Our executive team

Michelle was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) in July 2019. Michelle has spent her career at major global firms and has extensive asset management experience across investments, distribution, product, operations and risk. 

Before joining LGIM, Michelle was Chief Executive Officer, EMEA, at Columbia Threadneedle Investments and a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Ameriprise Financial. Prior to that, she was Chief Risk Officer at M&G Investments and a Director of M&G Group Limited, whom she joined in 2012 from BlackRock.

Michelle held a number of senior leadership positions at BlackRock, and previously at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Mercury Asset Management, including Chief Operating Officer, International Fixed Income; Global Head of Fixed Income Product and Head of Alternative Investments. 

Michelle is Deputy Chair of the Investment Association, a member of the FCA’s Practitioner Panel and is Co-Chair of the COP26 Business Leaders Group. 

Michelle holds a BA (Hons) in French from the University of Sheffield.

Sarah is Head of Distribution leading all distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Sarah reports directly to the CEO. She joined LGIM in 2014 from Insight Investment, where she held the title of Head of Distribution. Prior to that, she worked at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and JP Morgan. Sarah started her career at Cazenove as a UK equity analyst. She graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University and has an MA in History.

Margaret joined Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) in February 2020 as the Chief Risk Officer. She is responsible for the independent oversight of risk across LGIM’s global operations and holds the SMF4-Chief Risk Function designation.

Margaret has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, and has held senior risk roles within asset management firms including M&G Investments and Schroders Investment Management. She has worked in the UK, Asia and Australia.

Margaret holds a Masters in Applied Finance from Macquarie University, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia and a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Canberra. She is also a certified Financial Risk Manager through the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Bill joined Legal & General in 2007 and is responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform. Operating in both the direct investment and lending markets, today it actively invests and manages over £36bn* AUM providing capabilities in real estate, infrastructure and corporate debt. Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. 

Bill is currently Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA), bringing together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice. Bill was a Commissioner for the Lyons Review, is a Past Chairman of the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) and a Past President of the British Property Federation (BPF).

 (*data as at 30 December 2020)

Martina Kay joined LGIM as Global HR Director in January 2020 and is responsible for supporting our global growth ambitions through its people. She brings more than 20 years’ senior HR international experience across retail and global asset managers. Previously Board HR Director at Homebase, she led HR & Corporate Affairs through its restructuring and turnaround to 2019.

At UBS from 2014, she was Managing Director, Head of HR for UBS Asset Management. As Global Head of Human Resources at Schroders from 2011, Martina was adviser to the Remuneration Committee and led HR through the acquisition of Cazenove Capital. During her tenure at BlackRock from 2007 to 2011, she was Head of International HR in London, involved in the acquisition of BGI and subsequently moved to New York as Managing Director, Global HR Relationship Manager, Global Client Group. Martina graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London and holds a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Sonja Laud is Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). She leads the firm’s investment team which spans trading as well as solutions, active fixed income, index, active equity, annuities and multi-asset businesses.

Her remit covers all aspects of Investments from research analysis to portfolio construction, with a focus on leading LGIM’s responsible investment strategy. Sonja joined the asset manager as Deputy CIO in January 2019 and was appointed to the role of CIO in June 2019.

Previously, Sonja was Head of Equity at Fidelity International, responsible for the Global, Equity Income and UK Portfolio Managers as well as the Investment Director team. She joined from Barings where she launched and managed global multi-asset portfolios.

Prior to that, she worked for Schroders where she managed, for eight successful years, several global, European and UK equity funds, with a focus on high-dividend stocks. Sonja started her career at DWS in Frankfurt, where she was an award-winning global equities portfolio manager.

Sonja has completed a Global Executive MBA program at TRIUM (LSE, NYUStern, HEC) and has MSc, EMIM from ESCP Europe. She is a CFA Charter holder. She is a regular media commentator, appearing across broadcast including the BBC, Sky News, Bloomberg and CNBC.

Richard Lee joined LGIM as Chief Financial Officer in November 2018 and is responsible for managing the financial strategy, risks and record keeping for the LGIM group of companies.

Formerly he held the position as Group Performance Director for the Legal & General Group since July 2017 in which he was responsible for driving financial performance across the Retirement, Insurance, Investment Management and Capital divisions. Prior to this Richard held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer in Legal & General Retirement, a division that helps over one million customers achieve financial security in retirement and invests nearly £60bn of assets to back the Group's promises to pensioners. Richard has held various other positions since joining the company in 1997 including Group Commercial Development Director, Director of Financial Management for the Protection & Annuities businesses and Head of Actuarial Transformation.

Richard has a First Class degree in mathematics and statistics and became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 2002.

Michael was appointed Head of Responsible Investment Integration for Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) in May 2020 leading LGIM’s ESG transformation efforts across the organisation, having joined LGIM in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to LGIM Michael had a 28 year career at BlackRock (and its predecessor firms), where he was most recently regional head of the Client Solutions group. Preceding that role Michael had established and led a number of businesses including the Fiduciary Mandate business, the Aladdin risk management and enterprise tools business and the Transition Management group. Michael is a passionate supporter of inclusion, a vocal ally and executive sponsor of Legal & General’s LGBT network. He graduated from UMIST in 1987 with a degree in Management Science.

As Chief of Staff, Rhodri is responsible for LGIM’s global Strategy, Product and Marketing teams, as well as being the lead executive responsible for LGIM’s relationship with key client Legal & General Retirement.  Rhodri joined LGIM in March 2016 following a series of senior Product Strategy and Development roles at leading asset managers, including M&G, BlackRock and Federated Hermes. Rhodri graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Social & Political Sciences. Rhodri is a member of the trustee Board at RedSTART, a charity committed to educating one million young people in personal finance by 2025.

Aaron Meder became Chief Executive Officer for Legal & General Investment Management America (LGIMA) in March 2017.

Prior to this appointment, Aaron was Head of Investment for LGIMA’s UK affiliate, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), where he led all investment teams across Solutions, Index, Active Fixed Income, Active Equity and Multi-Asset. Aaron has held the positions of Global Head of Solutions for LGIM, as well as Head of US Pension Solutions for LGIMA, where he started his career with the firm in 2010.

Prior to joining LGIMA, Aaron was a managing director and Head of Asset-Liability Investment Solutions, Americas for UBS Global Asset Management. He began his career as an actuary at Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of The Economic Club of Chicago and sits on the CEO Leadership Council for The Financial Services Pipeline Initiative. He is a CFA charterholder.

Aaron earned a BS in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Northwestern University

As Global Chief Operating Officer, Brenda is responsible for LGIM’s Technology, Operations, Transformation and Client Servicing teams and holds the SMF 24 Chief Operations designation. Brenda joined LGIM in May of 2020 and brings more than 25 years’ of experience in global asset management. Prior to LGIM Brenda had a 24-year career at BlackRock, based in both its New York and London offices, where she was most recently Global Head of Client Services, EMEA Head of Operations and COO of their Business Operations division.  Brenda has experience leading large transformational change, improving the client experience and delivering operational excellence across diverse client markets and product ranges.

Brenda graduated from the University of Delaware and holds a BS in Accounting and Economics. Brenda is a member of the Board of trustees of the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County, a non-profit organization dedicated to enabling young people to reach their full potential.