Clarke to Quit PPF for Government Actuary Job

(March 6, 2014) — Martin Clarke, the executive director of financial risk at the UK’s lifeboat for bankrupt company pension funds, is to join the Government Actuary Office, aiCIO has learned.

Clarke will leave the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) later this year and become the Government Actuary for a five-year fixed term, the agency confirmed today.

A former member of aiCIO’s Power 100, Clarke has been with the PPF since its early days and has helped its assets grow from less than £1 billion to more than £13 billion in under a decade.

After the departure of PPF CIO Ian McKinlay in 2012, Clarke took over the general investment helm until the appointment of Barry Kenneth into the role last year.

He has been instrumental in creating a three-pronged investment risk regime employed by the fund. He was also actively involved in bringing more than one liability-driven investment manager on board to diversify the fund’s risk.

PPF Chairman, Lady Barbara Judge, said: “Martin has made an enormous contribution to the success of the PPF during the last eight years, not least in spearheading an investment strategy that has seen our assets grow to more than £15 billion and put us on course for financial self-sufficiency in 2030.”

Clarke is a Cambridge-educated mathematician, actuary, and Harvard Business School alumnus. Before the PPF, he worked in retail financial services with the Co-operative Insurance Society.

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