love now leads SEI’s asset management strategy and oversees the institutional and intermediary businesses outside of North America. 

Love said: “Investing in our people and solutions across asset management, operations, and technology has been at the core of what we do for 55 years, and we’re excited about the opportunities to offer integrated services across these pillars. 

“Our evolution and strategic focus not only indicate our commitment to the UK, EMEA, and Asian markets as a growth driver, but also strengthen our commitment to connecting investors to what matters most and helping them achieve their financial goals.” 

Aon announces new UK partners.

Consultancy Aon has announced 12 new UK-based partners in the wealth and talent solution lines of its human capital capability. 

These promotions aim to help clients develop resilient workforces and navigate new forms of volatility. 

 The new partners include Sue Austen, wholeads Aon’s secretariat, pensions management and secondment services. She is responsible for ensuring that Aon’s clients are able to access best practice solutions.  

Jaysen Arumugum is an enterprise client leader for financial institutions within Aon’s enterprise client group. He works with teams across the entire breadth of Aon’s business to help clients address their human capital and risk capital challenges.  

Andrew Grime is a qualified actuary with over 20 years of pensions industry experience, advising a range of pension schemes, varying in size from £20 million to £4 billion. He helps schemes set and execute long-term benefit and financing strategies. 

Keaton Hoffman is in Aon’s talent solutions practice and advises remuneration committees and senior HR leaders in the technology and life sciences sectors. He leads Aon’s private market practice for UK and EMEA, supporting start-ups, scale-ups and venture capital firms with relevant compensation data and tailored advisory solutions. 

Steven Keller is scheme actuary to 10 pension schemes – all FTSE100 companies or globally recognisable names – and provides clients with expert strategic advice to ensure their objectives are met. He also leads Aon’s GMP reconciliation and benefit audit specialist teams, working closely with colleagues in pension administration to deliver relevant and holistic solutions.

Jennifer O’Neill is a senior leader in Aon’s responsible investment group, which she has helped grow since its inception in 2017. She provides strategic advice to highly sophisticated institutional investors ranging in size from £4 billion to £24 billion. 

William Parry has been advising clients on their investment strategies for 15 years. He has a dual role in Aon’s client facing investment team, advising clients on their investment strategy and continuing to build Aon’s outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) business, as well as developing the way Aon supports clients operationally. He sits on one of Aon’s internal committees tasked with improving gender equality in the workplace.

Charlotte Quarmby is a senior member of Aon’s UK risk settlement group, advising clients on setting and executing strategies to de-risk their pension schemes and enhance member security. She chairs the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ Bulk Annuity and Longevity Swap group.

Rosie Tolaini leads client and data operations for Aon’s global data solutions practice, providing human capital data products and insights to clients.

Matthew Towsey leads the European liquid alternatives manager research team. He oversees research across hedge, multi asset and private markets funds, as well as opportunistic strategies. His role includes sourcing, evaluating and monitoring alternatives funds. In addition, he is involved in creating client portfolios and works closely with Aon’s fiduciary management business. 

Guy Saintfiet leads the team responsible for the management of Aon’s liquid alternatives solutions. He works with clients to ensure their governance needs are met, spearheading innovative cost and transparency initiatives as well as ESG and Net Zero integration.

Tom Williams is a specialist in Aon’s member options team with extensive experience in helping a large portfolio of clients to improve engagement in employee retirement decisions. He works with clients to implement significant and innovative member choice and de-risking exercises which help shape industry best practice.