Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Finnish pension insurance company Elo has appointed Jonna Ryhänen as Chief Investment Officer and Deputy CEO. Ryhänen, a long-term director who has led Elo’s allocation and alternative investments unit, assumed the role of interim investment chief on October 1 to succeed Hanna Hiidenpalo, who decided to step down from the position.

Ryhänen has extensive work experience in Elo’s investment organisation and its predecessor companies. Ryhänen has been part of Elo since its establishment in January 2014 through the merger of Pension Fennia and LocalTapiola Pension Company. Prior to that, she worked at LocalTapiola since early 2000. “Jonna has a strong track record in the management of the investment organisation and vision to further develop the function,” says Carl Pettersson, CEO of Elo. “I am happy that we are getting Jonna to steer Elo’s investments.”

“It is a great honour to lead Elo’s top investment experts.”

“It is a great honour to lead Elo’s top investment experts,” comments Jonna Ryhänen. “Employment pension companies carry out very meaningful work and it is a pleasure to be involved in this task from the investment organisation.” Ryhänen has been serving as interim investment chief since early October after the former Chief Investment Officer announced her departure. While Elo initially announced the search for a new CIO, it was later decided that Ryhänen would continue her interim duties permanently.

Elo is the third-largest of the four pension insurance companies in Finland, overseeing an investment portfolio worth €28.8 billion as of the end of the third quarter. Elo had 9.7 percent, or €2.75 billion, of its portfolio allocated to hedge funds at the end of the quarter, up from 9.3 percent at the end of 2022. Elo’s portfolio of hedge funds returned 4.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2023 following a return of 2.3 percent for the full year of 2022.