Gartmore has confirmed the appointment of Leigh Himsworth as Head of UK Equities. He will join in the Autumn and report to Gartmore’s Chief Investment Officer, Dominic Rossi. Joining from Royal London Asset Management, Himsworth has over a decade of investment experience. At RLAM, he managed the Royal London UK Mid-Cap Growth Trust producing top decile performance over one, two and three years and since launch. Dominic Rossi commented on the appointment: “One of Gartmore’s key business aims has been to develop a strong UK equity offering, one which delivers disciplined and outstanding performance. Leigh is a front runner in the UK equities universe with a proven track record." Furthermore, Gartmore has announced the appointment of Robert Tull in Tokyo. Rob is appointed to the role of Portfolio Manager and Analyst and will report to John Stewart, Head of Japanese Equities. Tull has been hired to strengthen the research capability of the team in Japan whilst providing portfolio management support to both John Stewart and Justin Bowles, the fund managers of the Japanese equity long/short funds, Hokuto and Tenro. He has more than 10 years of investment experience in Japanese equities, most recently as a portfolio manager for KBC Alternative Investment Management in Hong Kong. Prior to this he was a research analyst at both KBC Securities Japan and Cazenove Japan in Tokyo.
BlueCrest Capital Management has appointed Matthew Weir as Chief Risk Officer. He will oversee the risk management for the firm’s investment funds and lead a risk management team of six. Weir joins BlueCrest from New Smith Capital Partners where he was Head of Risk & Control for four years. He was responsible for the implementation of risk reporting and controls for all of the hedge funds and long only businesses. Prior to this he was the Head of Risk & Control at Brevan Howard Asset Management for two years, where he was also solely responsible for setting up the risk reporting and control infrastructure of the Fund from inception. He moved to Brevan Howard from Credit Suisse First Boston where he was responsible for risk management of the global interest rate products and European money market divisions. Matthew has a BSc in Mathematics from Southampton University, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1994. Mike Platt, CEO, commented: “The breadth and depth of Matthew’s 15 years’ experience in managing risk and developing both risk systems and reporting for investors across most asset classes will be a great addition to our business. BlueCrest has always placed a great importance on its risk controls and now it is also becoming an ever higher priority for investors so we are delighted to have someone of Matthew’s calibre joining the team.”
UBS Investment Bank has appointed Stuart Hendel as Global Head of Prime Brokerage. UBS also announced that it has named Mitch Moore as Global Head of Exchange-Traded Derivatives. Both Hendel and Moore will report to Daniel Coleman, Global Head of Equities. Hendel, 50, previously held the position of Global Head of Prime Brokerage at Morgan Stanley in New York. From 2004 through 2007, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Eton Park Capital Management. Prior to joining Eton Park, Hendel was US Head of Prime Brokerage at Morgan Stanley. Moore, 46, joined UBS in 1992 and rejoins the firm following his departure last year. He previously ran the ETD business for UBS and its predecessor firm, Union Bank of Switzerland. Most recently, until March 2008, he held the position of Global Chief Operating Officer for Equities and Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities (FICC) at UBS. Moore has also held other senior positions at the firm, including Global Head of Prime Brokerage and Global Head of Convertible Sales.
Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company has announced that Peter D. A. Stein has joined the firm, based in Irvine. Stein will take on a role in the senior management of the firm and chair the Strategy Allocation Committee. He was previously the Chief Investment Officer at the University of Chicago. At Chicago, Stein was responsible for the management of the University’s $4.9 billion endowment and its 20-person Investment Office. Jane Buchan, CEO of PAAMCO said: “Not only is Peter one of the top investors in the world, but he is also an outstanding leader of people. Peter’s skills as an investor will further help ensure we continue to deliver world-class investment solutions to our institutional clients as we embark on our 10th year of investing in hedge fund strategies for institutional investors.” In addition, Stein will work in and have oversight of less liquid strategies such as direct lending, workouts and control, and longer term event driven workouts. Stein will take a central role in managing these strategies going forward. Buchan added: “I have known Peter both personally and professionally for over 20 years. His experience perfectly complements ours as our team of seven sector heads averages 16 years of investment experience. We are thrilled to have Peter join our senior leadership at PAAMCO.”
Omgeo has welcomed Jonathan E. Beyman, managing director, global head of operations and technology for Citigroup, to its board of managers. He replaces Naresh Kumar, also of Citigroup, who has retired his board position. With a career spanning over 30 years in the field of operations, Beyman’s current role at Citigroup makes him responsible for the operations and technology division supporting Citibank’s global securities and banking, and global transaction services businesses. Prior to joining Citigroup in 2008, Beyman was managing director, global head of operations and technology for Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for all aspects of the investment bank’s securities, derivatives, loans, commodities and FX operations. He was also a member of the investment bank management committee. “It is with tremendous gratitude that we bid farewell to Naresh Kumar, who has served our board with his outstanding expertise and invaluable perspective over the past year,” said Rick Macek, chairman of Omgeo. “We are very pleased to welcome Jon, who will no doubt carry on Naresh and Citi’s contributions to guiding Omgeo.”
Muzinich has announced the appointment of Ilona Wachter and Yasmin Ibrahim to boost its distribution capability in the US and Europe respectively. Wachter is Director of Institutional Sales in German-speaking Europe at Muzinich Deutschland in Cologne. Previously, Wachter was a managing director for institutional investors at BNP Paribas Asset Management Deutschland as well as for Quoniam, the former Union PanAgora. Ibrahim joins Muzinich & Co. from Avenue Capital Group, where she was a Vice President in the business development group. Previously, Ibrahim was the head of investor relations and a marketer for Commerzbank Capital Markets Corp.’s alternative investment strategies. Ibrahim began her career as a financial analyst in Investment Banking at SG Cowen Securities Corporation in New York and London. Yasmin joins Muzinich’s client servicing team in New York.
