This week in personnel announcements and new hires, Marc Seidner went to PIMCO; Chip Castille moved up at BlackRock; the FIA announced that Barbara Wierzynski will leave at the end of 2014; Carla Martin joined Highland Capital Management; Jeff Passmore went to Barrow Hanley; NAREIT elected its 2015 chair and officers; and Cordium added John Donegan.
Also, Tom Elliot was tapped to head the new investment strategy division at deVere Group; Brian Portnoy joined Virtus Investment Partners; Jamie Bedard was named president and CEO of the Reputation Institute; Adam Levy and Lynn Kennerly joined DeVoe & Co.; Dan Farley was promoted at the Private Client Reserve; and Kelli Parsons joined New York Life.
PIMCO Hires Seidner as Managing Director, Portfolio Manager
PIMCO has announced that Marc Seidner has been hired as managing director and portfolio manager. He will also serve as chief investment officer — nontraditional strategies and head of portfolio management in the New York office, and be a member of the investment committee. He will begin on November 12th and will report to Daniel Ivascyn, group CIO.
Also, Curtis Mewbourne, current head of the firm’s New York portfolio management group, will return to the Newport Beach office as a senior member of the portfolio management team. He will continue in his role as head of the insurance, diversified income and sector fund separate account teams, and will assume additional responsibilities when he returns to Newport Beach in mid-2015.
Seidner was a senior portfolio manager at PIMCO from 2009 to 2014.
BlackRock Names Castille Chief Retirement Strategist
Chip Castille has been named chief retirement strategist, a newly created position, at BlackRock. He will be succeeded as head of the firm’s U.S. and Canada defined contribution business by Anne Ackerley, currently a managing director. Both report to Robert Fairbairn, senior managing director and global head of the firm’s iShares and retail businesses.
In addition, Jim Badenhausen, global head of corporate communications and also a managing director, will assume additional responsibilities as chief marketing officer.
Wierzynski to Leave FIA at Year End
The Futures Industry Association has announced that Barbara Wierzynski, the organization’s general counsel for 20 years, will leave at the end of 2014. She will be succeeded by Allison Lurton, who has served as deputy general counsel for almost two years.
Before joining, Lurton founded the derivatives practice at Covington & Burling and served for seven years at the CFTC in various capacities, including as counsel to Chairmen Gensler and Lukken and Commissioner O’Malia. With nearly 20 years of legal experience, Lurton began her career in commercial litigation and served for several years at the Department of Justice and in the CFTC’s Enforcement Division.
Martin Joins Highland Capital Management
Highland Capital Management L.P. has announced that Carla Martin has been named managing director of national accounts for the independent broker-dealer channel for Highland Capital Funds Distributor Inc. She will report to Brad Ross, president of Highland Capital Funds Distributor Inc.
Martin joins from W.P. Carey, where she was a senior vice president of business development in the IBD channel. She is a 12-year veteran of the financial services industry. NAREIT Elects 2015 Chairman, Officers
The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts announced the election of its 2015 chairman and officers.
David J. Neithercut, president and CEO of Equity Residential, was elected chairman. Neithercut takes the place of NAREIT’s 2014 Chair, Ronald L. Havner Jr., chairman, CEO and president of Public Storage.
Other NAREIT officers for 2015 are First Vice Chairman David B. Henry, Vice Chairman, President and CEO of Kimco Realty Corp.; Second Vice Chairman Edward J. Fritsch, president and CEO of Highwoods Properties Inc.; and Treasurer Timothy J. Naughton, Chairman and CEO of AvalonBay Communities Inc. All of NAREIT’s officers also are members of its Executive Board.
Barrow Hanley Adds Passmore
Investment management firm Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, LLC, has announced that Jeff Passmore has joined the firm as director, client portfolio manager, liability-driven investing (LDI) strategist.
Passmore joins from Standish Mellon Asset Management in Boston, where he served as a senior liability strategist since 2012. Previously, he was an investment consultant and principal with Buck Global Investment Advisors for two years and a senior retirement consultant for Mercer from 2006 to 2010, both in Dallas. From 1990 to 2006, he was with Towers Watson (and predecessor Watson Wyatt), including the last five years as retirement practice leader in the firm’s Dallas office.
Donegan Joins Cordium