Luba Nikulina appointed Chief Strategy Officer at IFM Investors

IFM Investors, a global investment manager owned by Australian pension funds, is pleased to announce the appointment of Luba Nikulina as its inaugural Chief Strategy Officer.

Based in London and joining the global executive team, Nikulina will lead the development of IFM’s global strategy with a focus on private markets solutions that meet the needs of Australian and global pension funds and their members. She is highly motivated by IFM’s purpose to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people and sustainable investing.

With over 25 years of investment industry experience, Nikulina joins from WTW (previously known as Willis Towers Watson), where she was Global Head of Research, advising some of the world’s largest asset owners on strategy, governance and investments, managing a team of over 100 analysts. During her time at WTW, she worked in London and New York and was responsible for establishing WTW’s private markets capabilities.

As a pension-fund-owned, long-term investor, IFM invests on behalf of more than 600 pension funds and like-minded investors globally and works in close collaboration with our investors with the ultimate objective of meeting the investment needs of their members and beneficiaries.

In line with IFM’s collaborative approach, Nikulina served on the UK Government’s Social Impact Investing Taskforce, City of London’s Socioeconomic Diversity Taskforce, co-chaired the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group and has contributed to numerous other global collaborative cross-industry initiatives.

She has been included in the FN100 Most Influential Women in European Finance list for the past eight years, holds an AMP degree from Harvard Business School and an MBA from the London Business School.

Quotes attributable to IFM Investors Chief Executive David Neal:

“I’m excited to have Luba joining IFM Investors in the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer. She will lead IFM’s global strategy to continue to meet the needs of our investors and their members, such as nurses, teachers, construction and hospitality workers.”

“Luba is a strong and experienced leader of global teams and shares IFM’s commitment to ESG and sustainability, which we believe helps us deliver on our purpose to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people.”

Quotes attributable to IFM Investors Chief Strategy Officer Luba Nikulina:

“I am delighted to be joining one of the world’s largest pension-fund-owned private markets investment firms at a time when the critical role of long-term capital has never been clearer.”

“IFM and its team are long-term responsible investors, with the track record of delivering risk-adjusted returns by investing in assets, which include those with broad economic and social benefits.”

“I look forward to building on these strong foundations and enhancing IFM’s investment offering for the benefit of IFM’s investors, who represent millions of working people globally.”

For media queries, please contact:

Australia: Alida Merson, +61 439 773 809 or media@ifminvestors.com.

United Kingdom/EMEA: ifmuk@fticonsulting.com

North America: ifmus@fticonsulting.com

About IFM Investors

IFM Investors was established more than 25 years ago with the aim to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people. Owned by a group of Australian pension funds, the organisation has A$199 billion under management as at 30 June 2022. Because IFM is owned by industry pension funds, we prioritise the interests of 600 like-minded investors worldwide by focusing on assets that combine excellent long-term risk/reward characteristics with broad economic and social benefits to the community. As a signatory to The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, IFM actively engages on ESG issues with the companies in which we invest with the aim of enhancing their net performance while minimising investment risk. Operating globally from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, IFM manages investments across infrastructure, debt, listed equities and private equity assets. For more information, visit ifminvestors.com.