By Muskan Arora
The former Tesco pension CIO, Jenny Buck, has been appointed as the CIO of the $62.5bn London CIV, an entity which manages assets for 32 local government pension plans in the city and boroughs of London. She will take over the role in early March.
Buck is filling Aoinfinn Devitt's shoes, who announced her
resignation from the plan last July to join Moneta, a registered investment
adviser firm.
Over the past five years, London CIV has undergone multiple
CIO turnovers. Devitt, who was the CIO for less than a year; Jason Fletcher,
who served between 2020 and 2023; and Mark Thompson, who was CIO in 2019 for
just under a month.
Before taking over the role at London CIV, Buck sat as a CIO for Tesco Pension Investment since 2021. She has held multiple senior roles at the fund since 2021, including head of property, head of private markets and deputy CIO. At Tesco, she was also responsible for growing the leadership team – which grew to more than 100 employees.
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The CIO appointment follows plans of Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the exchequer, to reform the U.K.’s pension system to promote consolidation of local plans.
Last year, Reeves advocated for the consolidation into a few “mega funds” which would allow the funds to invest in a wider range of assets including infrastructure.
With a vision to replicate the investment style of Canada’s Maple-8 pension plans and Australian superannuation system, which focuses on internal management of assets, direct investing and higher allocation to infrastructure, Reeves is also pushing U.K. pension to invest in infrastructure.