Columbia Threadneedle Investments has poached Jupiter’s former head of distribution, Nick Ring, as chief executive officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Ring (pictured) returns to Columbia Threadneedle where he spent seven years before moving to Jupiter in 2015 to head its global distribution. Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle’s predecessor Threadneedle in 2008, he held roles at Northern Trust, KPMG, Gartmore Investment Management and Prudential.
In his new role, Ring will join the executive leadership team of Ameriprise Financial, of which Columbia Threadneedle is the global asset management group. He starts on 23 September.
Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen, said the move is a return to a business Ring is familiar with, so it “isn’t a step into the unknown”.
He added: “I think having distribution experience as CEO is very useful as it can help focus the business on delivering for the investors either directly or through IFAs.”
Likewise, Darius McDermott, managing director at Chelsea Financial Services, said: “Nick has previously worked at Columbia Threadneedle so they will know the precise skills he brings to the business as CEO rather than being an unknown quantity.”
Musical chairs
In May, it was revealed that Ring would be leaving his post at Jupiter to be replaced by Phil Wagstaff who was global head of distribution at Janus Henderson.
McDermott said there has been lots of senior management changes at Jupiter with Andrew Formica joining as CEO and Wagstaff as global head of distribution. “When big changes like that happen there is naturally a bit of turnover but I think Jupiter will cope with this change without any problems.”
However, he added: “We do seem to be having the latest round of musical chairs in the industry with changes aplenty at present.”
Lowcock said: “Jupiter have had a few changes in 2019 and the new CEO is clearly putting his stamp on the business. Unplanned departures are naturally an inconvenience, but Jupiter has the infrastructure in place to manage this.”
Meanwhile, AJ Bell’s head of active portfolios, Ryan Hughes added: “There continues to be change at Jupiter with Andrew Formica recently being joined by his former head of distribution Phil Wagstaff and therefore the opportunity for Ring to move back to Threadneedle as CEO was one I’m sure he was very happy to take.”
At Columbia Threadneedle, Ring will report to global CEO Ted Truscott.
Truscott said: “It’s with much pleasure that I welcome Nick back to Columbia Threadneedle as our new EMEA CEO. Nick has an excellent understanding of our business and of the asset management sector more broadly.”
