Cardano, the investment management and advisory business, today announces the appointment of Jonathan Repp as Director and Sonia Sandhu and Jacob Wooderson as Analysts to expand its Risk Solutions team. This move will enable the Risk Solutions team to address the growing demand in the space and expand its use of technology to enhance data and benefits analytics.

Jonathan Repp joins Cardano from EY where he spent almost six years advising trustees and corporations on buy-in, buyout and superfund transactions. At EY, Jonathan led the business’ consulting on superfund and capital-backed funding arrangements and has a long track record advising clients on pension financing, accounting, liability and risk issues. Prior to joining EY, Jonathan was at Mercer for over 15 years.

Sonia Sandhu draws on experience as an actuarial consultant and technology implementation specialist at Mercer and then HowNow.  

Jacob Wooderson worked previously as a BPA pricing analyst at Standard Life and a trustee consultant at Willis Towers Watson.

Cardano’s dedicated Risk Solutions team was the lead settlement advisor to the £4.8 billion buy-in completed between the Boots Pension Scheme and Legal & General in November 2023, the largest ever single buy-in transaction by both premium size and number of members in the UK bulk purchase annuity market. Year to date the team has advised on c.30% of the BPA transactions that have been publicly announced, including four of the five largest transactions in the market.

Adolfo Aponte, Managing Director and Head of Risk Solutions at Cardano said, “We’re delighted to welcome Jonathan, Sonia and Jacob to Cardano at a time when pension funds are upgrading their end-game strategies to reflect improved funding levels.  

“Trustees and sponsors have never had as many risk transfer and run-on strategies to choose from. We expect this trend to continue with the new Government pointing to further innovation to support the UK’s growth ambitions.

“The expansion of the Risk Solution team reflects the growing opportunity we see in a market that needs to combine broad-based strategic insight with specialist execution and use of technology across all stages of a risk transfer project, including data analytics, brokering and post buy-in support. Jonathan, Sonia and Jacob will support our push to deliver better outcomes for scheme members and sponsors.”