CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS
Octopus Investments
The fund management company has hired James Almond to join the 30-person specialist finance team to work under the head of the unquoted division, Alistair Seabright. In the new role, Almond will structure new funds and investment products for both institutional and retail investors. He joins from Cornhill Asset Management, where he was the founder and chief executive of Cornhill FX and a board director of the corporate broking business Cornhill Capital.
Disasters Emergency Committee
Jeremy Bennett, former HM Treasury bank bailout specialist, has joined the board of trustees of the Disasters Emergency Committee as vice chairman. Bennett has also been appointed as senior adviser to HM Treasury on the Vickers Commission, and is a non-executive director at Nomura.
Hines
The real estate firm has appointed Ross Blair as managing director of the firm’s UK operations. Blair, formerly director of Hines UK, has been with the firm since 2003. Prior to joining Hines, he spent five years in the investment and development teams at CBRE, working on assets across the UK and in central London.
Asteral
The medical equipment services provider has appointed Christopher Langley as chief executive. Langley has been working with the Asteral board as a non-executive director since October 2010, and his previous roles include managing director of retailer Dixons and chief executive of Jessops.
First Reserve Corporation
The global investment firm dedicated to the energy industry has hired Claudi Santiago as a managing director and chief operating officer, based in London, and Irene Mavroyannis as a managing director in its investor relations group, based in Greenwich. Santiago moves after a 30-year career at GE, and Mavroyannis joins from KKR, where she was most recently global energy and infrastructure product specialist.
Merrill Lynch WM
Amy Howlett and Jim Barrett have been hired as financial advisers at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, based in London. Howlett joins from Barclays Wealth and Barrett moves from Goldman Sachs.
Intelligent Energy
The clean power business has appointed John Maguire as chief financial officer. Maguire, who replaces Rian Urding, joins from Etisalat Nigeria. Prior to that, he worked as chief financial officer of Thus Group and as vice president of Japan and Asia at Cable & Wireless.