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Weekly roundup of people news, June 30

AustralianSuper appoints London-based deputy CIO; KIC names new COO, CCO; GIC appoints new Asia PE head; JP Morgan AM names new APAC institutional head, China CEO; BlackRock APAC head of public policy retires; and more.
Weekly roundup of people news, June 30

Other people moves coverage this week: Ontario Teachers’ names new head of APAC

AUSTRALIANSUPER APPOINTS LONDON-BASED DEPUTY CIO

Damien Moloney
Melbourne-headquartered pension fund AustralianSuper has appointed Damian Moloney as its deputy chief investment officer. He will commence in the role on July 1.
 
Moloney’s newly created deputy CIO position will see him assume global responsibility for strategy and oversight. 
 
Having built out the fund’s European and US offices for the past five years during his posting in London, Moloney will retain responsibility for leading its global investment team and overseeing its international offices. He will remain based in London.
 
Moloney will be reporting to CIO Mark Delaney, who said the fund expected to expand its international team from 100 staff currently to around 300 over the next three years, with some 130 in New York, 160 in London, and a small team in Beijing.
 
Moloney joined AustralianSuper in 2018, prior to which he had been the chief executive officer at Frontier Advisers. He was earlier the CEO at IFM Investors.

KIC APPOINTS NEW COO, CCO

Lee Sang-min

The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has appointed Lee Sang-min chief operating officer (COO) and Suh Ik-ho as chief compliance officer (CCO), for three-year terms effective July 1.

Lee joined the Korean sovereign wealth fund in 2006 and was most recently CCO. He is replacing Chung Ji-wan that ended his three-year term on June 30, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.

Lee has served in several senior positions at KIC, including head of the investment operations management division, president of the sovereign wealth fund’s Singapore office and head of corporate strategy group.

Suh Ik-ho

Prior to joining KIC, Lee worked at various securities and asset management firms including Franklin Templeton and DWS Group.

The newly appointed CCO Suh joined KIC in 2005 and was most recently head of the general and financial affairs group. The spokesperson could not confirm the new head of general and financial affairs group head after Suh’s new appointment.

GIC APPOINTS NEW ASIA PE HEAD

Singapore’s GIC has appointed Hwee Loo Tan as head of private equity Asia, effective June 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Tan has spent 22 years at the sovereign wealth fund, with her most recent role being co-head of global investments, strategy and risk of private equity. GIC did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about who she replaces as head of private equity Asian and who will handle the responsibilities of Tan’s previous role.

On GIC’s website, Kevin Looi was on June 30 still listed as head of private equity Asia, while Tan was still listed with her old role as co-head of global investments, strategy and risk of private equity.

Besides global and Asia roles at GIC’s Singapore headquarters, she also spent five years in London as senior vice president of Europe fund and co-investments for private equity.

JP MORGAN AM NAMES NEW APAC INSTITUTIONAL HEAD, CHINA CEO

Eddy Wong

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) named its China chief executive officer Eddy Wong as Asia Pacific head of institutional business.

Meanwhile, China country head Desiree Wang will succeed Wong as the new CEO of the China unit that just turned wholly-owned in January.

Both appointments came into effect on June 28.

Desiree Wang

Wong will relocate from Shanghai to Hong Kong in his new regionally focused role, while Wang continues to be based in Shanghai.

Both of them report to Asia Pacific CEO Dan Watkins.

Eddy Wong joined JPMAM in 2005 in Hong Kong. He was the head of Taiwan for two years before heading the China business in 2019. 

Desiree Wang has been with the firm since 2008. She became head of China institutional business in 2009 and expanded to China country head in 2014.

In the new role, she will focus on fully integrating the China business and growing the investment solutions for domestic clients.

CARLYLE PARTNER AND CONSUMER, MEDIA, RETAIL CHIEF STEPS DOWN
 
Patrick Siewert
Patrick Siewert, a Carlyle Group partner and head of consumer, media and retail at the private equity heavyweight is stepping down next month after 16 years in Hong Kong.
 
Siewert joined Carlyle in 2007 as a partner and took the lead on investments that included its acquisition of McDonald’s Chinese operations with Hong Kong-based Citic Capital.
 
Before taking up his post at Carlyle, he was group president at Coca-Cola’s Asia division. He continues to sit on the boards of US-headquartered global food giant Mondelez International and material manufacturer Avery Dennison. He began his career at Eastman Kodak in 1974.
 
Siewert will continue to advise Carlyle on the consumer industry sector.

BLACKROCK APAC HEAD OF PUBLIC POLICY RETIRES

Winnie Pun

BlackRock’s head of public policy for Asia Pacific Winnie Pun retired in April after nearly 18 years with the firm, a spokesperson confirmed with AsianInvestor.

Pun was also a member of the firm’s executive committee. BlackRock declined to comment on whether there is a successor to Pun.

In June, Pun also stepped down as an advisory committee member of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) after a two-year term.

Pun has almost 40 years of experience in the financial industry, including 35 years in Hong Kong’s banking and asset management industry. From 2005 to 2016, Pun was BlackRock’s head of Asia ex-Japan institutional business.

Before joining BlackRock, she held senior positions with State Street Global Advisors Asia, Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Exchange Fund, and Amundi.

IMPAX HIRES CO-PORTFOLIO MANAGER FOR ASIA STRATEGIES

Manish Bishnoi

London-based sustainability investment manager Impax Asset Management hired Manish Bishnoi as a portfolio manager, based in Hong Kong.

Bishnoi will join Oscar Yang as co-portfolio manager of Impax’s Asian environmental and Asian opportunities strategies from October 2023. He will succeed Kirsteen Morrison, who has been interim co-portfolio manager on both strategies since David Li passed away unexpectedly in October 2022.

In the new role, Bishnoi will report to Yang, who is a senior portfolio manager, the firm told AsianInvestor.

Bishnoi has more than a decade of experience in Asian equities. Before joining Impax, he was with Macquarie Asset Management for over 15 years, where he last served as a portfolio manager on the Asian progress fund.

AUSTRALIAN FAMILY OFFICE MANAGER HIRES FIRST CEO

Nathan Robertson

Australian family office investment manager, Alvia Asset Partners has named Nathan Robertson as its first chief executive. He commenced in the role on June 1.

Robertson, who has almost 24 years of experience in financial services, is a former Sydney-based director, national account manager at UBS. Before joining the Swiss bank, he worked in Brisbane-based roles at investment management firm Colonial First State and Commonwealth Bank.
 
Robertson will be responsible for driving business development in a market-facing capacity, soliciting distribution, and working on family office and wealth management partnerships.

He will also be responsible for leading the set-up and operations of the firm’s Sydney office, which is expected to open within the next four months as part of its plan to grow its market presence.

HEITMAN MAKES SENIOR HIRE IN JAPAN

Akira Nishimura

Global real estate investment management firm Heitman has hired Akira Nishimura as managing director, client service and marketing and head of institutional sales Japan, effective June 2023.

Based in Tokyo in this newly created role, Nishimura works alongside and reports to Taka Kiura, Managing Director, Asia, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.

Both Nishimura and Kiura also report to Lewis Ingall, senior managing director who heads Heitman's client service and marketing group, the spokesperson added. Nishimura has also joined the global client service and marketing group.

Prior to joining Heitman, Nishimura was senior managing director in Tokyo, for LaSalle Investment Management. He also led their capital raising activities for global indirect investments and was co-head of investor relations in the Asia Pacific region.

LaSalle Investment Management did not respond to AsianInvestor’s inquiries about when Nishimura left the firm and who took over his responsibilities.

Nishimura previously held senior roles at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Mizuho Financial Group.

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