One of most influential women in European asset management, Judy Saunders, has taken her second job in two weeks and within a month of taking early retirement from the £9bn West Midlands Pension Fund.

Saunders, who was voted second only to Elizabeth Corley in the 2009 Financial News Awards for Excellence in Institutional Asset Management, Europe, has become a senior adviser at Man Group, the UK-listed hedge fund management group, on a consultancy basis. Last week she became an independent investment adviser at the £700m London Borough of Newham Pension Fund.