Aviva said the new hire and its entry into the Benelux market comes “against the backdrop” of its recent successful bids for mandates from Philips Pensioenfonds and Stichting Pensioenfonds Medisch Specialisten – both of which are within the top 20 largest pension funds in the Netherlands.
Willigen joins Aviva from Robeco where he spent 16 years. In his most recent role he was responsible for establishing strategic relationships, servicing institutional clients and cross selling while overseeing institutional account management. Prior to this, he was interim head of institutional sales and account management for Benelux, Italy, Nordics and the UK at Robeco. He has also worked at Rabobank and at the Institute for Research and Investment Services based in the Netherlands.
Ted Potter, managing director – business development Europe & Middle East, said: “It is a logical next step for us considering our ambitious expansion strategy and our existing client relationships in the market. With the depth of the Aviva Group footprint and Aviva Investors own global reach we feel we are in a good position to actively add value to investors in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.”
