Most influential: Peter Morgan
THE extent of any individual’s influence on an organisation is often best gleaned when they are no longer there.
So it is with Peter Morgan, the one-time senior portfolio manager at Perpetual, who left the group after 12 long years in September.
To say that Morgan is well regarded would be a spectacular understatement. He was, after all, one of many high profile fund managers to make waves this year (think of Greg Perry retiring from Colonial), but was the only one considered worthy enough by his peers to makeMoney Management’s list of the most influential.
None of this should be a surprise to Perpetual. It spent many years preparing for the unfortunate eventuality of Morgan’s departure and no doubt has a worthy successor in John Sevior.
However even someone as accomplished as Sevior will find himself having to work to step out of Morgan’s shadow.
What’s more, Morgan was as well regarded for his down-to-earth style and passionate leadership among his colleagues at Perpetual as he was for his outstanding record as a portfolio manager.
Much newsprint has already been devoted to speculation that Morgan will launch his own boutique funds management outfit now that he has left Perpetual.
However the whisper is that Morgan has signed a handy exit contract with Perpetual that prevents him from launching such a business right away.
Such whispers are unconfirmed. But if they are accurate, who can blame Perpetual? It knows better than anyone how hard it is going to be to have to come up against Morgan.
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