eFC Briefing: High-Level Hires at Harvard, Fidelity
New managers for Fidelity's international unit, Harvard's endowment and Lehman's European structured finance group.
Fidelity Investments' international unit hired a top portfolio manager from UBS to oversee its global equities portfolios. Starting in May, Ilario Di Bon will lead a team comprising sector, U.S. and emerging markets funds for both institutional and retail clients. He'll be based in London and report to Nicky Richards, chief investment officer of Fidelity International. Di Bon was lead portfolio manager for a number of global equity funds at UBS Asset Management. His appointment aligns the global equity funds division structure with Fidelity's Europe and Japanese equity groups. Fidelity also named Tim Orchard as new head of Japanese equities, based in Tokyo. Information about Orchard's past employment was not available.
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Harvard University's closely watched, $34.9 billion endowment tapped Jane Mendillo as its third chief executive in as many years. Mendillo worked 15 years in a number of roles at Harvard Management Co. before leaving in 2002 to become chief investment officer at nearby Wellesley College. Under her leadership, Wellesley's endowment grew from $1 billion to $1.7 billion. Her immediate predecessor at Harvard Management, Mohamed A. El-Erian, left in September after less than two years to rejoin bond fund giant Pimco. The prior incumbent, Jack Meyer, led Harvard Management to a 15.9 percent annual return over 15 years, second only to Yale among large U.S. universities. He left in 2005 after some alumni complained that endowment chiefs shouldn't be paid like hedge fund managers.
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David Covey took over as head of European structured finance research at Lehman Brothers, replacing Krishna Prasad. Prasad left the bank last week after six years, Reuters reports. Covey had been the team's next ranking member.
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Citigroup reorganized into four geographic regions and hired a UK bank executive as head of North American consumer banking. Ajay Banga will lead the Asia Pacific region, including Japan. He currently oversees Citi's consumer businesses outside the U.S. William Mills will lead the Western Europe, Middle East and Africa region. He currently heads investment banking for Europe and the Middle East. Shirish Apte will lead central and eastern European, while Manuel Medina Mora continues to lead Mexico and Latin America.
Teresa A. "Terri" Dial was named global head of consumer strategy and chief executive of consumer banking in North America, based in New York. She comes to Citi from Lloyds TSB UK where she was group executive director of retail banking and a board member of parent Lloyds TSB Group. Citi also named Steven Freiberg, who was head of North American credit cards, to lead the newly combined global credit card business.
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Separately, Citi elevated European equity finance head Nick Roe to head of global equity finance and prime brokerage, based in London. He succeeds the former global co-heads, Ali Hackett and Tom Tesauro, both of whom left the bank, according to The Wall Street Journal. Roe joined Citi from Deutsche Bank in 2005.
Citi also hired Morgan Stanley's head of European credit structuring, Jerome Anglade, to run a new distressed debt fund within the alternative investments division. He will start May 15, based in London. Jenny Peng, most recently a quantitative risk associate at Lehman Brothers, will join Citi as an associate on the new fund.
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Bear Stearns won a temporary restraining order against Douglas Sharon, a private client services executive in Boston who jumped to Morgan Stanley in mid-March. The bank accused him of making off with client data and violating his employment contract. A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily barred Sharon from working for Morgan Stanley or soliciting Bear employees or clients. Bear also asked a New York State court to block client solicitations by five other workers who jumped to Morgan Stanley and UBS.
