Philips Pensioenfonds CIO and Power 100 member Rob Schreur has been
appointed to lead the UK’s electricity pension fund.
Schreur—one of the Netherlands’ most highly-regarded investors—will take on his new role as CEO of the £17 billion ($26.5 billion) National Grid UK Pension Scheme later this year. He has been tasked with developing the pension’s investment executive team as it prepares to offload its in-house fund manager.
Schreur has led the €18 billion ($19.9 billion) Philips Pensioenfonds for 10 years, having transferred in 2005 from Philips Schootse Poort—now known as the Philips Pensions Competence Center—where he was head of institutional clients. He began his career in investment as an analyst at Dutch pension giant ABP.
He was a member of CIO’s Power 100 list of the most influential asset owners in 2013 and 2014.
Speaking to CIO in 2013, Schreur named his biggest career challenge as the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. “It’s difficult to derive a ‘top three,’ let alone the number-one challenge,” he admitted.
The National Grid pension is undergoing a major shift in strategy, having announced in May that it plans to sell its in-house fund manager, Aerion. CEO Paul Sharman left the company in April.
In a statement announcing the planned sale, National Grid said it would appoint a small executive team of specialists to support active management of the pension’s assets, which will remain with Aerion for the immediate future.
“Rob’s experience of overseeing a large outsourced asset mandate, asset liability management and European best practices in pension fund investment will be invaluable to the trustees,” said Nigel Stapleton, chair of the National Grid pension’s trustee board. “We are looking forward to welcoming Rob to the executive team.”
Related: For Sale: In-house Pension Investor with £17.5B in Assets; The Haves and the Have-Nots; 2013 Power 100 #73: Rob Schreur