Victoria Harris has joined Devon Funds as portfolio manager, ending a two-year stint with Pie Funds.
Harris will take the reins of the Devon Australian fund and its just-launched Sustainability product when she starts her new job in November.
Prior to joining Pie in 2017, Harris served six years at another high-profile NZ boutique manager, Milford Asset Management.
She managed the Pie global funds, which held about $140 million as at the end of June this year.
In a statement, Slade Robertson, Devon managing director, said Harris had an “excellent track record” across Australasian and global equities.
“Victoria’s expertise in ESG investing is also significant for us – our investors will know that we’ve always focussed strongly in this area, and the addition of Victoria to the team will allow us to further progress this offering for clients,” Robertson said.
Harris will take over duties for the Devon Australian fund from Tama Willis, who can turn his full attention to the group’s Trans-Tasman strategy, the release says.
The $1 billion Pie has been on the end of significant staff upheaval this year including the departure of chief operating officer, Paul Gregory, who begins in the newly created investment director role at the Financial Markets Authority also in November.
Devon, part of the Investment Services Group, has over $2.3 billion under management including a roughly $400 million mandate with the NZ Superannuation Fund.
Elsewhere last week, chief investment officer of Australian impact manager Brightlight, Tim Macready, was appointed in a governance role at start-up NZ advisory firm, Pāua Wealth Management.
Macready will serve alongside other independent members George Boubouras and Quentin Stewart on the Pāua investment committee. Pāua also counts well-known NZ investment industry players – Catherine Savage, Rob Campbell and Andy Morris – as independent members of its Advisory Board.
“I believe in the integrity and independence of advice and the disruption Pāua is creating in the market,” Macready said.
Launched in June this year by former BNZ head of wealth, Donna Nicolof, the wholesale financial advisory firm Pāua aims to tackle the high-end advice market in NZ with a conflict-free process, strongly flavoured with environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis.
“Given our focus on environmental, social and governance factors in how we manage money, we are absolutely delighted to have someone of Tim’s calibre and pedigree joining the Paūa team,” Nicolof said in a release.
Macready was chief investment officer of the $1.5 billion Australian Christian Super fund, which spun Brightlight out as a separate entity in 2016. While Christian Super remains the largest Brightlight client, the impact investment specialist has since attracted several other clients, including two in NZ – as manager of the Trust Waikato-led Te Puna Hapori fund and an advisory role with the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
Brightlight is looking to hire directors and business development staff for its NZ operations.
In other governance news, Toni Kerr was named as non executive director to the entity in charge of Māori fishing rights, Raukawa ki te Tonga AHC (AHC).
As well as its fisheries assets, AHC runs a small investment portfolio with current allocations to Salt Funds, Antipodes and Centuria.
A former director on the $4 billion plus Government Superannuation Fund (GSF), Kerr replaces outgoing AHC director, Shelley MacRae. Debra Birch chairs the AHC board, which also includes directors Guy Royal and Graeme Hastilow.
Kerr, who has a 30-year history in the financial sector both in NZ and offshore, is currently principal advisor in the investment team at Te Puni Kōkiri – the Ministry of Māori Development.
Previously, she was client operations risk and assurance manager at NZ’s largest alternative asset manager, the $15 billion plus Morrison & Co following a stint as Kiwibank head of treasury. Internationally, Kerr held senior positions with Societe Generale in Sydney and the Hong Kong arm of BNP Paribas.
Birch said in a release: “We look forward to working with [Kerr] as we further develop and grow our asset base and revenues so that the AHC can best serve the Trust and enable it to advance and benefit Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga.”