A roundup of executive moves in the world's wealth management industry during October this year.

Continental Europe, UK, Africa and Middle East

The offshore law firm in Bermuda appointed family law expert Honor Desmond-Tetlow as a senior consultant within its private client and dispute resolution teams. Desmond-Tetlow, who advises on all areas of matrimonial, family and child law and general civil litigation, is experienced in acting for high net worth clients, such as complex and contentious divorces and custody applications, Carey Olsen said in a statement yesterday. She is a trained mediator and collaborative law practitioner, and has lived in Bermuda for the past 34 years. She is vice chair of the Collaborative Law Alliance of Bermuda and sits on the co-parenting Mediation Council of Bermuda.

Geneva-based Eric Sturdza Investments appointed Alisdair Bell as sales director. Based in the firm’s London office, he is responsible for leading Eric Sturdza Investments’ wholesale and institutional channels in the UK. Prior to this, Bell worked at Alken Asset Management, where he managed client relationships with family offices, fund of funds, private banks and institutional investors across the UK, the Middle East and Asia. 

Quilter Cheviot appointed Simon Funge as the new head of office in Manchester, leading a team of six investment managers. Funge was formerly the managing director of regional advice firm Worldwide Financial Planning. He took over from David Rothburn who led Quilter Cheviot’s Manchester team for 17 years and was a founding member of the business back in 1993. Rothburn is remaining at Quilter to concentrate full-time on his clients. 

iCapital Network, the New York-based global tech platform for alternative investments, made two senior European appointments – both formerly from Deutsche Bank. It appointed Marco Bizzozero as head of international business, who previously worked as wealth management CEO for UniCredit, the Italian banking group. iCapital also named former Deutsche Bank figure – and a judge for the WealthBriefing European Awards – Tom Slocock. Bizzozero is based in Zurich, while Slocock is in London. 

Bizzozero is head of the firm's international arm. Before his stint at UniCredit, Bizzozero was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, where he most recently served as head of wealth management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland. Slocock joined iCapital as managing director and head of international product development and origination, reporting to Bizzozero. Slocock was with Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in London for more than 10 years, most recently serving as head of the global funds group and head of the global investment group. Prior to this, he was CEO of the UK Wealth Management business. Before joining Deutsche Bank, he was with Credit Suisse in London, most recently as managing director and head of international private banking.

SCB Julius Baer, the wealth management joint venture between Julius Baer and Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, appointed Joseph Caceres as head of investment advisory and solutions. With nearly two decades of work experience in finance, banking, and international investment management, Caceres held various senior leadership positions in investment advisory and solutions at HSBC Private Bank Singapore for more than 13 years. 

Capital Group appointed Nadia Grant as a portfolio manager, based in London. Grant works in the team at the investment behemoth’s Capital Solutions Group. Prior to this job, Grant was head of EMEA-based US Equities at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Before joining Columbia Threadneedle in 2014, she worked for 13 years at JP Morgan Asset Management in various investment roles, including as portfolio manager within its global multi-asset group.

Justin Simler was named head of multi-asset product strategy at Aberdeen Standard Investments. He is based in London. For a decade Simler worked as head of product management for Schroders in multi-asset and quantitative equities, then moved to a similar strategy role at Investec. Prior to that, he worked in Asia and Europe for BZW, Barclays and Merrill Lynch in various posts, including head of research, CIO and fund manager.

Alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital promoted Carmen Alonso as head of UK and Peter Cirenza as chairman of the UK and tactical strategies. Head of Iberian businesss, Alonso oversees all investment strategies and capital-raising for the firm's UK business, which includes private credit, real assets and private equity. She runs the London office jointly with Cirenza who also chairs the private equity business. 

Alonso, who joined Tikehau Capital in 2015, focused on building the firm’s Iberia business from its Madrid office. Previously, she worked in leverage finance at UBS and also spent time in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and HVB. Cirenza led the UK team for four years.

Quintet Switzerland, part of Quintet Private Bank, named Jing Zhang Brogle as market head, Asia International. Most recently, Zhang Brogle was global market manager Asia at Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse). She also served as CEO of the Swiss bank’s Hong Kong branch. Her other roles were CEO and member of the board at Vontobel Wealth Management (Hong Kong), as well as head of Greater China at Vontobel Private Banking International, Switzerland. Prior to that, she was a senior client advisor for UBS Wealth Management in Switzerland.

The Italian bank UniCredit named economist Pier Carlo Padoan as director; it was also due to name the former Treasury chief as chairman in 2021. Padoan is a parliamentarian for the ruling centre-left PD party. Professor Padoan took over from Elena Zambon, a long-term board member, who stepped down having declared that her primary professional engagements would prevent her from devoting the necessary time and commitment to the board of directors' activities.

Investec Wealth & Investment appointed Leigh Yeaman as divisional director and head of the Belfast office. She took over from Samuel Brown, following his retirement. Yeaman, who joined the firm as an investment director in 2015, manages portfolios for high net worth private clients, trusts, pension schemes, and corporate entities. With more than 20 years of wealth management experience, Yeaman worked at Barclays Stockbrokers in Glasgow, Stirling Hendry (now Brewin Dolphin) in Scotland, before moving home to Northern Ireland in 1999, where she was part of Cunningham Coates Stockbrokers and Quilter, prior to joining Investec in June 2015. 

The compliance boss at Liechtenstein-based LGT, the private bank, resigned from the business for personal reasons. Johannes Pfister’s departure was not related to his role at LGT.

Credit Suisse appointed former Julius Baer board member and Bank of America Merrill Lynch senior figure Christian Meissner as co-head of international wealth management investment banking advisory (IWM IBA). He was also made vice chairman of investment banking, as of 26 October. Together with Babak Dastmaltschi, chairman of strategic clients IWM and co-head of IWM IBA, Meissner further develops and executes IWM’s strategy for entrepreneurial high net worth clients. Since May this year, Meissner had been a director on the board of rival Swiss bank Julius Baer. He resigned with immediate effect.

Meissner works with David Miller globally and Jens Welter in EMEA, as well as Yves-Alain Sommerhalder, head of global trading solutions and the international financing group. With 30 years of experience in investment banking, Meissner has built an extensive network in Europe. He held various senior positions at investment banks, most recently serving as head of global corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Prior to that, he was at Lehman Brothers from 2004 to 2008, where he served as co-head of EMEA investment banking and subsequently was co-CEO for EMEA. Before this, Meissner was at Goldman Sachs. He is based in Zurich and reports to Philipp Wehle, CEO of international wealth management, and to Brian Chin, CEO of the investment bank.

Geneva-based specialist asset manager QUAERO Capital appointed Sophie Bigeard as head of multi-asset strategies for its French subsidiary Quaero Capital (France) SAS. Bigeard is in charge of developing and managing multi-asset mandates for French institutional clients. Before joining the firm, she was head of UCITS analysis and selection for the OFI Group. A multi-manager investment professional for 25 years, Bigeard began her career in 1995 at the Banque du Louvre, first as a mutual fund analyst and then as head of external partnerships. In 2002, she joined the Societe Generale group in Luxembourg as a fund of funds manager. In 2004, she joined OFI Asset Management as a fund of funds manager and then as head of long-only multi-management. In 2017, she created and headed the UCI Selection team for the entire OFI Group.

Funds platform Broadridge hired Linda Power as operations director in Dublin, where she helps to scale up services to European asset managers. Power has spent 20 years in financial services working across APAC and EMEA. She had a long career at State Street, where she held senior management positions in Ireland, China and Hong Kong.

Gian Kull was named head of special situations and uncorrelated strategies at alternatives specialist SYZ Capital, reporting to CEO Marc Syz. Kull is responsible for managing portfolios as well as lead executing some of the firm’s private market investments. He spent a decade investing in special situations, including distressed assets and litigation. He joined from Multiplicty Partners AG, where he focused on structured litigation investments. He was previously director of sourcing at European private equity turnaround fund Valtegra, and before that he managed distressed credit investments for Brigade Capital Management in Zurich.
 

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Switzerland-listed structured products firm Leonteq opened an office in Milan, part of the fintech’s push into the Italian and wider European market. Leonteq’s onshore business in Milan, which started in October, is managed by Marco Occhetti, managing director and head of South Europe. Occhetti joined Leonteq in 2015, and has been building up its Italian market offering. Before joining the firm he led the private banking investment solutions business in Ticino and Southern Europe at Commerzbank for six years. Occhetti was vice president of equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank from 2007 to 2009. He has also worked at Morgan Stanley.

Cazenove Capital, the UK Wealth Management business of Schroders, made a raft of hires across the country’s regions. Portfolio directors Simon Pearson, Richard Walker, Simeon Livesey and Mark Mace joined from UBS to cover the North West and Robert Nye joined from LGT Vestra to cover the South West. 

Alex Hoctor-Duncan was promoted to global head of Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI). He joined the UK manager in 2018 as global sales director, where he was responsible for coordinating the firm’s global sales activity. Prior to that he spent 20 years in senior retail distribution roles at US giant Blackrock. The latest role was a newly-created one. He reports to Standard Life Aberdeen CEO Stephen Bird.

Julius Baer appointed Vijay Solomon as the new group head for global India and developed markets. Six relationship managers also were slated to join Bank Julius Baer and report directly to Solomon, who in turn reports to Torsten Linke, head of global India and developed markets. Together, they provide investment and wealth planning solutions for Indian clients in Asia.

Prior to this, Solomon was most recently head of the NRI and Japan international businesses operating from Hong Kong for Credit Suisse. He was also one of the designated executive officers for the Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch. Prior to that, he served in senior wealth management roles at DBS, Societe Generale and ICICI Bank across Hong Kong and India. He has more than 23 years’ industry experience.

Rob Bailey joined GAM as head of UK wholesale distribution to strengthen its proposition for advisors, discretionary fund managers, wealth platforms and UK domiciled private banks. He reports to global head of distribution Jeremy Roberts. Bailey spent 13 years as head of UK wholesale distribution at AXA Investment Managers. Prior to that, he was a sales director at Framlington Group. He has also served in senior sales roles at Insight Investment, formerly Rothschild Asset Management, and Kleinwort Benson.

Union Bancaire Privée named Biola Babawale as emerging market sovereign debt strategist - a newly-created role. Based in London, she is responsible for sovereign debt research and works with Thomas Christiansen, head of sovereign and frontier debt at UBP. Babawale moved from Vanguard Asset Management, where she spent eight years in various posts, most recently as a senior research associate covering the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) market as part of the fixed income group. 

European ETF provider Tabula Investment Management hired Abdallah Muhammad to lead client development in the Nordic region. Muhammad joined the fixed-income specialist from Invesco where he was head of Nordic ETF business development. Before that he held the same post at ETF provider Source (acquired by Invesco in 2017). He has also been in CRM roles for Nordics at Janus Capital and BlackRock.

UBS appointed ex-Credit Suisse senior figure David Tobin as head of risk technology. Tobin reports to Julie Shapiro, head of risk and financial technology at UBS. At Credit Suisse, Tobin was head of its investment bank credit risk and technology chief in Poland.

Deutsche Bank International Private Bank appointed Corrado Palmieri as new head of advisory and sales for Germany. Palmieri’s role covers investment management, sales management, capital markets and offering management. He reports to Frank Schriever, head for IPB Germany, and Alessandro Caironi, head of advisory and sales. Palmieri replaced Arasch Charifi who left after eight years to become head of wealth management at DZ Privatbank in Germany at the beginning of next year. Palmieri’s former responsibilities as head of chief investment officer and investment solutions for Germany and EMEA were split. Maria Haindl took on the role of head of CIO and investment solutions for Germany in addition to her role as global head of funds and solutions, reporting to Christian Nolting, chief investment officer and head of investment solutions. Michelle Owen became head of chief investment office and investment solutions and capital markets platform for EMEA, reporting to Christian Nolting and Alessandro Caironi (for capital markets).

Somerset Capital Management appointed Mark Williams from Liontrust, another investment firm, to head the Somerset Emerging Markets Dividend Growth and Asia Income funds. Williams co-manages the Somerset Emerging Markets Dividend Growth Fund with Kumar Pandit, who has been with Somerset Capital since 2011. He joined with team members Carolyn Chan and Shashank Savla, who have worked with him at Liontrust since 2012. Somerset took over the Liontrust Asia Income Fund as investment manager later this year, subject to approval, which Mark Williams and Carolyn Chan continue to co-manage, supported by Shashank Savla. Kumar Pandit co-manages the £486 million ($628.7 million) Somerset Emerging Markets Dividend Growth Fund with Mark Williams. Kumar is a senior partner at Somerset Capital who joined the investment team in January 2011. 

Newton Investment Management appointed Paul Birchenough and Ian Smith to join its emerging-market and Asian equities business. Both joined from AXA Investment Managers where they co-managed the AXA Framlington global emerging markets funds. Prior to this, they worked at global emerging markets equity hedge fund, Nevsky Capital.

Birchenough and Smith work alongside Sophia Whitbread, co-lead of Newton’s £1.5 billion emerging-market and Asian equities strategies, including the BNY Mellon Global Emerging Markets Fund. They are supported by investment analyst, Sahil Mali. 

Geneva-based specialist asset manager QUAERO CAPITAL hired Eric Daniel as fund manager. Supported by two analysts, he manages the Global Convertible Bonds strategy launched in May. Prior to joining the firm, Daniel was a partner with London-based alternative asset manager Tyndaris, where he co-managed a similar fund.

ABN AMRO, the Netherlands-based bank, appointed Ferdinand Vaandrager as head of investor relations. Vaandrager acquired over 20 years of experience in financial and capital markets at various international banks. He re-joined ABN AMRO in 2012 as head of equities in the global markets division and until recently headed the overall sales organisation.

UBS Global Wealth Management named Jane Booth in the UK as head of its Northwest region and Fahim Amdani as a director in its Manchester office. Booth, who has been at UBS for four years working with entrepreneurs and their families across the Northwest region, previously trained and practised as a lawyer. Amdani spent the past five years as an advisor to a number of global family offices and business owners, focusing on mergers and acquisitions transactions and private equity investments into direct deals. Prior to this, he worked at JP Morgan and Barclays. 

In addition, Oli York, a UBS client advisor whose roots are in the North West, relocated from Newcastle to UBS’s Manchester office. York has more than 10 years’ experience in the wealth management industry and has a degree in finance and investment management. Sara Hussain is also joining the Wealth Management team in the North West as part of UBS’s apprenticeship scheme, having previously been an apprentice at UBS’s Investment Bank in London.
 

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Cheshire, UK-based wealth advisor Equilibrium Financial Planning added eight new staff during the lockdown period, including seven client managers and a senior hire in risk management to bring the headcount to around 90. Sarah Hammond joined the advice firm as head of risk and compliance, following almost 12 years at LIFT-Financial, where she was head of paraplanning, and most recently head of risk management. Between March and August, Mark Tan, Aleesha Shah, Jo Wall, Lewis Carthew, Rachel Lee, Ryan Etchells, and Jonathan Brusell joined as client managers. 

Standard Chartered appointed Maria Ramos to join its board of directors as an independent non-executive director. She joined StanChart’s audit and board risk committees and became an independent non-executive director of Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to this, Ramos, who is based in South Africa, served as chief executive officer of ABSA Group Limited (previously Barclays Africa Group). Before joining ABSA, Maria was the group chief executive of Transnet, the state-owned freight transport and logistics service provider.

Zurich-listed GAM Investments appointed Debbie Dalzell as group head of human resources. Dalzell reports to group chief executive Peter Sanderson. Dalzell was previously at BlackRock, and formerly Merrill Lynch Investment Management, for 16 years, where she worked in a number of senior HR roles, latterly as head of employee relations. 

Lucian Peppelenbos joined as climate strategist at Robeco to expand the Dutch asset manager’s SI team. Prior to Robeco, he was at APG Asset Management, where he served as senior responsible investment and governance specialist in charge of ESG portfolio integration and company engagement on climate change. He holds a PhD in social-economic sciences from Wageningen University.

In board changes at the UK-based JM Finn, Steven Sussman was slated to retire, with Hugo Bedford taking over. James Edgedale retired as board chairman, but remains as an investment director at the London-based firm.

HSBC Global Asset Management named Stefano Caleffi in the newly-created role of head of exchange traded fund sales, Southern Europe. Based in Milan, Caleffi is responsible for driving the firm’s ETF sales and business development efforts across Italy, Spain and Portugal. He reports to Olga De Tapia, global head of ETF sales.

Law firm Druces said that Richard Monkcom, who has led its private client team for 15 years, stepped down as leader of the department. He was succeeded by Robert Macro.

The European asset management platform of Mediolanum Banking Group, Mediolanum International Funds (MIFL), appointed Jonty Starbuck as a new senior equity portfolio manager in its single security equity team. The team is responsible for MIFL’s internally managed strategies. Based in Dublin, Starbuck reports to Terry Ewing, head of equities at MIFL.

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Asia-Pacific

RBC Wealth Management appointed Shawn Sim to join its investment solutions and products team in Singapore as head of fixed income advisory. Sim reports to Chun Him Tam, who heads RBC Wealth Management’s fixed income and ultra-high net worth solutions groups in the region.

Sim re-joined RBC from HSBC Private Bank, where he was a fixed income advisor. He was a member of RBC Wealth Management’s fixed income team between 2014 and 2018. Earlier in his career he worked at OCBC Securities in a variety of roles, including fixed income advisor, equity sales dealer, ETF product manager and securities borrowing and lending advisor.

Kennard Ling joined the firm, and reports to Sim. Ling was appointed as a fixed income specialist from Citibank Singapore, where he was part of the advisory and trading desk responsible for business growth across Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, Ling was a corporate sales analyst for FX and rates at Standard Chartered Bank. 

HSBC Private Banking appointed former senior Citigroup figure Jyrki Rauhio as regional head of credit advisory for Asia-Pacific. Rauhio worked for more than 25 years at Citigroup in roles across multiple cities spanning Helsinki, New York, Warsaw and London, including more than 12 years in Hong Kong and Singapore. In the last decade, Rauhio had various senior leadership roles as managing director in Citi Private Bank - in London as global chief operating officer; in Hong Kong as head of investment finance and banking Asia-Pacific; and most recently, in Singapore, as head of South Asia. He replaced Desiree Lam, who took up a new role within HSBC Private Banking working directly with Siew Meng to drive HSBC’s Asia wealth strategy. Rauhio reports to Siew Meng, and Daniel Mentha, global head of credit advisory, global private banking.

T Rowe Price, the US-based investment house, appointed Amie Boscacci as a new relationship manager for Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. Boscacci joined from Macquarie Bank where she worked as a business development manager in its wealth solutions division.  Prior to that, she worked as a platform operations specialist at Colonial First State Wrap and as a wealth recruitment consultant at Stirling Andersen. She is based in Melbourne and reports to Shane Zabiegala, relationship manager for financial institutions.

Credit Suisse’s private bank in North Asia appointed two bankers for the Hong Kong market: Nelly Tse and Polly Leung. Tse joined as managing director for the Hong Kong market and has more than 20 years of banking experiences covering wealth management, wholesale transaction banking, operational risk and strategic communications. She has held various leading positions at BNP Paribas, DBS and Standard Chartered Bank. 

Leung, who was appointed as an executive director and relationship manager for the Hong Kong market, has 17 years of financial and banking experiences in global market, sales trading and wealth management. Prior to this, Leung held various positions at BNP Paribas and ICBC International Securities. Before joining Credit Suisse, she was the executive director with BNP Paribas for six years covering Greater China institutions, family offices and UHNW clients for global market and wealth management. Previous to working at BNP, she was the deputy head of trading at ICBC international.

Credit Suisse appointed a group of relationship managers in Australia. They were Ann-Laure Alia, Loughlin MacGowan and Jason Winderbaum. Alia has more than 10 years’ experience in private banking as an RM at Rothschild in Paris. Winderbaum was founding team member of Sanlam’s managed risk strategies in Australia, which commenced in 2011. Prior to joining Sanlam, he started his career as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young, before moving on to roles within ultra-high net worth family offices. Winderbaum also spent four years working as the general manager of a private client advice business.

Credit Suisse also appointed Bie Lan Oey as vice chairman for private banking in Southeast Asia. Bie Lan Oey joined after 20 years at HSBC Private Banking where she was most recently managing director covering the ultra-high net worth Indonesia market and also co-led next generation programmes. Prior to that, she was the head of the UHNW segment for Southeast Asia. She worked in numerous leadership roles at UBS Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. Bie Lan Oey reports to Benjamin Cavalli, head of private banking for South Asia, and will be based in Singapore.

Credit Suisse in Australia, meanwhile, appointed a former senior Julius Baer and UBS investment advisory figure, and a non-executive director for environmentalist lobby group Greenpeace. Loughlin Magowan, based in Melbourne, Victoria, joined the Swiss bank as a relationship manager, having been at Julius Baer in the UK for almost five years – leaving in January 2020 – where he was head of investment advisory UK, and before that, head of UBS Advisory, UK. Magowan, who is non-executive director for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, has been in the role since September, his profile said.

Somerset Capital Management, the emerging markets equities specialist based in London and Singapore, named Min Chen as a portfolio manager on the China team. Before this, Min Chen worked at Dymon Asia, where he was the portfolio manager of the Prospect View China Fund. Prior to joining Dymon Asia in 2018, he was head of China at RWC Partners, MD at Everest Partners and chief representative of Arisaig Partners in Shanghai.
 
Lilian Tai, a Singapore-based analyst who previously worked with Min Chen at Dymon Asia, joined the team and has more than eight years of experience of investing in Asian emerging market equities with a particular focus on environmental, social and governance research in China. Min Chen and Lilian Tai are based in the Singapore office.

SCB Julius Baer, the wealth management joint venture between Julius Baer and Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, appointed Joseph Caceres as head of investment advisory and solutions. With nearly two decades of work experience in finance, banking, and international investment management, Caceres held various senior leadership positions in investment advisory and solutions at HSBC Private Bank Singapore for more than 13 years. Recently, Caceres was head of managed investment solutions and alternative investments for Southeast Asia. Before this, Caceres was with Deutsche Bank in Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Quintet Switzerland, part of Quintet Private Bank, named Jing Zhang Brogle as market head, Asia International. Most recently, Zhang Brogle was global market manager Asia at Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse). She also served as CEO of the Swiss bank’s Hong Kong branch. Her other roles were CEO and member of the board at Vontobel Wealth Management (Hong Kong), as well as head of Greater China at Vontobel Private Banking International, Switzerland. Prior to that, she was a senior client advisor for UBS Wealth Management in Switzerland.

Vontobel Asset Management opened an office in Singapore, also naming former DWS senior figure Benny Gay as head of its intermediary clients business in Asia, and Jeremy Tan – also from DWS - as a relationship manager for intermediary clients in the region. Gay is responsible for managing relationships with global banks, as well as intermediary channels, in Singapore and Hong Kong. He has more than 12 years of relationship management experience in the asset management and wealth management industry. He joined from DWS, where he was head of private banks and intermediaries. Prior to that, he was a client advisor to high net worth individuals at Citibank in Singapore.

Nuveen Real Estate, the investment house, named Shusaku Watanabe as head of its Japan real estate business, based in its Tokyo office. Watanabe relocated to Japan from Singapore, where he was previously director of Asia-Pacific capital markets. His role added to an existing post as fund manager for the Tokyo Multifamily Partnership that was launched in 2018.

European investment house Aquila Capital named Alexander Lenz as its new Asia-Pacific chief executive, based in Singapore. Lenz leads the business in the region. Lenz had worked in the renewable energy sector since 2007.

BNP Paribas appointed Paul Yang as its Asia-Pacific head. He took over from Eric Raynaud, who retired from the French banking group after being at the firm for more than four decades. Yang’s new role added to his position as CEO of corporate and institutional banking for Asia-Pacific. He has been at the bank for more than three decades. 

BNP Paribas Asset Management appointed three figures to join its Asian equities team in Hong Kong.   

Zhikai Chen, who was named head of Asian equities, replaced Arthur Kwong, who left to pursue other opportunities. Chen reports to Guy Davies, global chief investment officer for fundamental active equities. Jinwen Ouyang and Roxy Wong, two portfolio managers with whom Chen has worked in managing Asia ex-Japan Equities at Lombard Odier, were also hired. They joined the team covering Hong Kong and Malaysia. Zhikai Chen has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Before joining Lombard Odier in Hong Kong, Zhikai was senior analyst at Partner Fund Management. Previously, Zhikai served as senior vice president at Putnam Investment Management in Boston from 2004 to 2011, where he covered emerging market financials and commodities for emerging market and international funds. From 2000 to 2004, he was a research analyst with Citigroup Asset Management in Stamford in the United States. He started his career at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. 

Jinwen Ouyang has 13 years of experience in the financial industry. She was a portfolio manager for Asia at Lombard Odier. Before joining the firm in 2014, Jinwen was an analyst at Value Partners (Asia). Previously, she served as research analyst at Société Générale (USA) covering cross-border mergers and acquisitions. She began her career with Crédit Suisse in 2006.  

Roxy Wong has more than 20 years of experience in financial markets and technology, most recently as a senior portfolio manager for Asia at Lombard Odier. Before joining Lombard Odier in 2013, Roxy was head of regional technology research at Mirae Asset Group (Asia). From 2008 to 2011 he served as senior research analyst at RCM (a member of Allianz Global Investors), where he covered the technology sector in Asia ex Japan, and between 2000 to 2008 he was a core member of the Asian tech research team at Bear Stearns (Asia). Wong began his career with Motorola in 1993 before moving to Intel in 1996.

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Julius Baer appointed Vijay Solomon as the new group head for global India and developed markets. Six relationship managers joined Bank Julius Baer and report to Solomon, who in turn reports to Torsten Linke, head of global India and developed markets. Together, they provide investment and wealth planning solutions for Indian clients in Asia.

Prior to this, Solomon was most recently head of the NRI and Japan international businesses operating from Hong Kong for Credit Suisse. He was also one of the designated executive officers for the Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch. Prior to that, he served in senior wealth management roles at DBS, Société Générale and ICICI Bank across Hong Kong and India. He has more than 23 years’ industry experience.

International law firm Hogan Lovells appointed Nick Williams, a prominent figure in Singapore’s legal field, as a partner in its business restructuring practice. Williams is based in the Singapore office, where he works in the Asian city-state’s cross-border restructuring and insolvency market, representing banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity investors, insolvency accounting firms and corporate creditors and debtors. He is also experienced in investigations, commercial disputes and international arbitration.

Kobre & Kim added offshore disputes and insolvency lawyer Timothy Haynes as partner in Hong Kong. His appointment followed the firm’s recent arrival of offshore lawyer, Ulrich Payne, in the Cayman Islands. 

Haynes, who joined from Walkers where he led the insolvency and dispute resolution group, has served high net worth individuals and companies. He has experience both advising on and litigating high-value, cross-border management, shareholder, commercial insolvency and corporate restructuring disputes, often with a nexus to Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

UBS appointed ex-Credit Suisse senior figure David Tobin as head of risk technology. Tobin reports to Julie Shapiro, head of risk and financial technology at UBS. At Credit Suisse, Tobin was head of its investment bank credit risk and technology chief in Poland.

Credit Suisse hired a raft of India-focused private bankers. 

Ravinder Singh joined as managing director and strategic client advisor for India onshore. Ravi Malani was appointed as director and senior product manager, concentrating on growing its private banking equity sales business in India. Brijesh Majali joined as director and team leader. The team headed by Majali includes three relationship managers and three assistant RMs with whom he had worked at BNP Paribas: Ashish Teli, RM, who has more than 12 years’ experience in wealth management; Gautam Jain, RM, with more than 15 years’ experience in financial services; and Madhurjya Lahkar, RM, with 17 years of banking experience, including 13 years in wealth management.

In a newly-created role, James Cardew joined Capital Group as head of marketing and client experience for Asia and Europe. He is based in London and reports to Asia and Europe client group head Guy Henriques, and global chief marketing officer Jaya Kumar. Most recently Cardew was chief marketing officer for Schroders Personal Wealth; and spent 12 years before that as global head of marketing at Schroders. He began his career at Mercury Asset Management and also served as head of international marketing at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Wealth management boutique Azura, which concentrates on ultra-high net worth clients, opened an office in Singapore. Trevor Lau heads a team of six wealth management professionals and solution providers. Prior to this role, Lau was a managing director for UBS in Singapore. Before working at UBS, he spent 14 years at Credit Suisse, covering Singapore and Malaysia markets.

Amundi, the European asset management giant, and China’s BOC Wealth Management, built a joint venture in China. It named a team to run the JV. The team combines members from Amundi, BOC and others from the Chinese market. Liu Huijun, from Bank of China and with 25 years of experience in the asset management, global financial markets and insurance industries, chairs the board of directors of the joint venture, while Bao Aili, with over 20 years of experience in the mutual fund industry, was appointed general manager.

Prior to her current position, Liu served as deputy CEO of Bank of China Group Insurance Company based in Hong Kong, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of China Group, where she was responsible for marketing, operations and IT. She began her career with Bank of China Group in 1994 at the group’s global markets department. Her experience spans banking, securities and insurance industries. 

Bao Aili is the general manager of Amundi-BOC Wealth Management Company Limited. Before her current position, Bao served as the GM of Everbright Pramerica Fund Management Company based in Shanghai, where she was responsible for the company's medium and long-term business plan implementation. Bao started her career at the BlackRock Asset Management New York office. She has a long experience in leading asset management companies in China and overseas; she is experienced in strategic planning, product designing, and marketing.
 

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North America
Endurance Advisory Partners, a US financial services firm based in Dallas, appointed a raft of senior figures to roles ranging from private equity to investment banking. The business is led by chief executive Stephen Curry.

 

The appointees:

Steven Patrick: A finance and strategy executive with more than 30 years of experience. Specialties: capital raising, M&A, liquidity, loans and securities, mortgage banking, MBS, GSE relationships, valuation, fixed income, credit, risk management and analytics.

Joseph Siegel: A senior corporate and investment banking professional with over 35 years of experience building credit platforms and generating revenue through banking advisory services. He has advised clients in leveraged finance, syndicated finance, private banking, credit and client management. Most recently, he served as Chief Banking Officer at a $2 billion regional bank. Prior to that, he was responsible for Corporate and Investment Banking Corporate Lending in North America for both BBVA and Compass Bank. 

Larry Gordon has worked in senior executive roles within the financial services industry for more than 25 years across the three lines of defense: customer facing; compliance; and independent review. 

Scott Flowers has almost 40 years in banking, with a specialty in retail and small business. 

Chad Patton has more than 25 years of work experience in the private equity and financial services industries. In recent years, he served in the C-suite at three of the top 20 residential mortgage banks in the country and was focused primarily on turnaround situations.

JP Morgan elected Phebe N Novakovic as a director of the company. Novakovic served as chairman and chief executive of General Dynamics Corporation from 2013. Since joining GDC in 2001, she served in several executive roles including president and chief operating officer, and executive vice president for Marine Systems. In addition, Novakovic serves on the boards of Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, and the National Military Family Association.

Fiduciary Trust International appointed Julia C Wirts, as a portfolio manager. Wirts was most recently an investment advisor at Hawthorn, PNC Family Wealth® in Philadelphia. Previously, she was a portfolio analyst and international investment manager at Philadelphia International Advisors, a spinoff from the Glenmede Trust Company. Wirts began her career as an associate at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia.

Investment firm Cambridge Associates appointed Charles B Grace to join its private client practice. Grace, who serves as managing director of family enterprise solutions, is based in New York, where he reports to Mary Pang, head the global private client practice. Grace has been active for 20 years in the family office community advising ultra-wealthy families and serving multigenerational families and family offices. He is joining CA from the Family Office Exchange. Prior to FOX, he spent almost 10 years working at $1 billion multi-family and single-family offices.

FlowStone Partners, an investment firm focused on private equity, hired Mark Phillip as managing director, having previously worked at MatlinPatterson Asset Management, the credit platform.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Stuart “Stu” Malakoff to its independent advisor channel – in Bend, Oregon. Malakoff joined Mainspring Wealth Advisors – affiliated with the Raymond James business - from Merrill Lynch, where he managed more than $170 million in client assets. Joining him are registered client associate Awbrey Gould and branch associate Vicky Malakoff.

The firm welcomed financial advisor Mark Parker to Raymond James & Associates. Parker joined from UBS Financial Services, where he previously managed about $220 million in client assets. He joined RJA’s Memphis Ridgeway office, which is managed by David Rains and is part of the Memphis complex led by Field Norris. Parker was joined by senior financial planning consultant Ashley Towler and the team operates as Parker Wealth Advisory of Raymond James.

Raymond James said Roark Head, CFP®, and his team joined its independent advisor channel – in Fairbanks, Alaska. Head joined Raymond James and Concurrent, an advisor-owned partnership of independent practices affiliated with RJFS, from Wedbush Securities in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he managed more than $300 million in client assets, including outside assets, for a variety of clients. Joining Head were Deborah Combs, client services associate, and Austin Head, registered client service associate. Together the team operates as Head Retirement & Wealth Strategies.

The US firm also appointed Kirk Abrahamson and David Gray to join the firm’s employee advisor channel in West Des Moines, Iowa. Both men had previously worked at RBC Wealth Management. Raymond James welcomed advisors Scott Southerland, Jeff Cox, Mark Whitley and Josh Holby, collectively managing over $678 million in client assets, to Pinnacle Asset Management. PAM is the wealth management arm of Pinnacle Financial Partners and is affiliated with Raymond James. Through their new alignment, the Pinnacle advisors serve clients through Raymond James Financial Services from offices throughout Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.

The firm also onboarded financial advisor Renee Hof-Lacey to Raymond James & Associates in Birmingham, Michigan. Hof-Lacey joined the firm from Morgan Stanley, where she previously managed approximately $115 million in client assets for a variety of clients, including business owners, corporate executives (including an extensive network of executives for a large automotive company), families and individuals, retirees, and women investors. Joining her is registered client service associate Bradley Brandon. Together, they operate as Hof-Lacey Wealth Management of Raymond James.

iCapital Network, the global tech platform for alternative investments, made two senior European appointments – both formerly from Deutsche Bank - as part of its non-US expansion drive. It appointed Marco Bizzozero as head of international business, having previously worked as wealth management CEO for UniCredit, the Italian banking group. iCapital also named former Deutsche Bank figure – and a judge for the WealthBriefing European Awards – Tom Slocock. Bizzozero is based in Zurich, while Slocock is in London. 

Bizzozero is head of its international arm and is a member of the iCapital executive committee, reporting to Calcano. In this newly-created role, Bizzozero leads iCapital’s expansion into the European and Asian markets. Before his stint at UniCredit, Bizzozero was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, where he most recently served as head of wealth management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland. 

Slocock joined as managing director and head of international product development and origination, reporting to Bizzozero. Slocock leads the development and launch of new investment products and manage the life cycle of existing offerings explicitly designed for the needs of the international marketplace. Slocock was with Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in London for more than 10 years, most recently serving as head of the global funds group and head of the global investment group. Prior to this, he was CEO of the UK Wealth Management business. Before joining Deutsche Bank, he was with Credit Suisse in London, most recently as managing director and head of international private banking.

Pitcairn appointed a new board member - Kevin A McNerney, a partner with the firm Human Capital Advisors. Prior to joining HCA, McNerney held executive management and board posts in the software, data analytics, and executive search industries. (Human Capital Advisors provides advisory services to CEOs, management teams and boards of directors.) McNerney has more than 30 years of executive management, advisory, and board experience serving public and private technology, human capital, strategic advisory, and executive search services firms.

JP Morgan named a new leader for its private banking business in central and south New Jersey. Managing director Rohit Mehrotra is new market team leader, based in Princeton. He reports to Alma DeMetropolis, president of the New Jersey market leadership team and market manager for the private bank. Mehrotra also leads the healthcare and life sciences franchise for the firm in the East region. 

Eric J Pan, who held senior regulatory posts in the US, was named chief executive and president of the Investment Company Institute. From 2011 to 2019, he directed international regulatory policy at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Since January, Pan was a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors LLC, a Washington-based international economic policy advisory firm. Pan succeeded Paul Schott Stevens, who retired at year-end after more than 16 years as ICI’s president and CEO. 

Thrivent Advisor Network, a wealth managers’ platform, appointed RIA industry veteran Matthew Sines as senior business development officer. Sines joined from Raymond James Financial Services.

T Rowe Price appointed Raymone Jackson as global head of diversity and inclusion. Jackson partners closely with the firm's management committee, Black Leadership Council, employee-led business resource groups (which engage female, LGBTQ+, Black, Latinx, Asian, veteran associates, as well as allies), and other “key stakeholders”. Prior to this, Jackson worked at Morgan Stanley, where he served as national diversity officer for the wealth management businesses. At that firm, Jackson developed and carried out a diversity and inclusion strategy that spanned 600 offices and 20,000 employees. Before this, he spent 17 years with Northwestern Mutual, including serving as director of diversity and inclusion and campus development.

Lido Advisors, an RIA, appointed regular CNBC contributor Gina Sanchez as its chief market strategist. Sanchez worked with Lido Advisors for some time: she collaborated to offer institutional investment services and has been a featured speaker at Lido Consulting’s Annual Family Office Investment Symposium. Sanchez is CEO of Chantico Global, a global consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and London that advises global pension, foundation, and family office clients. 

BNY Mellon Wealth Management appointed Michael Dawkins as market president in Atlanta, Georgia. Dawkins reports to Southeast regional president Kent Moegerle. With almost 30 years of fiduciary and investment wealth management experience, Dawkins worked for 10 years with BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Most recently, he was senior director and team leader. Previously, he was a senior portfolio manager with BlackRock and Merrill Lynch Private Investors leading its Atlanta market practice.
 

Envestnet’s Advisor Services Exchange by Dynasty Financial Partners, aka ASx, hired James Gardiner as director of business development. He reports to ASx president Ed Swenson and his responsibilities will be managing ASx’s existing sales channels and business development outreach. Previously, Gardiner was co-founder and chief operating officer at TPW Investment.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Audrianna Sibiski as senior client strategist, based in Menlo Park, California. Sibiski, who works with with high net worth individuals, business owners, founders and corporate executives, reports to Northern California regional president Thomas Fickinger.

Prior to this, Sibiski worked at Bank of America Private Bank where she served as vice president, private client advisor. Prior to Bank of America, she advised US-based businesses on global expansion at both Blick Rothenberg as an international business development manager, and with London & Partners as a territory associate. Earlier in her career, she worked at IPC Systems, Inc in London, guiding financial services companies on the installation of network communications platforms throughout Europe.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management named Greg Teegen as senior client strategist, based in Chicago, and covering the Midwest. Teegen reports to Andy Paterson, Central Region president. With more than 25 years’ financial sector experience, Teegen was previously an executive director at JP Morgan Private Bank where he worked with ultra-high net worth families, family offices, and foundations, advising them on all aspects of their multi-generational wealth. 

New York City-based law firm Robinson Brog named Scott Ahroni as partner. Ahroni joined the firm’s taxation department, where his practice focuses on federal, state and New York City tax controversies, representing clients in federal and state criminal investigations. Ahroni is a noted thought leader in the field of tax law. He is frequently called upon to speak on tax topics and is a prolific author on current issues in the field. Ahroni is an adjunct professor at Queens College, City University of New York, where he teaches graduate courses in state, local business, estate, and gift taxation. 

Argent Financial promoted Sarah Warren to vice president and director of marketing, reporting to Aaron Jack, Argent’s chief development officer. Prior to joining Argent, Warren co-owned Ruston-based Emogen Marketing Group, and joined Argent in 2013 as a marketing director. In 2017, she joined the corporate marketing team, where she helped lead marketing efforts for all Argent subsidiaries.

Chris Martinez, managing director of Oakbrook Solutions, a consultancy and services provider for wealth management firms, stepped down from the firm to focus on the non-profit sector. Martinez, who led the Family Office Practice, guided the firm to win a number of Family Wealth Report awards. He has been a long-standing volunteer and board member of housing and human services organizations, and intends to devote even more time to this area. Martinez has spoken at conferences hosted by this news service. He joined Oakbrook in 2011. Before this, he was MD at The PrivateBank (2008 to 2020) and, prior to that, was MD and chief information officer (2001 to 2008) at Wilmington Trust FSB, formerly Bingham Legg Advisors. He transferred his MD responsibilities to Craig Cook, who took over leadership of the Family Office Practice. 

Fusion Financial Partners, the consulting firm to RIAs, appointed John DiBenedetto as managing director, strategic partnerships. DiBenedetto has more than 25 years’ experience in the sector. DiBenedetto served in a variety of business development and relationship management roles, most recently as head of business development with Astrocyte Research and as advisor, business development with Sytoniq. For almost a decade, he worked with Fidelity Clearing & Custody (formerly Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services), in a number of senior roles.

Wilmington Trust appointed 18 wealth market leaders, wealth advisors, and strategists across US markets including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

The new recruits (in addition to the promoted individuals) were: 

Garrett Alton, wealth market leader (Atlanta), has more than 20 years of wealth management/financial service experience in Georgia and 28 years overall. He joined after 11 years with BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

Dave D’Amico, wealth market leader (Boston). With more than 30 years of investment management experience, he manages Wilmington Trust’s New England region, including all administrative and business development functions for personal trust, investment management, and private banking. He joined from Argent Wealth Management.

Lisa Ligas, director of wealth strategies (Los Angeles), has more than 20 years of experience with financial institutions and joins as part of the Wilmington Trust and M&T Emerald Advisory Services® team. Prior to joining Wilmington Trust, she served as a senior vice president for the family business division at Northern Trust.

Merryll McElwain, senior wealth advisor (Los Angeles), has worked in financial planning for more than 12 years and now supports Wilmington Trust clients in the Western region. She previously served as a senior client strategist with BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

Tony Rogers, senior wealth advisor (New Jersey). With more than 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs implement sophisticated financial planning strategies, Rogers oversees the development and coordination of all wealth management services in New Jersey. Prior to this, he was a senior director at BNY Mellon Wealth Management covering the New Jersey region.

Robert Whelan, senior wealth advisor (Boston), has more than 35 years of experience in financial services, joining the firm to serve the New England region. He was previously senior vice president for Lido Advisors, overseeing their Boston office.

Scott Wilkins, senior wealth advisor (Atlanta), brings more than three decades of experience in financial services working across the US, Europe, and Latin America. Wilkins now serves clients for Wilmington Trust in the Southeast. He was previously managing partner and owner of Cielo Partners.

Aimee Turner, senior family wealth advisor (Philadelphia). With more than 20 years of professional experience, she begins her second stint at Wilmington Trust, leading a large book of complex, ultra-high net worth client relationships. Turner recently served as a wealth advisor at BB&T for three years, and prior to that, spent 19 years with Wilmington Trust.

Pictet Asset Management opened its first US office in New York City. The office, located at 712 5th Avenue, is led by Elizabeth Dillon. She was joined by Mike Acker, head of key accounts, Nick Mavro, head of US institutional business and Jorge Corro, head of US offshore business. Dillon returned home to New York after spending 19 years working for PAM in Geneva and London, most recently as head of global financial institutions. 

Anglo-American digital asset management firm Wave Financial Group appointed a number of new hires.
Constantin Kogan joined as a managing director. He started his career in finance as a commodity broker for Soreco Trading gaining futures trading experience at CBOT, before founding start-up businesses across multiple industries including digital innovation, marketing and wellbeing. 

Jack Lu. who was appointed as client service analyst, acquired a bachelor degree in financial mathematics and statistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Afterwards, he started his career in finance as a California registered investment advisor. Uyanga Batbold joined as a trading analyst. Batbold gained her masters degree in computational finance from Rochester Institute of Technology. Since then she has worked as an investment and risk management analyst in various industries.

Former Goldman Sachs private wealth advisor Gary Hirschberg, chief executive of Aaron Wealth Advisors, added two investment figures to his team. The joiners were investment advisor, Adrianna Stasiuk, and director of investments, Toby Stannard. 

Stasiuk joined from JP Morgan Private Bank, where she managed $500 million in client assets. Stannard was previously an equity portfolio manager at Northern Trust Asset Management, based in Chicago.

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management, the US firm, appointed Seattle-based figure Michael Ridgeway as managing director and wealth manager. Ridgeway has worked in the investment and capital markets sector for 27 years. Previously, he was a founding partner and senior investment committee member at Steelhead Partners, a Seattle-based hedge fund. He was also vice president at NYSE listed Ragen Mackenzie, a firm specializing in research and investment banking with Northwest-based companies. 

The PNC Financial Services Group appointed David L Cohen to join its board of directors. Cohen is a senior executive vice president of Comcast Corporation, where he has had leadership roles covering a broad portfolio of responsibilities over the last 18 years. Prior to joining Comcast in 2002, Cohen served as a partner and chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, the US law firm. Cohen is active on several boards and board committees.

Dynasty Financial Partners named Joseph D’Agostino as head strategic development at the wealth management advisory network. Relocating from North Carolina to Dynasty's base in St Petersburg, Florida, D’Agostino reports directly to president and CEO Shirl Penney. He is expected to work across the business to increase scale and professionalize services, including technology infrastructure and the firm’s advisor-to-CEO program, designed to give advisors in the network the tools to develop as business leaders. D’Agostino joined from independent asset manager WestEnd Advisors, where he was chief operating officer.

US-listed Eaton Vance named Eric A Stein as chief investment officer, fixed income, for its Eaton Vance Management arm. Stein took over from Payson F Swaffield, who previously announced that he would be retiring. Stein reports to Thomas E Faust Jr, chairman and chief executive of Eaton Vance.