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American Century Grabs Ex-Wilshire Exec to Roll Out Liquid Alts

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American Century Investments said Friday that it hired Cleo Chang, the former-chief investment officer of Wilshire Funds to become its head of alternative investments. The fund group says Chang’s new post is associated with its planned launch of several liquid alternative investment strategies.

“As we work toward the expansion of our alternative investment capabilities, I can’t think of a better, more strategic leader to oversee this very important initiative,” said Co-Chief Investment Officer Victor Zhang, in a statement. “She’s a consummate investment professional committed to providing clients with innovative investment solutions, guided by the same high standards of quality, risk awareness and governance that are the hallmarks of American Century Investments.”

Change worked for Wilshire for 10 years, most recently serving as CIO and managing director. Earlier, she served as manager of investments with Harris myCFO Investment Advisory Services, a subsidiary of the Bank of Montreal.

In addition to Chang, American Century said it also hired the following executives to support the expansion of its liquid alternatives capabilities: Sandra Testani as director of product management; Brian Schappert as vice president and head of alternative sales; and Glen Casey as senior vice president and global head of products.

Testani spent 15 years at AllianceBernstein, while Schappert joined American Century from Gold Bullion International. (Prior to that, Schappert was with AXA Distributors.)

Casey moved to American Century after a 17-year career with Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

In February, American Century – which has about $150 billion in assets under management — filed registration statements for multiple liquid alternative mutual funds, which it plans to roll out later this year under the brand name “AC Alternatives.”

The new funds complement two existing American Century-managed funds, Equity Market Neutral and Market Neutral Value, which will be rebranded with the AC Alternatives name, the fund firm says.

“The creation of the new brand and upcoming mutual fund launches are designed to address growing client demand for exposure to a wider array of asset classes and nontraditional strategies,” the firm said in a statement.