West Yorkshire CIO Leandros Kalisperas to lead British Business Bank’s investment drive

Leandros Kalisperas is to leave the West Yorkshire Pension Fund to become the British Business Bank’s first chief investment officer.

Kalisperas will oversee all of the bank’s investment activities, including sourcing and delivering investments for the new British Growth Partnership. He will take up the role in January.

He has been chief investment officer at West Yorkshire since 2022, and previously held senior roles at Abrdn and the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

He also sits on the investment committee for GLIL as well as being a partner at Northern LGPS, the asset pool for the West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside pension schemes.

In a statement, the British Business Bank said Kalisperas would have responsibility for “the entirety of the British Business Bank’s investment business”, including its subsidiaries – British Business Investments and British Patient Capital – as well as recently launched investment vehicles such as the Nations and Regions Investment Funds and the Enterprise Capital Funds programme.

It stated: “This expanding investment business requires the broader approach and new skillsets that Leandros will bring to it. We look forward to benefiting from his range of experience and perspectives, and to increasing the impact the bank can have through its market-shaping investment activities.”

Louis Taylor, the development bank’s CEO, added: “As we build the capabilities we need to respond to these new opportunities we are fortunate to have recruited such a strong talent for the bank.

“I am delighted that we will benefit from Leandros’s strong track record in investment management and extensive experience in managing large, complex, private market portfolios.”

Kalisperas said the British Business Bank’s “dedication to fostering economic growth across the UK is already evident in its strong investment capabilities in both London and Sheffield”.

“I look forward to collaborating with our partners to further enhance these efforts and align with the evolving needs of private capital,” he added.

The British Growth Partnership was announced on 14 October at the government’s International Investment Summit in London, but is still subject to regulatory approval. At the same time, the bank’s £7.9bn worth of commercial programmes were put on a permanent footing.

Meanwhile, the bank’s current deputy chief investment officer Ian Connatty has been appointed managing partner for BBB Patient Capital Advisory Services, a new entity designed to advise on the strategic direction of the British Growth Partnership.

Lawrence Churchill to chair International Longevity Centre
The UK arm of the International Longevity Centre (ILC) has recruited Lawrence Churchill, Yvonne Sonsino and Andrew Oxlade to its trustee board.

Churchill – who has previously chaired the Pension Protection Fund, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Nest – will become the ILC’s chair in February 2025.

He currently chairs Clara Pensions and the independent governance committee at Vanguard.

Churchill said: “How society adapts to take advantage of longer lives is one of the biggest challenges – and opportunities – of the 21st century. I look forward to collaborating with the many experts who share our passion on new solutions for better lives enabled by greater longevity.”

Yvonne Sonsino is a partner at Mercer who focuses on the consultancy giant’s employee wellbeing offerings, and previously ran the firm’s international consulting business.

Andrew Oxlade is a director at Fidelity Personal Investing and a former financial journalist.

LawDeb adds three to exec services team
Trustee and governance services firm LawDeb has hired three staff to its pensions executive services team, Pegasus.

Clementine Chapman joins as an associate pensions executive and James Lavender joins as a senior pensions executive, both based in the firm’s London office. Danny Gaskell has joined as a pensions executive based in Manchester.

Lavender was previously a senior manager in the pensions management consulting team at PwC. Chapman has previously worked at Hymans Robertson as a pensions administrator and HCI as operations administrator.

Gaskell was previously at Aon, and has more than 10 years’ experience in actuarial consultancy.

Eversheds adds legal director
Law firm Eversheds Sutherland has appointed Isobel Carruthers as a legal director in its pensions team.

She joins from Slaughter and May and previously worked at Freshfields. In addition, she is a member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers and has served as secretary to its main committee.