Russell Exec to Steer CIO Ship Once Again

Pete Gunning

Russell Investments’ interim global chief investment officer has been officially given back the keys to his old car.

Peter Gunning, who since 2013 has been the head of the firm’s Asia-Pacific business, assumed the CIO function on a temporary basis last October, when Jeff Hussey stepped down as CIO after 27 years with the organization. Gunning, also a longtime Russell employee, previously held the CIO seat from 2008 to 2013, before he left to oversee the firm’s Asia-Pacific division. This led to Hussey’s appointment six years ago.

Gunning, who had been working out of Russell’s Sydney office, will now be based in the firm’s Seattle headquarters. He will oversee all of Russell’s investment divisions and still maintain his Asia-Pac responsibilities. He is also on the organization’s executive committee and global leadership forum.

Russell Investments’ move toward creating a multi-asset team happened under his earlier stint at CIO. Russell is one of the oldest providers of multi-asset solutions and it is their core offering.

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“We began organizing and resourcing for multi-asset in 2009. Everyone seems to be talking about it now. This included creating a specific multi-asset team with strategists and others, who moved from a traditional asset-class base to one more designed to solve client problems,” Gunning told CIO. He is currently working with Russell’s top investment professionals to enhance its investment abilities as well as add more global products and implement new technology, according to a release.

“Pete has been a trusted partner to our clients over many years and has a thorough understanding of the investment solutions that institutions and advisors need to create financial security for individual investors,” said Michelle Seitz, Russell’s chairman and CEO, who is halfway through her second year with the firm.

She added that his experiences and knowledge of Russell’s workings and the industry made him “the perfect person to lead our investment division during this period of industry evolution and change.”

The firm has $287 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2018, and $2.4 trillion in assets under advisement as of June 30, 2018.

Tags: CIO, Jeff Hussey, Peter Gunning, Russell Investments

Colin Ambrose

Colin Ambrose, chief investment officer of the UJA Federation of New York, is leaving his tenure behind when he becomes the initial CIO of a fledgling Catholic foundation.

Ambrose is to head the finances of the $3.2 billion Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, the UJA confirmed. The health fund only started up last May after Cardinal Timothy Dolan and other New York bishops revealed the plans. The new organization’s funds came from the $3.75 billion sale of faith-based health plan Fidelis Care to Centene.

Ambrose will now handle more than twice the investments than he did at the $1.4 billion UJA, but it’s not the first time the veteran has created an investment office. His first was at the Julliard School in 2005. He also started the UJA’s office. He joined the Jewish charity in 2009.

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The institution is looking to receive about $150 million in grants annually. According to Inside Philanthropy, Mother Cabrini is the second-largest legacy health foundation behind the California Endowment.

Mother Cabrini wants to set a “national model” for addressing the health and wellness needs of low-income communities, Al Kelly, Mother Cabrini’s board chair and Visa CEO, told the publication last May. The foundation does not yet have a website.

The foundation’s interim chief executive officer will be former New York Archdiocese Chancellor Gregory Mustaciuolo. Other board members include Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor Carla Harris; Catherine Kinney, former New York Stock Exchange president and co-chief operating officer; and Robert Unanue, president and CEO of Goya Foods.

The nonprofit organization takes its name from Francis Xavier Cabrini, a nun who advocated for children and immigrants in the late 1800s through early 1900s and became the first American canonized saint.

Ambrose will start with Mother Cabrini on Friday.

Tags: CIO, Colin Ambrose, Foundations, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, UJA Federation of New York