Wellington-based funds management firm, Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS), has appointed a new independent director.
Earlier this month IIS, which provides the portfolio investment entity (PIE) wrapping and distribution for a range of five Russell Investments funds, named Ian Russon as its new independent board member.
Russon works in the Institutional Banking division of BNZ where he has been until very recently head of financial institutions. Prior to his BNZ career, which dates back to 2002, he spent seven years at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in a variety of monetary policy implementation and foreign reserves portfolio management roles.
Previously, Russon served long stints with global brokerage and investment firms Wood Gundy and SG Warburg in a number of offshore locations including London, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Frankfurt.
He is also a licensed independent trustee (LIT) under the new Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) regime, filling that role on Presbyterian Church Property Trustees Beneficiary Fund.
Russon joins IIS chief, Anthony Edmonds, Russell Investments NZ head, Alister van der Maas, and chair, David Stevens on the board. Stevens is also chair of the NZ Harbours Superannuation Fund board.
Edmonds said Russon contributes some heavyweight financial institutional knowledge to the IIS board, which would be invaluable in guiding the firm over the next growth phase.
“Ian has considerable financial markets experience both here and offshore,” he said. “He brings a new industry dimension to the IIS board, which will help us develop sound business strategies for the future, as well as an extra layer of governance that all investment firms must adopt under the FMC.”
Since establishment late in 2011, IIS has accumulated over $1 billion under management in the Russell PIE funds, and became licensed as an MIS scheme manager in 2015.