BlackRock has appointed Gary Smith as head of pensions administration services. In his new role, Smith will lead the development of BlackRock’s defined contribution (DC) administration proposition to support its DC service.

Carey Pensions and Benefits has appointed Tim Bush as executive director in Guernsey.

Bush will lead a team responsible for qualified registered overseas pension schemes, international schemes, employee share schemes, and Guernsey pension schemes.

Martin Jennings, until recently managing director of Axa's Elevate platform, has been appointed to a new role at platform provider FNZ.

Pensions Management’s executive editor Charlie Thomas has won the financial trade journalist of the year award at this year’s Headlinemoney Awards.

Held at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel, London, the awards were hotly contested again this year, with the judges noting the high standard of entries.

Sacha Sadan has been appointed director of corporate governance at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM).

With 17 years of investing experience, Sadan joins from Gartmore, where he was senior UK equity fund manager and co-managed a range of UK equity hedge, retail and institutional funds. He joined Gartmore in 2002.

The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) has appointed Paul Jagger and Museji Takolia to chair its employer panel and member panel respectively.

One of their first responsibilities will be to select other panel members.

The Isle of Man (IoM) has hired an international business director in a bid to bring more businesses onto the island.

Michael Charlton will be tasked with persuading firms to domicile all or part of their businesses to the IoM, which already houses the offshore arms of a number of the UK’s largest insurers, handling overseas pension schemes, qualified recognised overseas pension schemes and employer-funded retirement benefit schemes.

The Pension Investment and Provider Awards (PIPA) 2011 was held on May 18, 2011 at the Sheraton Park Lane.

Gerry O'Neil has left Standard Life, following the conclusion of an investigation at the insurer.

Pensions Management's executive editor Charlie Thomas has won the financial trade journalist of the year award at this year's Headlinemoney Awards.

Schroders has made three additions to its consultant relations team.

Alexander Forbes Financial Services, part of the Alexander Forbes International group, has promoted Gemma Goodman to head of The Annuity Bureau and defined contribution (DC) operations.

Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) promoted three of its actuarial, investment and pension admin team from the UK and Ireland to the position of partner.

Pensions Consultancy Muse Advisory has appointed Ola Davidson as associate.

Gurmukh Hayre has been named head of KPMG DC Solutions.

Saul Trustees has appointed Kim Brooks deputy chief executive.

Brooks joined Saul as head of its benefits administration team in 2007, working closely with chief executive Penny Green on developing and implementing the Saul Trustee Company (STC) business strategy.

Financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown has broken into the FTSE100 just four years after originally listing.

Colin Williams has been appointed director of corporate at Friends Provident.

Standard Life Investments has appointed Debbie Harris as head of strategic consultant relations in its institutional business development team.

HSBC Pension Trust has announced Phillip Bretnall as chief operating officer.

Former Suffolk Life director of marketing has confirmed he will be launching a new consultancy.

The chief executive of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has announced she will step down at the end of February 2011.

Caroline Instance has been involved with the profession for nearly nine years, working alongside 10 presidents of its predecessor bodies, the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland and the Institute of Actuaries.

Instance will continue to work for the institute on a consultancy basis during 2011. She will be officially employed until the end of April, during which time she will assist the president, Ronnie Bowie, in representing the UK actuarial profession at home and abroad.

Man Group has appointed Jenny Morton as head of consultant relations in its UK institutional sales team.

In her new role, Morton will report to Paul Dackombe, head of institutional clients UK, and will be responsible for leading Man’s initiative with all UK-based consultants, including coordination of the global consultant universe.

Richard Goldstein, a pensions lawyer at Mayer Brown, has been promoted to partner.

London-based Goldstein acts for a variety of pension schemes, ranging in asset size from less than £100m to more than £4bn.

Mercer has made five appointments to its international consulting group.

Simon Thompson joins as principal and senior international consultant, while Anna Bochko, Anusha Vamadeva and Mark Harris have also joined the international team. Roslin Wright (pic) has rejoined as a principal and client relationship manager in the firm’s outsourcing business.

Thompson joins from International SOS, while Bochko was recruited from Aon Consulting. Vamadeva joins from the health and risk practice at HSBC, and Harris from Mercer’s expatriate consulting team.

Wright moves across from Aon Hewitt and was previously UK outsourcing sales leader at Mercer. She will be based in Glasgow.

Investment Solutions has appointed Umar Ilyas as head of consultancy relations and investment actuary.

The National Association of Pensions Funds (NAPF) has appointed Sally Bridgeland and Joyce Martindale to its investment council.

During the investment council’s meetings, Bridgeland and Martindale will contribute their views on the public policy agenda, such as the 2012 pensions reform. The 19-strong council meets six times a year.

Bridgeland is chief executive of BP Pension Trustees, where she monitors its in-house fund management and administration teams. Her role involves developing recommendations for policy and strategy.

Pensions software provider Xafinity Claybrook has announced the promotion of Michael Payten to the position of managing director, following the retirement of Ron Barker.

Partnership, the specialist annuity provider for people with health or lifestyle conditions, has boosted its actuarial team with the announcement of two senior appointments.

The Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (Saul) has appointed a full-time investment officer.

Specialist pensions law firm Sacker & Partners has promoted Emily Forrest and Zoë Lynch to partner.

Forrest has been at Sackers since 2002. Her knowledge covers a broad range of areas, with a particular focus on assisting clients with employment-related issues within the pensions arena.

Clive Gilchrist has stepped down as managing director of Bestrustees to focus on client work, having held the post since he set the business up in 1992.
Graham Wardle takes over, with Gilchrist becoming deputy chairman.
Alan Pickering, Bestrustees’ chairman, said: “Clive is an experienced and able professional trustee. As such, he is in great demand from existing and potential clients and he has expressed the desire to concentrate on this area of his work.”
Pickering added he was pleased Gilchrist had taken on the role of deputy chairman.

Alan Hewitt has been appointed international benefits director of JLT Benefit Solutions.
He joined from Aon Consulting, where he was a principal and global benefits consultant based in Brussels.
Hewitt has also worked for Mercer and has extensive experience of managing global client relationships.

Barnett Waddingham has appointed Jane Galvin as chief operating officer and a partner of the firm.
Galvin has more than 28 years’ experience at Friends Provident, where she latterly had senior roles including four years as managing director of operations and seven years as director of customer services.

The inaugural Pensions Rocks! event has raised more than £7,500 for charity.

Alistair Connell (pic) has been named chief executive officer of Aon Consulting, effective from July 1.

Stuart Southall has been elected as chairman for the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA). He takes office on June 1 and will succeed Hewitt Associates’ Keith Barton.

The Pension & Investment Provider Awards 2010 were announced last night at an event hosted by broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli in London's Piccadilly.

Lady Barbara Judge’s appointment to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) could contradict the combined code of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), of which she was deputy chair.

Kevin LeGrand has been elected president of the Society of Pensions Consultants (SPC) for a two-year term, effective from June 1.

Myles Rix has joined LV as actuarial and strategy director of its life and pensions business.
Rix brings more than 16 years’ experience in the life and health insurance industries. He was formerly with Aviva Health, where he was finance and commercial director.
In his new role, Rix will be responsible for the life and pensions actuarial pricing teams, the development of the wider life business unit strategy and will also contribute to group-wide initiatives.
This announcement follows the recent strengthening of LV’s life and pensions team, with the appointment of Mark Jones, head of protection; Liz Timms, head of retirement sales; Ian Bell, head of retirement, customer experience; and Lisa Mundy, head of protection, customer experience.

Simon Clamp, Friends Provident’s UK managing director, died in the early hours of March 12 after a brief illness. He was 51.

LV has appointed Richard Rowney as managing director of its life and pensions business. He took over the role on March 1, moving from his previous position of group chief operating officer. Rowney has been at LV since 2007, after joining from Barclays, where he held several senior positions. Mike Rogers, LV group chief executive, said: “We’re very pleased to have had an ideal candidate who we could appoint internally, to help us achieve continuity and an immediate transition. As a main board member of LV, Richard has been able to build up a good understanding of our life and pensions business and has contributed significantly to the turnaround of the LV group over the last three years.” Rowney was appointed to the LV board in August 2007, and has taken over the managing directorship of LV’s life business from Rodney Cook, who moves to Just Retirement in July.

Lawrence Churchill, current chairman of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), has taken on the same role at Nest Corporation, the body established to roll out the Nest project from 2012.

Experienced auditor Marta Phillips OBE has been appointed as chief executive of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS).

Hymans Robertson has appointed two partners from its sister company, longevity specialist Club Vita.

The Universities Super­annuation Scheme (USS) has made a trio of hires to reinforce its global emerging markets equities team.

Intelligent Pensions (IP) has promoted David Trenner to its board of directors.

The leading UK positions in the newly created Towers Watson consultancy have largely gone to ex-Watson Wyatt employees.

Independent trustee firm Bestrustees has appointed two new directors, expanding the company’s board from six to eight members.

Sun Life Financial of Canada has confirmed its UK leadership team after its acquisition of annuity provider Lincoln.

Wrap platform provider Nucleus Financial Group has poached Aileen Mathieson from Standard Life Savings to take over as chief financial officer.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appointed Kerrie Kelly as director-general, to succeed Stephen Haddrill.

The Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) has elected Pauline Sibbit as chair for a two-year period.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed its second non-executive director in the space of a month.

Administration provider RPMI has poached Roberst Branagh from Xafinity Paymaster to head its administration business.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has hired Dick Barfield as a non-executive director.

Aviva has appointed Mark Hodges as UK chief executive officer (CEO) as the company looks to restructure and combine its life and general insurance businesses.

Tributes have been paid to David Seaton, joint managing director of Rowanmoor Pensions, whose body was found on a Cornish beach last month.

Aon Consulting has appointed Donald Duval as head of its Pension Solution project, launched earlier this year in partnership with Russell Investments.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has appointed Roger Gray as chief investment officer (CIO).

Pension Corporation has brought in six staff across the business to bolster its team and service provision.

Axa’s wealth management arm is to rebrand as Axa Wealth, and has announced several senior appointments to coincide with the reorganisation.

Vince Linnane, chief executive of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI), celebrated 25 years at the organisation at the beginning of August.

Ignis Asset Management has announced that chief executive Gavin Stewart is to step down, to be replaced by chief operating officer Chris Samuel.

Living Time is doubling its account management team after being inspired by positive research on the company’s standing with independent financial advisers (IFA).

Hermes Equity Ownership Services (HEOS), which specialises in advising pension funds on asset management, has appointed Sir Mark Moody-Stuart as chairman.

Gareth Adams is to become a senior adviser at the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The Pensions Regulator has appointed Isabel Hudson and Bruce Rigby as non-executive directors.

Spence & Partners, a consulting firm covering Scotland and Northern Ireland, has appointed Ian Campbell as director responsible for actuarial services.

Psolve Asset Solutions has brought in three members to its risk management team, responding to growing demand for risk products.

Hymans Robertson has appointed John Wright to the newly created role of head of public sector consulting.

Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has promoted Rob Bailey to head of UK sales.

Mark Ashworth, a director of independent trustee firm Law Debenture, has been appointed to chair the governance committee of the BT group self-invested personal pension (Sipp).

The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) has elected Mike Sullivan as president, to succeed Steve Delo in July.

Risk management firm Towers Perrin, and financial advisory firm Zolfo Cooper recently unveiled additions to their teams.

Punter Southall has appointed Andrew Drake as managing director of its investment consultancy business Psolve Asset Solutions.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed Ian McKinlay as its new chief investment officer.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has appointed Jim Sutcliffe as a director and chairman of the Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS). He will replace current chairman Paul Seymour, who steps down in June.

A J Bell has appointed Glyn Jones as business development manager for the south east and London.

River and Mercantile (R&M) has made two new appointments to its asset management business. Alex Stanic joins as head of global equities, and Alex O’Reilly joins as fund manager and company partner.

Vanguard has appointed two new staff as it launches its UK business.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has announced it is to replace chief executive Partha Dasgupta with former Lehman Brothers managing director Alan Rubenstein.

The Pensions Regulator has reappointed two non-executive directors (NEDs).

Pan Governance has hired former Capital Cranfield Trustees founding director Charles Goddard.

Redington Partners has appointed Mark Herne and David Thompson as senior consultants, devising investment strategies for clients and providing advice on asset and liability management.

A further eight employees of the Punter Southall Group have completed all the examinations of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.