Jamie Wickham is set to exit Morningstar at the end of May after 17 years at the research firm, serving as head of the Australasia division since 2017.
Morningstar Asia Pacific head of investment management, Chris Galloway, will replace Wickham to lead the Australia and NZ arm of the business.
Both Galloway and Wickham arrived at Morningstar by way of acquisition: the former following the purchase of institutional multi-manager, Ibbotson Associates in 2012, and the latter as part of the 2006 buyout of Australian stock researcher, Aspect Huntley.
Galloway will report to Daniel Needham, who was named inaugural president of the Morningstar Wealth Management Solutions division at inception last year. Morningstar launched the wealth arm to deliver services to financial advisers including ‘turnkey’ investment portfolios.
The now US-based Needham was previously head and CIO of the Morningstar global investment group. He joined Morningstar in 2013 after a four-year stint leading Ibbotson Associates in Australia and almost eight years prior to that at seminal multi-manager firm, Intech: the US-headquartered Ibbotson bought the Australian Intech business in 2009.
Wickham’s imminent exit comes after a management shake-up at Morningstar Australia last December that saw the surprise (and immediate) departure of long-time director of manager research Asia-Pacific, Tim Murphy.
In a statement, Morningstar chief executive, Kunal Kapoor, said Wickham had “helped grow and shape the Australian and New Zealand business”.
Wickham said under his watch Morningstar had grown to include individual investors as well as financial advisers and asset managers.
“I don’t have any plans on my next phase other than looking forward to a well-earned break,” he said.
Back in NZ, third-party fund marketing firm, Heathcote Investment Partners, has brought on experienced financial services executive, Michelle Forster, as a principal.
Most recently SBS head of advice, Forster has spent more than two decades in the industry both in NZ and offshore working for firms including Investec Bank, Goldman Sachs JBWere, Westpac and Staples Rodway Asset Management.
She joins Heathcote founder, Clayton Coplestone, and Mike Ruetsch as a principal in the investment marketing business that represents about a dozen – mainly Australia-based – fund managers in NZ.
“We feel very privileged to have found someone of Michelle’s experience and knowledge to join the Heathcote team,” Coplestone said in a release. “Michelle has already made a significant impact with her detailed understanding of the industry, both locally and globally.”
Elsewhere, the $2 billion plus NZ boutique manager, Pie Funds, has reshuffled investment duties across its Australasian equities funds, appointing lead and co-portfolio managers to each strategy.
Pie chief, Mike Taylor, says in the group’s latest newsletter: “We see this as an important part of our Australasian strategy to spread the skill set of the team across our range of Funds.”
Under the changes, the Pie Australasian share managers – Michael Goltsman, Mike Ross, Kent Williams and Michelle Lopez – will alternate lead and co-pilot roles across the firm’s four funds in the asset class.
“In addition, as Head of Australasian Equities Michelle will have oversight of all four investment strategies, as do I, as CIO,” Taylor says.
The Sydney-based Lopez joined Pie this February after a 19-year career at abrdn (the new lower-case brand of Aberdeen Asset Management) including the previous four years as head of Australian equities.