(January 10, 2014) — Wendy Mayall, the former Unilever pension CIO and City of London heavyweight, has quit the insurance company she joined in June last year.
Mayall, one of aiCIO’s Power 100, has been a dominant force in finance since accusing Merrill Lynch Investment Management (now morphed into BlackRock) of negligently managing Unilever’s pension money in 2001. The asset manager settled out of court for £70 million.
After leaving the grocery giant in 2011, she spent a brief period consulting before taking up the LV role of managing the insurance assets and the company’s pension scheme. There she oversaw an outsourced relationship with Threadneedle Investments, which ran the bulk of the money.
She took over the role after the departure of Steven Daniels, another aiCIO Power 100 member, who went on to run the Tesco pension fund as CIO.
Philip Clements joined LV from advisory firm AFH Financial, and has been in place as Mayall’s “number two” for some time, according to Mayall.
He will take over the responsibility for running the Threadneedle assets, while Mayall will continue to work with the insurer on a consultancy basis, the company confirmed to aiCIO.
Mayall, who is on the advisory panel for aiCIO’s European Innovation Awards in May this year, was unreachable for comment at the time of going to press.
UPDATE: January 10, 2014, 14:59
aiCIO has since spoken to Mayall, who said her work at LV will primarily revolve around assisting the company’s pension fund by sitting on the investment committee.
She will also assist the new CIO when one is appointed, thought to be in several months’ time.
“I went to LV primarily to establish and make a success of the relationship with Threadneedle, and that’s now in good shape,” she said.
“After 18 months, the job was done, so I hired myself a number two, Phil Clements, who is more than capable. Now I want to go back to doing what I was before the LV job came along. I’ve really enjoyed it, but now I’m itchy-footed again.”
Mayall is already a director of the Aberdeen UK Tracker Trust, and has done some work with the Isle of Man government helping to promote the location as a financial hub.
Her work with these two entities will continue, Mayall said, but she was also seeking other directorships within asset management.
Additional reporting by Charlie Thomas.
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