Almost five months after incumbent, Anthony Quirk, announced his imminent resignation, Milford Asset Management has a new head.
In a release last week, Milford confirmed Australian Troy Swann would take over Quirk’s role as at October 31 this year with operations chief, Bryce Marsden, continuing as interim chief executive.
Quirk officially ended his nine-year stint as Milford head at the end of June. However, he remains as a Milford director while also holding a more than 10 per cent stake in the approximately $3.6 billion boutique manager.
Swann has spent the last 15 years in various roles at the National Australia Bank and its wealth management subsidiary MLC. Most recently he was general manager boutiques and joint ventures for NAB Asset Management.
“In this role he drove the buildout of NAB’s asset management businesses, leading the acquisition and establishment of boutique investment management firms across a wide range of asset classes in Australia, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Asia,” a Milford statement says.
Swann’s appointment follows a flurry of HR activity for the Auckland-based Milford this year. As previously reported, the manager hired former Colonial First State deputy head of Australian equities, Wayne Gentle, as head of Australian equities this June.
The Sydney-based Gentle replaced Marc Whittaker who resigned to take up a role with a then-unnamed Australian boutique manager. Earlier this month the well-known Australian manager, Investors Mutual (IML), headed by Anton Tagliaferro, confirmed Whittaker as assistant portfolio manager.
“In his new role, Mr Whittaker will support IML senior portfolio manager for mid and small caps, Simon Conn,” Investors Mutual said in a release.
Whittaker joined Milford in 2010 to run the Australian equities component of the group’s portfolios.
Milford has also made a host of other appointments over the last few months across investment management and operational roles including: Paul Morris, co-manager of the trans-Tasman wholesale bond fund; Stephanie Perrin, global equity analyst; Brad Judd, senior accountant; Michal Heggs, client associate; and, authorised financial advisers, Bruce O’Leary and Tania Cutfield.
Mark Warminger, Milford portfolio manager currently on extended leave, is due in court near the end of next month to face market manipulation allegations in a civil case brought by the Financial Markets Authority.