Appointments: Major DC hires at L&G, Aon and Invesco

Legal & General (L&G) has appointed Andy Parsons and Lois Day to the trustee board of the £30bn L&G Mastertrust. Meera Venu is to stand down from the board at the end of her three-year term on 30 June 2025.

Parsons was most recently chief financial officer at Just Group, and has previously worked in senior finance positions at LV=, Lloyds Banking Group, Friends Life, AXA and Zurich. He was also a board member at the Association of British Insurers from 2014 to 2016. He is currently a non-executive director at RSA Insurance and Canada Life. 

Day’s background is in venture capital, and has previously worked at Goldman Sachs and Rothschild. She is currently a venture partner at IP Group and has held several director roles at both public and private companies. 

Elsewhere, the company has also appointed Paula Llewellyn as chief executive officer for its Defined Contribution (DC) and Workplace Savings business, with effect from 1 April 2025, subject to regulatory approval. 

The newly created role will see Llewellyn work across L&G’s retail and asset management businesses and seek to continue to grow the DC business, a strategic commercial priority for L&G. 

Llewellyn is currently chief customer and strategy officer in the retail division, and has previously been managing director of L&G’s direct business and CEO of financial advice.

L&G’s group CEO António Simões has set a target of £40bn to £50bn of net inflows into the DC and Workplace business between 2024 and 2028. The company is already the largest DC pension provider in the UK with £183bn in total DC assets and more than 5.5 million. 

“Pensions are powerful; they are a positive force for societal good as well as long term investments on which we personally depend,” Llewellyn said.

“The retirement landscape has evolved drastically in recent years and with the continual shift to more individual responsibility it’s crucial for people of all ages to understand pensions and what they mean for them.

“As a leading UK workplace savings firm, providing peace of mind and financial confidence for every generation, whatever the future holds, is key.” 

Roe takes on global DC role at Aon

Aon has also boosted its DC team with the appointment of Ben Roe as global DC wealth strategy leader. 

Roe is currently a senior partner and head of UK DC consulting. In his new role, he will work on developing Aon’s offering in markets including Australia, the UK and the US.

Invesco strengthens DC team

Asset manager Invesco has hired Ryan McGowan as DC associate director in its UK distribution team. He was previously sales and consultant relations manager at SEI Investments. 

Meanwhile, the company has also appointed Gabriel Misson as DC sales and client associate. He previously worked in Invesco’s client onboarding team. 

IGG expands leadership team

Professional trustee firm Independent Governance Group (IGG) has boosted its leadership team with the appointments of Mike Kirby as non-executive chair and Chantel Garfield as chief financial officer. 

In addition, Grant Suckling has been promoted to chief commercial officer, a newly created role, and Phil Hinson has been promoted to chief corporate development officer. 

Kirby is currently a senior adviser to Waystone and has more than three decades of experience in asset management and financial services.

Garfield joins from insurance technology company Charles Taylor where she was group chief financial officer, and has also previously worked for LexisNexis. She replaces previous CFO Anthony Livingstone. 

Suckling was previously IGG’s chief product officer. In his new role, IGG said, he will be responsible for leading the company’s commercial strategy. 

Hinson, meanwhile, was previously corporate development director. In his new role, he will work on strategy, finance and stakeholder management. 

Wellard to lead alternative risk transfer unit at Hymans Robertson

Hymans Robertson has appointed Richard Wellard as head of alternative risk transfer solutions. He is set to work with the firm’s trustee clients on new forms of risk transfer including superfunds, capital-backed solutions and alternative insurance products. 

He has been a partner at Hymans Robertson since 2015 and led on several innovative transactions. 

Meanwhile, the consultancy has also appointed four equity members and 12 new partners. 

The new equity members are Gemma Sefton, head of service delivery for pensions, HR director Sally Haran, Susan McIlvogue, head of large DB schemes solutions, and Ross Fleming from the DB investment team. 

The new partners are Abhishek Srivastav, Ben Farmer, Andrea Black, Catherine Bamber, Chris Arcari, Craig Alexander, Heather Allingham, Laura McMillan, Lisa Whitfield, Neal Cherrie, Nick Jellema and Peter Henessey.