US-based investment manager Brown Advisory, which has about $170 billion in assets under management, creates new leadership structure.

Brown Advisory has named Logie Fitzwilliams as its co-CEO to serve alongside long-time CEO Mike Hankin, as part of its new leadership structure.

Effective immediately, Fitzwilliams (pictured left) and Hankin (pictured right) will share chief executive responsibilities, the firm said in a statement. Based in Baltimore, Hankin has served as the sole CEO and president since the firm became private and independent in 1998. Fitzwilliams started with Brown Advisory in 2003 as an equity research analyst, supporting the firm's US equity strategies. Most recently, he served as the UK-based head of international business and global head of sales. In 2012, Fitzwilliams launched the firm's international private client business which initially dealt with US expats living in the UK.

Fitzwilliams is currently based in the UK but spends a lot of time in the US. He will eventually relocate to Baltimore although no specific date has been set yet, the firm told this news service.

Together, Brown Advisory’s independent board of directors and Hankin decided that a co-CEO structure would be the best design for providing the leadership needed to meet the growing needs of the firm's clients, colleagues and shareholders.

Hankin and Fitzwilliams have worked together for the last 15 years. The evolution represents a significant change in Brown Advisory's leadership since the firm adopted its current private, independent structure in 1998. As co-CEOs – and co-presidents – Hankin and Fitzwilliams will serve on, and report to, the board that governs the firm.

“In the building of a global investment team and business to complement what we have been cultivating in the US, Logie has led with the qualities that we think make him the ideal person to share responsibility for leadership of the entire firm,” Hankin said. “He understands that to be truly client first, we need to be obsessively focused on listening to our clients in the US and around the world.” 

"Being based in the UK, I have had the direct opportunity to work with and advise Logie on the firm's international business strategy. I have seen first-hand the incredible impact he has made for Brown Advisory and its clients," Bea Hollond, director and chair of the firm's international advisory board, added.

Quintin Ings-Chambers will take over as head of the international business, the firm continued. Ings-Chambers joined Brown Advisory in 2012 as head of the firm's international private client and charity business. He has over 25 years of investment industry experience. Prior to joining Brown Advisory, he served as an investment director at SG Hambros and as a director in the private client and charity group of Baring Asset Management. He will report to Fitzwilliams.

Under Hankin's leadership, the firm has grown from overseeing client assets of $2 billion in 1998 about $170 billion – representing an annualised growth rate of 17 per cent. The firm's clients are served by nearly 1,000 colleagues located in 14 offices across the US, a significant office in London and locations in Frankfurt, Singapore and Tokyo. The firm's clients – a collection of individuals, families, nonprofits, charities, institutions and financial intermediaries – are located in 51 countries and in every US state. Brown Advisory also manages fund platforms, private funds, mutual funds – and now exchange-trade funds (ETFs) – in the US, as well as platforms outside of the US in Ireland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.