Pension Org Investment Chief Swaps Day Job

It’s all change at the top of two large, corporate pension funds.

(March 29, 2013) — The chair of the investment council at the United Kingdom’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is to swap day jobs this summer.

Martin Mannion is to leave his role as director of finance and risk at pharmaceutical company GlaksoSmithkline and assume the head of investments role at retailer John Lewis later this year.

The move was first reported and confirmed to Portfolio Institutional. Due to the Bank Holiday in the UK, neither party were reachable for comment on Friday.

Mannion has been with the £8 billion pharmaceutical fund since 2002 and moves to the John Lewis fund as head of investments – a role that has been vacant for a year since the departure of Andrew Chapman.

The John Lewis fund is smaller, with just under £3 billion in assets and the unlisted partnership announced it was reviewing a range of aspects of the fund over the next two years due to a large increase in its pension deficit in 2012.

However, it is one of the few remaining open, non-contributory final salary pension funds in the UK.

Mannion’s tenure as chair of the investment council may also be due to run its course, due to the cyclicality of the position. When addressing attendees at the NAPF’s investment conference in Edinburgh this month, he said it would probably be the last time we would do so.

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