Art by Steve WacksmanAPG’s Head of Governance and Sustainability Claudia Kruse
was voted CIO Europe’s Next
Generation Award winner yesterday at the 2016 Innovation Forum and Awards.
The forum audience of European investors elected their winner following a lightning round of questions for five members of the Forty Under Forty lists.
Kruse, who joined the Dutch pension manager in 2009, addressed alternative investments, strategic partnerships, asset management culture, and Brexit.
Her competition included Railpen’s Richard Moon, Sunil Krishnan of the BT Pension Scheme, Royal Mail Pension Plan’s Ben Piggott, and Aviva’s Steven Catchpole.
Her victory capped a successful night for APG, which also won the top prize for large public pensions at the evening’s awards dinner.
Also taking home multiple awards was HSBC’s UK pension CIO Mark Thompson, as his team won the large corporate pension and defined contribution categories, the latter for its innovative default fund. The London Collective Investment Vehicle’s CIO Julian Pendock collected the small public pension award, while the small corporate pension award went to Switzerland’s ABB Pension Fund, represented by Head of Group Pension Management Elisabeth Bourqui.
The inaugural overseas office award for non-European investors with an established on-the-ground presence went to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and was collected by Global Head of Private Equity Mark Redman.
Mats Andersson, outgoing CEO of Sweden’s AP4, accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award, and urged the next generation of asset owners to embrace pension funds’ long-term nature to promote sustainability for the benefit of members.