Senior Role Appointments

Posted on January 24th, 2018

23rd January 2018
The Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (Border to Coast) has confirmed the recent appointment of three senior roles, Interim Chief Investment Officer, Chief Risk Officer and Head of Equities and Alternatives.

John Harrison has been appointed as interim Chief Investment Officer, and will take up the role from February 2018. John, who until recently has advised Surrey’s local authority pension scheme, has a wealth of experience in investment management and consulting (including as UK CIO responsible for UBS’ UK Institutional business and Managing Director, Institutional Advisory at Allenbridge).  John will report to CEO Rachel Elwell and his focus in the immediate term is to set up Border to Coast’s investment function and to oversee the transition of assets into Border to Coast from the twelve partner local government pension funds.

It is anticipated that Border to Coast will be ready to start managing money in 2018 on behalf of twelve local authorities, with assets totalling £43 billion.

John said, “The creation of new asset pools in the LGPS is one of the most significant changes in the UK investment management industry in a generation. I am excited by the opportunity to play a part in shaping a new team structure at Border to Coast focused on delivering excellent long-term investment returns cost effectively.”

Rachel added, “Setting up Border to Coast’s investments requires a very special mix of expertise in both investment management and local authority pensions and I am absolutely delighted that John has agreed to step away from his advisory work for a period to help us with this. We will be appointing a permanent CIO in due course to drive the evolution of the organisation in the future.”

Manda McConnell also joins Border to Coast as Chief Risk Officer. Manda is an experienced Senior Risk Professional with over 25 years’ financial services experience including 20 years within leading banks, insurance and asset management firms. She has been responsible for a broad range of FCA regulatory initiatives including designing, launching and embedding risk management, compliance and conduct risk management and financial crime frameworks. Manda will also report to Rachel and her immediate focus is to help establish a strong risk framework supporting the Company’s application for regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.

Manda said “I am really delighted to be involved in this initiative and to be joining an excellent team to build this business. It is great to be able to help to shape a customer-owned and customer-focussed asset manager based in the North of England right from its inception.”

Rachel added, “Manda has a significant role to play in ensuring the success of Border to Coast and I am very much looking forward to working with her in building a long-term responsible investing institution.”

Border to Coast also confirms the appointment of Mark Lyon as Head of Equities and Alternatives, reporting to John Harrison. Mark is currently Head of Investments at East Riding Pension Fund, where he has led an internally managed investment function delivering strong and consistent performance on £4.5bn of assets. Mark has also been a major driver in the Border to Coast project team over the last two years.

Mark said “I am really pleased to have been given this opportunity to contribute to the further development of Border to Coast, building a leading investment management company for the benefit of our customers, built on long term sustainable performance.”

John added, “I am delighted that Mark is transferring to Border to Coast. His investment experience and commitment to the Border to Coast project will be invaluable to me as we seek to integrate investment staff and build our new investment team.”

Notes to Editors:
Border to Coast will invest the assets of the Bedfordshire, Cumbria, Durham, East Riding, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Surrey, South Yorkshire, Teesside, Tyne and Wear and Warwickshire LGPS pension funds totalling £43 billion. It will be based in Leeds. Further details can be found by visiting our website.

For more information: Rachel Elwell – Chief Executive Officer, Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd.

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