2025 Elite European Allocators, Part 1

Anja Mikus serves as chief executive officer and chief investment officer of the Fonds zur Finanzierung der kerntechnischen Entsorgung (KENFO) (KENFO), Germany’s sovereign fund established to finance the country’s nuclear decommissioning efforts. Appointed at the fund’s inception in 2017, Mikus brings more than three decades of experience in asset management and investment strategy.

Before leading KENFO, Mikus held senior investment roles across several prominent institutions. She served as CIO and Partner at Arabesque Asset Management, with responsibilities spanning London and Frankfurt. Earlier in her career, she held managing director roles at Union Investment and Allianz Group, where she oversaw portfolio management and group-wide investment strategy. Her expertise spans both traditional and sustainable investment frameworks.

Mikus studied business administration at the University of Göttingen. She previously served on the supervisory board of Commerzbank AG, nominated by the German federal government.

Bernd Franken serves as managing director of capital investments at Nordrheinische Ärzteversorgung, the North Rhine Medical Pension Fund, where he has overseen the fund’s €18.5 billion portfolio since 2014. Based in Düsseldorf, the institution is part of the North Rhine Medical Association and serves physicians and healthcare professionals across the region.

Prior to this role, Franken spent six years as a board member for the Church Supplementary Pension Fund of the Association of German Dioceses (KZVK), where he led investment strategy and asset management. Earlier in his career, he held senior financial leadership roles within church-affiliated institutions, including serving as head of finance and controlling for medical and elder care facilities in Cologne, and later as financial director to the bishop in the Diocese of Trier.

Franken holds a degree in business administration from the University of Münster and also studied at the Claremont Graduate School in California. He was a Konrad Adenauer Foundation scholar and currently serves on the supervisory board of National Bank AG in Essen, in addition to advisory roles with several asset managers.

A longtime advocate for community service, Franken volunteers as chair of a local hospice organization and sits on the board of the Episcopal Wineries in Trier.

Henk Groot serves as head of investments at Pensioenfonds Detailhandel, the Dutch pension fund for the retail sector, where he has led the investment strategy for more than a decade. The fund, which manages €34 billion in assets, benefits from Groot’s pragmatic approach to long-term portfolio construction and risk management.

He began his career at KAS Bank, holding roles in account management, global custody, and institutional client relations. He later joined Northern Trust, where he rose to Vice President with responsibility for Dutch institutional clients.

Groot studied at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and has completed specialized programs in securities operations and pension fund governance, including executive coursework at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.

Hartwig Liersch serves as chief investment officer at Pensioenfonds Metaal & Techniek (PMT), one of the Netherlands’ largest pension funds, where he oversees the fund’s €82 billion investment portfolio. Since joining PMT in 2010 and becoming CIO in 2017, Liersch has led efforts to strengthen long-term strategy, portfolio resilience, and sustainability across asset classes.

Prior to joining PMT, Liersch spent more than a decade at ING in progressively senior roles across asset and liability management, capital allocation, and liquidity risk. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector, with a strong focus on risk-adjusted decision-making and responsible long-term investing.

Liersch earned his master’s degree in monetary economics and econometrics from the University of Münster in Germany. He is an active contributor to the Dutch pension community and currently serves on the Asset Management Committee of the Federation of Dutch Pension Funds.

Vincenzo Dicembre serves as chief investment officer at Fondazione Roma, where he is responsible for shaping and overseeing the foundation’s long-term investment strategy. Since joining in 2014, he has advised the board on asset allocation and investment policy, led internal oversight of the foundation’s external asset managers, and built a structured approach to managing diversified portfolios that balance risk and return.

Dicembre’s earlier career spans global capital markets roles. From 2007 to 2013, he was Director of the Client Solutions Group at CIBC FirstCaribbean in Barbados, overseeing the distribution of investment and treasury products across the Caribbean. He began his career in 1999 at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, advancing to head the Forward Exchange Desk in Milan before relocating to Hong Kong as Head of Treasury and Proprietary Trading for the Asia-Pacific region.

He brings deep expertise in global markets, derivatives, and structured products, with a cross-regional perspective that informs his leadership at the foundation.