Charity-focused investment firm, Trust Management, has confirmed Mark Longbottom in the new role of head of community engagement.
Longbottom previously served as Mercer NZ head of foundations, endowments and sustainability for more than two years until June 2024.
Prior to Mercer he was head of corporate responsibility for insurance firm, Southern Cross, after a long career in senior charitable organisations both in NZ and the UK.
Before returning to NZ in 2019, Longbottom spent about 11 years as head of the charity arm of St James’s Place Wealth Management – the largest financial advisory firm in the UK.
He also volunteers on several charitable boards in NZ including a chair of the Aotearoa NZ Online Giving Foundation and director on Project Employ, which helps people with disabilities into work.
“Mark is also host of Purposely Podcast, New Zealand’s number one non-profit podcast featuring 200 plus changemakers worldwide where he amplifies their story to listeners, those who are intentionally shaping positive change in society and the environment,” according to a Trust statement.
In 2023 the more than $2 billion funds management firm also hired Catherine Bodnar and Cindy Gao as investment analyst and portfolio analyst, respectively, in the team led by former Westpac/BT head of investments, Matthew Goldsack.
Trust manages a large property book as well as a number of managed funds, opening up portfolio investment entity (PIE) versions in 2020.
Last week Trust also released its third ethical investment and stewardship report.
Goldsack says in the report: “Across the suite of Trust Management PIE Funds, we continue to incorporate ethical investment and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in the investment settings.
“We believe ESG risks represent financial risks for companies and issuers and are likely to influence asset valuations. Entities that fail to manage material risks are likely to face unexpected costs and volatile asset prices.”
Also last week, the NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) named Matthieu Raoux as portfolio manager external investments and partnerships.
Raoux joined the $76 billion sovereign wealth fund in 2018 as an asset allocation analyst, promoted to senior investment strategist on that team two years later.
In the new role he “will be responsible for alternative assets such as global macro, trend following and insurance-linked securities”, according to a statement.
Prior to NZS Raoux held an investment analyst job at ASB covering the bank’s KiwiSaver, employer superannuation and other wealth products.
He began his career in France with short stints at Société Générale and BNP Paribas before serving in an asset allocation analyst role at Russell Investments in London for almost three years.