What people moves shaped funds management this year?
The funds management space has seen a multitude of senior people moves throughout 2024, including several CEO appointments and exits.
Ahead of the new year, Money Management compiles the biggest people moves of the last 12 months from firms such as Vanguard, Perpetual, Magellan and Fidelity.
January
Following the initial announcement in December last year, 2024 kicked off with Jeff Peters commencing as Platinum Asset Management’s CEO in January, replacing Andrew Clifford. Since he joined the firm, Platinum announced a two-part growth and reset turnaround program to improve flows and revenue.
February
Magellan announced that it had appointed Sophia Rahmani, former chief executive of Maple-Brown Abbott, as its new managing director in February. Previous chief executive, David George, left the firm in October 2023 in a surprise move after just over a year in the role.
March
In the month of March, former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe made his first board move since departing the central bank in September 2023. This saw him join the board of Future Generation Australia as its new chair.
Former Schroders Australia chief executive Sam Hallinan joined Spire Capital as a partner in the same month. Hallinan departed Schroders in June 2023, having held the CEO role since February 2021.
April
Bell Asset Management appointed Michael Lovett as its new chief executive, replacing Nick Fels. Lovett was formerly the CEO of Vanguard Super. His focus at Bell is on enhancing and growing its business capabilities while delivering superior investment performance, market insights and client reporting.
May
Global investment giant Vanguard appointed Salim Ramji from iShares as its next chief executive in May to replace Tim Buckley who stepped down after six years. Ramji was previously the global head of iShares and Index Investing, and formerly worked at consultancy McKinsey & Company.
Later that month, it was confirmed that Stephen Bird, chief executive of troubled asset manager abrdn, would be departing the fund manager after four years. The firm later appointed Jason Windsor, its former group chief financial officer and interim group CEO, as its new group chief executive in September.
June
June saw US fund manager Nuveen welcome William Huffman as its chief executive. He previously served as the president of Nuveen Asset Management and head of equities and fixed income.
July
A major departure of the year was from Clime Investment Management announcing that its group chief executive Annick Donat would leave at the end of July after three years in the role. The firm since stated it would be led by Michael Baragwanath as managing director.
August
In August, Global X Australia chief executive Evan Metcalf announced he would be departing the ETF provider in October following a decade at the firm. He was appointed to the CEO role in September 2022 after the firm was acquired by Mirae Asset.
Another significant announcement was Perpetual’s appointment of Bernard Reilly as chief executive and managing director in replacement of Rob Adams. Reilly was formerly the chief executive of Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and was a key player in the merger between QSuper and Sunsuper to form ART.
September
Fidelity International saw its managing director for Australia, Lawrence Hanson, depart in September after he transitioned into an external opportunity. The firm looked internally for a successor and appointed Simon Glazier to take up the position.
October
Following the departure of its group CEO, Clime also confirmed that three of its non-executive directors had resigned from the company in October: Andrew Coleman, Claire Bibby and Susan Wynne. The firm later announced four new appointments in Will Riggall, Matt Rencken, Angela Wang and Henry Davis.
November
In November, Magellan Financial Group announced that Kirsten Morton had resigned from her position as CFO and COO, which she held for more than 11 years. The asset manager stated that she would continue in her role until the end of 2024 as it commenced a search process for a replacement.
GAM Investments announced it had appointed Eric Finnell as managing director for Australia, joining from Bennelong Funds Management where he was the head of institutional-APAC. Previous managing director Alex Zaika left in September to replace Evan Metcalf at Global X.
December
Rounding off the year, Income Asset Management (IAM) welcomed former ASIC commissioner Danielle Press to its board as a non-executive director. Press had been working with the firm for several months prior in a consultant capacity.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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