River and Mercantile Group PLC has appointed James Barham as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective Monday 1 July, in line with the Group’s established succession plan.
Barham, currently Deputy CEO, will take on the position from Mike Faulkner, who has decided to focus on the management and development of the Group’s range of macro strategies. Faulkner will remain on the Board as an Executive Director and become the Group’s Head of Macro Strategies and Innovation.
Faulkner says: “The Group has made significant progress over the last five years in the development of its service offerings. Within this, I believe strongly that the opportunities our macro strategies represent for our business to grow will require me to be solely focused on developing and managing these along with new investment strategies to meet our clients’ investment needs. James and I have worked together for many years growing the business to the successful franchise it is today, and I know he is best placed to take on the role of Group CEO from me. We will continue to work closely together in growing the business as we have always done.”
Barham says: “It is a great honour to take on the CEO mantle from Mike. Aside from a long-term friendship we have always been indistinguishably aligned in terms of our ambitions for River and Mercantile and share an equal passion for its continued growth and development. Alongside the Executive team, we will continue to drive the business forward as part of our ambition to provide best-in-class outcome-led solutions for our clients. With my focus on the overall business strategy, Mike will now be able to dedicate his time to ensuring our strong investment performance continues in key strategies for the firm’s growth.”
River and Mercantile Group Chairman, Jonathan Dawson, says: “I am delighted that James has accepted the position as CEO which will provide Mike the time to focus on driving forward our investment thinking for the benefit of our clients and to support the future growth of River and Mercantile. This appointment reflects a continuation of the business logic that both Mike and James shared leading to the original formation of the Group in 2014.”
