People
Global consulting firm Watson Wyatt has promoted Damien Loveday to global head of hedge fund research, taking on the role from Craig Baker, who also leads the wider global manager research team.
The role is one of four global manager research leadership roles, the others being bonds (Margaret Frost), equities (Martin Knowles) and private markets (Jane Welsh).
Loveday (pictured), who has a CFA qualification, joined Watson Wyatt from the Royal Bank of Scotland Asset Management’s multi-manager team three years ago. His appointment was effective from 1 October 2009 and he will report to Baker.
Baker says: "We still believe in
Multi-jurisdictional law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has hired Guy Cooper to its corporate practice in Bermuda as part of a spate of new hires to the firm.
Cooper (pictured) will focus on company and commercial work, with specialist expertise in the formation of companies and partnerships, joint ventures, restructuring and finance transactions.
He has experience in a diverse range of corporate, transactional, regulatory and finance work.
Cooper joins Conyers from Reed Smith’s financial industry group, where he worked as an associate in both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices of the firm. Prior to working at Reed Smith, Cooper
Offshore law firm Harney Westwood Riegels has appointed Jane Yao, Monica Chu and Tiffany Tang in the firm’s Hong Kong office.
Yao (pictured) joins as a senior associate. Prior to joining Harneys, she was a senior foreign associate with the law firm of Colin Ng Partners in Singapore where her areas of practice included mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and foreign direct investment into China.
Chu joins as an associate from another Cayman and BVI law firm. Her areas of expertise include all corporate and commercial disciplines, particularly in relation to banking and finance, and investment funds.
Tang joins as a
BTIG, a broker dealer specialising in institutional trading and related brokerage services, has appointed Vikas Tandon as managing director and head of high yield and distressed analytics with BTIG’s global fixed income group.
“Vikas is a significant addition to our growing fixed income team,” says Steven Starker, co-founder of BTIG. “His extensive experience will enable us to focus on the credits most important to our clients, and ensure that the form and substance of our analytical reports are of the highest regard.”
Tandon joined BTIG from Joshua Tree Capital Management, a distressed fund focused on extremely illiquid securities that
BlackRock has appointed Sallie L. Krawcheck, president of global wealth and investment management for Bank of America, and Mark D. Linsz, corporate treasurer for Bank of America, to its board of directors.
The appointments fill two seats vacated by Brian T. Moynihan and Daniel C. Sontag who have stepped down from the board.
Under the terms of BlackRock’s stockholder agreement with Merrill Lynch, Merrill Lynch may designate two directors to BlackRock’s board. Bank of America completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch in January 2009.
BlackRock’s board has 16 members, ten of whom are independent and not affiliated with the company.
Union Bancaire Privée has hired Richard Wohanka, former chief executive of Fortis Investment Management, as the chief executive of the bank’s new asset management and alternative investments division.
Wohanka (pictured) also becomes a member of the bank’s executive committee.
“We are pleased that Richard Wohanka is joining UBP.” says Guy de Picciotto, chief executive of UBP. “His global vision, his management skills and his long experience in international finance and asset management are a major advantage for our development strategy.”
UBP Asset Management now has four activities: institutional asset management; the sale and distribution of products; alternative asset
Odey Asset Management has appointed Simon Todd and Michael Nickson to run the group’s global equities strategy.
The pair managed more than USD20bn at US asset manager MFS Investment Management, and have built a strong performance record in global and European equities.
Todd invested across various global and European strategies at MFS. He trained at Phillips & Drew, having joined the company from KPMG.
His colleague Nickson, who trained at Goldman Sachs, worked alongside Todd on his European strategies and co-managed MFS’ international research funds with responsibility for utilities, capital goods and financials.
Todd says: "We are delighted to be
Nils Bolmstrand, the recently appointed chief executive of Skandia Investment Group, has named the members of his executive team.
Former finance director Marc Bulstrode becomes SIG’s chief operating officer in charge of finance, operations and human resources, while James Millard (pictured) remains chief investment officer in charge of portfolio management and research.
Richard Vincent becomes head of propositions in charge of product development and open architecture while Rob Williams becomes global investment sales and marketing director in charge of institutional sales and business development marketing.
Roy McKean, as chief risk, legal and compliance officer, adds legal affairs to his risk
Tremblant Capital Group, an alternative asset manager with approximately USD2bn in assets under management, has appointed Andrew Bilzin as its director of marketing.
Bilzin will report to Thomas Dempsey, executive managing director.
“We are happy to have Andrew aboard as a key member of our client services team,” says Brett Barakett, founder and chief executive of Tremblant. “His knowledge and experience make him a tremendous asset to our franchise and a resource for our investors as they think about the equity portion of their portfolio.”
Prior to joining Tremblant, Bilzin was the director of marketing and investor relations at Alson
UBP Asset Management, a fund-of-funds management company of Union Bancaire Privée, has appointed Daniel Kelly in New York as chief risk officer of alternative investment, a newly created position.
Kelly is an 18-year veteran of asset management, 17 of which he spent at Harvard Management where he was chief risk officer of the Harvard University endowment since 2005.
His appointment marks UBP’s fourth major hire this year.
"Apart from his broad knowledge in alternative and traditional asset classes, Daniel has the unique experience of having conducted both in-house risk management and external manager-risk evaluation throughout his career. UBP will
