Aviva UK Life
Jason Windsor has been named chief financial officer of Aviva UK Life, following the decision by John Lister to retire after 36 years in the business. Currently chief capital & investments officer, Windsor will assume his new role from September 2016.
Having joined Aviva in August 2010, Windsor has been responsible for the group’s strategy, M&A, capital, insurance investments and establishing Aviva Ventures. He played a key role in Aviva’s acquisition of Friends Life in 2015.
Axa Investment Managers
Axa IM has appointed Michael Ganske as head of emerging markets fixed income, reporting to Chris Iggo, chief investment officer fixed income. He will lead a global team of 10 investment professionals based in London, Paris and Hong Kong, managing approximately €5bn (£3.9bn, $5.7bn) of EM and Asian debt, across three flagship mutual funds and several segregated institutional mandates.
Ganske joins from Rogge Global Partners where he was a partner and head of emerging markets. Prior to Rogge Global Partners, Ganske held senior EM roles at Commerzbank, Deka Investment, and Deutsche Bank Group.
Wells Fargo Asset Management
Kristi Mitchem has been appointed president, chief executive officer, and head of Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM), a division of Wells Fargo’s Wealth and Investment Management Group (WIM).
Mitchem most recently served as executive vice president at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). Based in San Francisco, she will join the firm on 1 June and will report to David Carroll, senior executive vice president and head of WIM.
She replaces Mike Niedermeyer, who had served as head of WFAM from 1994 until his retirement in March.
Aberdeen Asset Management
Campbell Fleming has been appointed global head of distribution at Aberdeen AM. He will be responsible for Aberdeen’s global distribution platform encompassing 450 people across business development, product specialists, marketing and client service.
Fleming is currently chief executive EMEA of Columbia Threadneedle, as well as global chief operating officer. He joined Threadneedle from JP Morgan in 2009 as head of distribution.
He succeeds John Brett who stepped down from the role late last year. He will report to Martin Gilbert, chief executive and will join Aberdeen’s group management board.
Columbia Pacific
Columbia Pacific, a Seattle-based family of private asset and investment management companies, has hired Vera Minar to oversee the strategy of Columbia Pacific Advisors and serve as chief investment officer of Columbia Pacific Wealth Management.
Minar most recently managed Stanford University’s absolute return and fixed income portfolios, which accounted for roughly a third of the university’s overall endowment. Before that, she led asset allocation and strategy for the overall endowment portfolio for three years.
Swiss Re
John Donghui Chen has been named head of reinsurance China and China country president for Swiss Re, effective 1 June 2016. He will also take up the position of general manager of the firm’s Beijing branch, subject to the regulatory approval.
Chen was most recently chief actuarial officer & member of the executive committee of PICC property and casualty (P&C) with responsibility for product development, pricing strategy and had significant involvement in the company’s strategic decision-making processes.
Additionally, Swiss Re has appointed David Alexander as head of P&C reinsurance Hong Kong. He will cover Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Guam P&C markets, and will join the Swiss Re southeast Asia management team. Alexander replaces Anna Lee who has taken on the challenge of managing Swiss Re’s Business Services team in Asia.
Centaur Holdings
Global investment holding company Centaur has appointed Peter Wane group chief financial officer and Sebastian Sachse as group finance director.
Wane joins from Deutsche Bank where he was finance director for the MENA region for over seven years. He brings with him over 30 years’ finance experience in international banking and markets covering Singapore, Indonesia, London and Dubai.
Sachse previously worked with a private investment organisation in the Dubai International Financial Centre where he led the middle and back office operations including compliance and financial analysis. His experience includes auditing large asset managers and hedge funds from his time at Ernst and Young in the United States and the Caribbean.
Crestbridge
Independent fund, trust and corporate service provider Crestbridge, has strengthened its fund services team with the appointment of Colin Targett as a director.
Based at the firm’s Jersey headquarters, Targett’s remit will focus on growing Crestbridge’s liquid fund administration and Management Company offering following the firm’s recent approval by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) to provide ManCo solutions to investment funds.
Targett brings with him nearly two decades of experience in both the offshore and onshore investment funds industry, having started his investment funds career with KPMG in Bermuda, he has held a range of roles within the fund administration environment.
