People
Petra Joucken has joined Fund Channel as head of management company relations.
She will be responsible for developing new distribution agreements with management companies, particularly in Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands, where Fund Channel is expanding its business.
From 2003 to the present Joucken was Distribution Manager at ING. Her responsibilities included the distribution of third party funds for the private banking network.
She began her career in 1990 at BGL Luxembourg as an institutional client relationship officer, subsequently gaining experience in fund management and private banking at a number of institutions.
Set up in 2005, Fund Channel is an
Robeco-Sage, a fund of hedge fund manager based in New York, has hired Michael Welch as director of business development.
He will be based on the West Coast in the firm’s Greenbrae, California office and will focus on institutional and consultant relationships as well as wealth management firms and private banks.
Welch brings 17 years of financial services experience to Robeco-Sage. He joins from Coast Asset Management, where he was a managing director and director of marketing, responsible for managing the firm’s relationships with financial intermediaries and institutional clients.
His previous positions in the industry were at Lazard Asset Management
Advisory group Allium Capital has strengthened its relationship management function with the appointment of Lindsay Coates.
Coates, who was previously at Cofunds UK, has spent many years working in Australia in senior relationship management and training roles for companies such as Macquarie Wrap.
In this role she supported companies such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Suncorp, plus undertook activities in support of Australia’s largest adviser groups such as Shadforth Financial Group and Professional Investment Services.
Prior to this she was at Deutsche Bank UK in sales and operational roles.
Toby Denne, director and co-founder of Allium Capital, says:
Alpstar Capital, a European asset manager and investment adviser, has appointed Bertrand Pinel as partner and chief executive.
Pinel was formerly with Dresdner Kleinwort, where he held a number of senior positions, including member of the executive committee and general manager of Dresdner Bank’s London branch.
Alpstar Capital has also completed its business plan with a focus on four key business areas: credit, distressed, strategic asset allocation for private clients and independent asset managers, and real estate.
The business has also secured a significant capital increase from the partners, and the Alpstar brand will now be known globally as Alpstar
UMB Fund Services, a division of UMB Financial, and its alternative investment servicing division JD Clark have promoted two executives.
Lonnie Macdonald (pictured) has been promoted to executive vice president and director of business development for UMB Fund Services.
With more than 20 years in the mutual fund industry, Macdonald joined UMB Fund Services in September 2007 as senior vice president and manager of business development.
Since joining the company, he has been instrumental in enhancing the brand of the firm in the marketplace, improving sales results, expanding the company’s product offering, and identifying acquisition candidates, including the recently
Nordic asset management firm Alfred Berg has appointed Dr. Larry Pohlman and Amitabh Dugar to its quantitative strategies team as chief investment officer and portfolio manager respectively.
Pohlman was formerly director of quantitative research at Wellington Management, while Dugar managed US and international equity portfolios at Mellon Capital Management.
Both will be based in Boston, US.
Alfred Berg’s Oslo-based quant team remains unchanged and will continue to manage its existing portfolios.
Alfred Berg’s quant team manages over EUR2.4bn of assets in global equities and minimum-variance equity strategies for Nordic, European and Asian institutional and retail clients.
“Larry and Amitabh
RWC Partners has appointed Lakshman Harendran to its convertible bond team.
Harendran joins from Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he was a member of its fixed income team with a focus on convertible bonds, investment grade and high yield corporate bonds.
Harendran previously worked closely with Davide Basile, head of convertible bonds at RWC Partners.
Harendran joins Esther Watt and Michelle Shi who are analysts within the team and between them they are responsible for quantitative, credit and equity research. Basile leads the team and is also the portfolio manager.
RWC Partners manages approximately USD1bn in convertible bond assets.
Credit Suisse has appointed Neil Harvey as managing director and head of Asia Pacific and head of emerging markets globally for asset management, effective 1 February 2010.
Harvey (pictured) will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Robert Shafir, chief executive of asset management, and Kai Nargolwala, chief executive of Asia Pacific.
Shafir says: "Developing the Asia Pacific region and building out our global emerging markets’ offerings and clients is core to asset management’s growth strategy across our division and businesses."
Harvey has been involved in investment banking and asset management for over 24 years and has significant knowledge
Viteos Fund Service, a hedge fund service provider, has expanded its global sales and relationship management team by appointing Francis Rainsford as executive vice president.
Rainsford will lead the global client relationship management function and will provide clients with value added service in the areas of structuring, compliance, accounting, and tax.
Shankar Iyer, chief executive of Viteos, says: “This expansion and appointment is being done with a view towards meeting the changing needs of the industry that are bound to follow a major crisis such as 2009.
“The firm has begun various initiatives to further strengthen its presence in the
RBC Capital Markets has named Blair Fleming head of US investment banking, based in New York.
Fleming will oversee RBC Capital Markets’ investment banking businesses in the US, which includes corporate finance industry groups, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance and restructuring.
Throughout his 20-plus year career with RBC, Fleming has held numerous senior roles in the firm’s global investment banking and global debt markets businesses, including his most recent responsibilities as the head of global syndicated and leveraged finance and global infrastructure.
"Blair’s long career with RBC, diverse business background and deep client relationships make him a natural fit to
