Sarah Nowell joins London CIV as Chief Risk Officer

16/07/2024: London CIV, the investment pooling company that exclusively manages Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) assets for all London boroughs and the City of London, has appointed Sarah Nowell, former director of risk at investment platform Freetrade Limited, as its new Chief Risk Officer. She takes over from Stephen Burke who, after a distinguished career of nearly 38 years, has decided to retire.

Nowell, who takes on the role of Chief Risk Officer and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prescribed function of Compliance Officer, brings over 20 years’ experience to the role, having worked for a variety of FCA-authorised investment management firms, supporting multiple clients and product types.

At London CIV, she heads up a four-strong team that oversees all risk and compliance matters for the business.

Nowell started her career as an auditor at Ernst & Young, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. She then spent six years in financial services risk management consulting for insurance and investment management clients, also within Ernst & Young, before moving to focus on risk management in-house within the asset management industry at institutional asset manager Insight Investment, which manages strategies including fixed income, liability-driven investment, cash, absolute return, multi-asset, and equities.

Nowell then moved to take on the Head of Risk role at Alcentra, which specialises in credit and private debt, before joining Freetrade Limited, a mobile-first brokerage technology firm, where she was director of risk.  

Originally from Sri Lanka, Nowell moved to the UK in her teens and completed her education at Trinity College, Oxford where she read Chemistry.  

Commenting on Nowell’s appointment, Dean Bowden, CEO at London CIV, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Sarah to the London CIV team as chief risk officer. Her unrivalled experience is core for the business – especially at a time when we are broadening our capabilities in collaboration with our partner funds to meet their evolving needs.”

Nowell added: “I’m delighted to be joining the London CIV team at an exciting time in its journey. Having worked within the Risk and Regulatory landscape for over 20 years, I am excited to put my knowledge and breadth of experience to work to support the public sector.

"I look forward to building on the strong foundation and risk culture already in place and am committed to ensuring sound risk management practices are in place as London CIV grows the breadth of services it offers on behalf of its shareholders and clients.” 

Nowell’s appointment followed a rigorous recruitment process after previous incumbent Stephen Burke announced his intention to retire from work in January 2024. Burke’s announcement came just after he successfully guided London CIV in achieving its Variation of Permissions from the FCA – a key enabler for London CIV’s strategy to increase the service offering for its partner funds.

As part of this strategy, last month London CIV announced the appointment of Andrien Meyers, a lead advocate for the formation of London CIV and current Head of Pensions Investments at both the London Borough of Sutton and Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, who will take on a newly-created role of Chief Proposition Officer in September 2024.  

On Burke’s decision to retire, Dean Bowden said: “Stephen has played an exceptional role in helping to evolve London CIV’s role as the investment partner for the London LGPS community. During his five-year tenure, he developed and grew a robust risk and compliance function and guided the company during a time when pooled assets doubled.

"While we’re sad to see Stephen go, after a distinguished career of nearly 38 years we’re delighted that he can now pack his FCA Handbook away and spend more time doing the other things he enjoys.”

Burke added: “It has been a delight to lead an excellent risk and compliance team and develop the function to ensure it meets the ongoing needs of the business, something that will never stop evolving, with the next step being embedding and utilising our new permissions. A hugely exciting point in the growth of the business.”

[ENDS]

About London CIV

Launched in 2015, London LGPS CIV Ltd (‘London CIV’) is an investment pooling company that exclusively manages Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) assets for the London boroughs and City of London, all of which are equally our Partner Funds and shareholders.

London CIV has 31.6bn assets under management (£17.1bn actively managed and £14.5 in passive fund assets) as at 31 March 2024. There are 18 funds that invest in public markets and six that invest in private markets, all of which have been exclusively designed and are available to our London partner funds. Our purpose is to work together to deliver sustainable prosperity for the communities that count on us all.

London CIV is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA').

For press enquiries, contact:

Richard O’Donnell, Head of Marketing
richard.odonnell@londonciv.org.uk