Ana-Marie Lockyer is stepping up to chair the Pie Funds board following the resignation of incumbent, Steven Nichols.
Nichols completes an eight-year stint with the boutique board, which is on the cusp of $2 billion funds under management, according to chief, Mike Taylor.
Taylor said Pie probably wouldn’t replenish the board in the short term.
“We’re comfortable with four directors – three independents and me,” he said.
Lockyer, also general manager of AA Money, joined the Pie board in 2019, the same year as fellow independent director, Cecilia Robinson.
Prior to AA Money she was general manager wealth products for ANZ, her final role in an almost 10-year career with the bank financial services division.
Late last year Pie appointed another ANZ alumni, Graeme Ansell, in an independent investment advisory position. Ansell resigned as ANZ Investments CIO in early 2018 after spending more than 20 years with the organisation.
Earlier this March Pie also hard-closed the Australasian Growth 2 Fund to new money, citing capacity issues.
Taylor said the manager had reached capacity across its Australasian small cap range of products.
But 12 months on from the COVID market crash last March, Pie had roughly doubled funds under management, he said.
“At March 31 last year we had about $900 million in Pie funds and the Juno KiwiSaver scheme,” Taylor said. “Now we’re closing in on $2 billion with about $1.55 billion in Pie funds and almost $400 million in Juno.”
He said, like most fund managers, Pie had probably been the beneficiary of money flowing out of low interest-bearing term deposits over the previous 12 months.
Also last week, Craigs Investment Partners confirmed veteran chief executive, Frank Aldridge, would retire after 16 years at he top of the country’s largest wealth management firm.
Founder and current chair, Neil Craig, would take over as interim CEO, the company says.
Former ASB chief, Ralph Norris, would assume the chair role for Craigs with Susan Peterson also coming on board as an independent director.
Aldridge joined the broking group in 1997, working his way up from research analyst to chief executive in just eight years: he was 31 at the time.
Craigs has over $25 billion in assets under management across a network of more than 170 advisers.
Meanwhile, the $950 million Tainui Group Holdings has named Mint Asset Management chief, Rebecca Thomas, as independent director.
Thomas will replacing retiring Tainui independent director (and current chair) Sir Henry van der Heyden, who rotates out after nine years on the iwi investment board.
Parekawhia McLean, chair of the iwi parliament – Te Whakakitenga o Waikato, said in a statement: “We are on a journey to grow and diversify the assets for our 76,000 members, and we welcome the further investment expertise that Rebecca will bring to the Board of Tainui Group Holdings, building on the strong mix of iwi and external expertise that has always been the TGH way.”
The Tainui investment arm, which holds mainly direct business and property assets, is “currently working towards a diversified portfolio”, the group’s website says.
“Our strategy has been to re-balance our successful investments in commercial and residential property with direct investments, shares, fixed interest and ventures in primary industries,” the site says.