People moves
Buck Consultants has appointed Ben Wells to succeed Tim Roberts as head of its communications practice in the UK. Mr Wells has been with Buck since 2002. The priorities for Mr Wells include maintaining Buck’s presence in the employee education and training areas, particularly the total reward area and all other aspects of the employer/employee relationship. In line with this objective, his team will be strengthening Buck’s offer in the employee engagement area, as well as further expanding its European communication network.
Keith Jecks has rejoined Watson Wyatt from ABN AMRO where he was global head of pensions advisory for the past four years. Mr Jecks, who is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, will lead various business development initiatives from the firm’s Reigate office. The firm has also announced that Carl Hess has been appointed global head of investment consulting, effective from 1 July. He will succeed Roger Urwin who, after holding the position for the past 13 years, will take on a newly created role focusing on the global development and delivery of investment research.
Keith Tucker, formerly finance actuary at RGA UK, has left to join London-based Omnilife Insurance Company as the actuarial manager with effect from 15 April 2008. Mr Tucker has been a non-executive director of Omnilife for several years and will resign the board appointment to take up his new fulltime role as head of Omnilife’s actuarial department.
Rashpal Bhabra of Watson Wyatt has been promoted to head of corporate consulting in the UK. Mr Bhabra, who was previously the managing consultant at the firm’s Birmingham office, will lead advisory services for corporate pension scheme sponsors. He takes over from Andrew Reid, who is leaving Watson Wyatt to join Credit Suisse. The firm has also appointed Pallavi Parab as an investment consultant to its client consulting team in London. Ms Parab previously worked with Hymans Robertson in their London office and prior to that with Buck Consultants. In addition, Watson Wyatt has appointed Bhaskar Sastry and Katie Haynes as investment analysts in its Reigate and Leeds teams respectively, and follows five similar appointments announced last month by the firm.
Seamus Creedon has joined Kent-based Reliance Mutual Insurance Society as a non-executive director. Mr Creedon, an actuary and management consultant, was until recently a partner at KPMG, where he led the UK actuarial practice from 2000 to 2003 and was the deputy leader globally. More recently he has been advising the Irish government on competition issues in their health insurance market. He has a high profile in professional circles as well, being a member of the Council of the Institute of Actuaries, and chair of the Solvency II Life Working Group of the European actuarial profession. Mr Creedon has also contributed to The Actuary for many years as news editor. He qualified as an actuary in 1976.
Neil Cantle has been appointed as a principal of Milliman, the global consulting and actuarial company. Mr Cantle is based in the London office, where he leads Milliman’s research into strategic risk management methods.
HSBC Actuaries and Consultants has appointed Liz Carter as senior consultant in Edinburgh to develop its Scottish business. Joining from Watson Wyatt, Ms Carter has more than 20 years’ experience in the pensions industry.
Jan Burke has joined Hewitt’s UK retirement practice from Hymans Robertson. At Hymans, Mr Burke was a partner leading the scheme design and management practice and helped to develop the corporate consulting business. He also has experience of advising employers on benefit strategy and design, communications and managing large pension change projects.
Lindsay Smitherman has joined the Actuarial Profession as one of its staff actuaries, where her responsibilities will include the life, healthcare and derivatives subjects. Ms Smitherman was previously a senior project actuary at Axa Life in Bristol.
Barrie & Hibbert, the Edinburgh-based financial risk consultancy, has opened a new office on Wall Street — its first in the US. The company’s New York base will be headed by Craig Turnbull, a senior consultant and UK actuary based in the group’s Capital office, who has been heavily involved in developing insurance modelling and consulting services over the past five years.
PIMCO has announced the expansion of its liability driven investment business with the appointment of Jeroen van Bezooijen. Mr Van Bezooijen will be senior vice president and product manager for PIMCO’s European LDI business and will provide thought leadership for new LDI products and strategy development. He was previously executive director in the pensions and insurance advisory group at Goldman Sachs.
Peter Wright and Stuart Thompson, principals at the Tillinghast insurance consulting business of Towers Perrin, both retired from the company at the end of 2007. Mr Wright, who joined the consultancy in 1999, was vice president of the Institute of Actuaries from 2004 to 2006, and during the latter years of his career was a significant contributor to the IFRS and Solvency II debates. He has been appointed as a nonexecutive director of Countrywide Assured. Mr Thompson was a member of the 2001 Fair Valuation Working Party and contributed to a number of prizewinning papers.
Colm Fagan resigned in April as an employee and director of Life Strategies, the Dublin-based consultancy that he founded in September 1993. He will, however, retain a consultancy association with Life Strategies for a small number of his long-standing clients. Dermot Corry will continue to lead Life Strategies, which now has 17 consultants, including 13 fully qualified actuaries. Mr Fagan plans to pursue a range of activities, including acting as nonexecutive director, both in the financial sector and otherwise.
Scott Eason has launched a new company, Eason Consulting & Resources, which will provide actuarial support to UK life insurance companies. His most recent role was investment strategy actuary at Legal & General with responsibilities covering both annuity and with-profits funds. Prior to that he was a consulting actuary at Watson Wyatt.
Please send news of recent appointments to peoplemoves@the-actuary.org.uk
