Half of the Hatch founding quartet, Kristen Lunman and Natalie Ferguson, have left the business less than nine months after the business changed hands from Kiwi Wealth to FNZ.
Lunman and Ferguson – along with Jarred Sewell and Jakub Chodounský – developed the US share-trading platform under the aegis of Kiwi Wealth in 2018, growing the business to about 120,000 users at the time of the $40 million FNZ purchase last year.
Kiwi Wealth, itself expected to be sold shortly with Fisher Funds the lead contender, pocketed the proceeds of the Hatch sale while the founding group and staff migrated to FNZ.
Sewell takes over from Lunman as Hatch chief executive in acting capacity while Chodounský remains as chief technology officer. Ferguson was Hatch chief experience officer.
It is understood Lunman and Ferguson are considering future business plans with some consulting work likely in the short term.
Meanwhile, the Wellington-headquartered investment giant, Morrison & Co, has named Louise Tong as sustainability, risk and funding director for Infratil, the listed infrastructure business the group manages.
Tong most recently served as BNZ sustainable finance general manager from 2020 following senior roles in ANZ, Contact Energy and the Auckland Council Treasury Management Steering Group.
She is also former chair of industry body, INFINZ.
Phillippa Harford, Infratil chief financial officer, said in a release: “We are delighted to welcome Louise to help us achieve our vision of leading the way in sustainable infrastructure investment. We’re committed to actively managing our social and environmental responsibilities, and benchmarking our ESG performance against international best practice.”
Founded in 1988, Morrisons & Co currently manages more than $25 billion of infrastructure assets on behalf of institutional and high net worth investors across the world. The group recently opened an office in Singapore to build on a global expansion that now includes a presence in Australia, UK, US and Hong Kong.
Elsewhere, Mercer NZ has hired Andrew McKechnie in the newly created role of head of workforce solutions.
McKechnie, previously senior HR business partner for Fonterra with global responsibilities, has been charged with “helping New Zealand organisations unlock the full potential of their workforce through Mercer’s creative workforce solutions and data-driven strategies”, according to a statement.
Mercer has deep links with many NZ employers, which also supports the firm’s investment arm. Mercer NZ is currently recruiting for a couple of senior investment roles, naming Padraig Brown to fill one slot in an interim capacity last month.
Brown takes over as Mercer NZ chief investment officer from Ronan McCabe while the search continues for the head of consulting role following the departure of David Scobie at the end of March.