The Alternative Investment Management Association of Canada has announced the appointment of Gary Ostoich as Chair. He succeeds Phil Schmitt who is stepping down after serving as Chair for the past three years. “I look forward to furthering the work of AIMA Canada in fostering transparency, investor education, and best practices throughout the Canadian industry,” said Ostoich. Gary Ostoich is President of Spartan Fund Management which manages a multi-strategy hedge fund based in Toronto. He has been a prominent figure in the Canadian Hedge Fund industry for many years, having become involved as a lawyer in the early 1990s when the Canadian alternatives market was in its infancy. He has been associated with AIMA Canada since it was established in 2003 and played an integral role in its founding as one of the organisation’s initial Executive Committee members.

GLG Partners has announced the appointment of David Waller as the firm’s first Director of Communications. Waller has spent the last two years as a Partner at Maitland, the financial public relations firm where he acted for a number of clients including UKFI, the body that manages the UK Government’s investments in the banking sector. Prior to joining Maitland, he worked in a number of senior roles within the Allianz Group including as Group Head of External Relations. Waller started his career at the Financial Times where he held a number of roles over eight years including Deputy Head of the Lex Column where his responsibilities included financial institutions.

36 South has announced a senior hire from Barclays Global Investors, Maya Abou Zeid , who joins 36 South as Head of Sales for the UK and EMEA. At BGI, Abou Zeid was a Senior Associate and Investment Strategist in the Client Solutions Group. She has particular experience as a product specialist in multi strategy fund of hedge funds and smart beta strategies covering fixed income, global macro and equities. Maya is an experienced financial services professional who has previously worked for HSBC Private Bank (UK) Ltd, Byblos Bank Europe SAL and the Central Bank of Lebanon.

Spencer House Partners has announced that Knut Eirik Dahl formerly of J.P. Morgan has joined the firm as a Partner. Dahl who has 18 years of investment banking experience will focus on providing the firm’s merchant banking and advisory services to clients in the investment management industry. “Knut brings a wealth of industry knowledge and an extensive relationship network to Spencer House Partners,” said Jeremy Sillem, Managing Partner of Spencer House Partners. “His financial services expertise, as well as his significant M&A and capital markets experience, will be highly valuable to our clients who are seeking the independent advice, industry knowledge, and capital sources that Spencer House Partners aims to provide. We are extremely pleased to have him join the firm.”

The Universities Superannuation Scheme , the UK’s second largest private sector pension fund, has announced the appointment of Roger Gray as Chief Investment Officer. Gray succeeds Peter Moon, who is retiring after 17 years at USS. Gray was previously Chief Investment Officer at Hermes Investment Management. Before joining Hermes in 2006, he was Global Head of Asset Allocation/Currency at UBS Brinson and Chief Investment Officer at Rothschild Asset Management. He has more than 25 years of investment management and institutional advisory experience. Roger holds an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and an AM in Economics from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Tom Merchant, Chief Executive of USS, said: “We would like to acknowledge and thank Peter Moon for his enormous contribution to USS over the years and welcome Roger Gray to his new role. Roger brings a strong background in global and multi-asset investment and risk management to USS. We are very excited about this new phase in USS’ leadership.”