CIO Summer Hiring Continues to Sizzle | Chief Investment Officer

Chief investment officers continue to be hired at a breakneck pace this summer with at least three institutional investors—Sammons Financial, Aspen Insurance Holdings, and Insigneo—naming new CIOs last week.

Earlier this month, the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS) hired a new CIO, while late in June BMO Asset Management, Putnam Investments, Kestra Holdings, and Breckinridge Capital Advisors each named new CIOs.

This was on top of the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP), Advisors Asset Management, Moneta Group Investment Advisors, and Crossmark Global Investments all adding new CIOs in June.

John Melvin

Sammons Financial Group, which boasts $99.7 billion in total assets as of year-end 2020, named John Melvin as senior vice president and CIO effective Aug. 9.

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Melvin joins Iowa-based Sammons from Hartford Investment Management Company (HIMCO), where he was CIO for the past six years, and before that was head of portfolio management. Prior to The Hartford, Melvin was CIO of Goldman Sachs Insurance Asset Management, where he oversaw the firm’s global insurance assets and fixed-income portfolio, and before that he was managing director and head of insurance fixed income, Americas, for Deutsche Bank.

Melvin will report to CEO Esfand Dinshaw and will join the company’s senior management team. He will be responsible for creating and enhancing the company’s investment strategy.

“As Sammons Financial Group grows, we continue to design our strategy for directing investments of our asset portfolio,” Dinshaw said in a statement. “John will oversee all aspects of Sammons Financial Group’s investment strategy, performance, and results.”

Aileen Mathieson

Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited, which reported $13.2 billion in total assets as of year-end 2020, has tapped Aileen Mathieson as group CIO, effective Nov. 15. Mathieson will be based in London and will become part of the company’s group executive committee.

Mathieson joins Aspen from Aberdeen Standard Investments, where she was global head of insurance. Before Aberdeen she was CIO, UK Life for Zurich. Prior to that, she held senior finance roles at Nucleus Financial Group plc, Standard Life Group, Diageo plc, and EMI Music, while starting her career at KPMG.

Mathieson will succeed Bryan Astwood, who is retiring as CIO but will remain with the firm as an adviser to Group Executive Chairman and CEO Mark Cloutier.

“During a time when we are seeing increased periods of heightened market volatility, it is important that we are managing our investment portfolio effectively and proactively,” Cloutier said in a statement. “Aileen brings an impressive track record in managing investments in the insurance sector as well as excellent leadership experience and strong communication skills.”

Ahmed Riesgo

And Miami-based investment advisory firm Insigneo, which holds approximately $12 billion in client assets, has promoted Chief Investment Strategist Ahmed Riesgo to the post of CIO.

Riesgo will oversee the company’s research and investment product strategy, creating and implementing its global market views and communicating them to the firm’s clients and the public. He will report to President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Javier Rivero and will remain as chairman of Insigneo’s investment committee.

Prior to becoming Insigneo’s chief investment strategist, Riesgo was a senior trader on the GIS/Insigneo Sales & Trading Desk. Before that, he worked at Credit Suisse and law firm Hunton & Williams LLP. Insigneo said his expertise lies in macroeconomic research, including the creation of a proprietary recession indicator, and geopolitical strategy.

“We think research, market commentary, portfolio management, and other information-accretive investment services will play an increasingly important role in our value-proposition to our advisers and clients,” Riesgo said.

Related Stories:

TJ Carlson Hired as Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System’s New CIO

BMO, Kestra, Putnam, Breckinridge Tap New CIOS

David Veal to Join Texas Employees Pension as CIO

Tags: Ahmed Riesgo, Aileen Mathieson, Aspen Insurance Holdings, chief investment officers, CIO, Insigneo, John Melvin, Sammons Financial

The CEO and co-founder of a New York-based investment firm has been sentenced to five years in prison for securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, and wire fraud as part of a misappropriation scheme.

According to an unsealed indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, L-R Managers CEO Donald LaGuardia solicited approximately $6.4 million from investors for funds that purportedly focused on markets in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

However, LaGuardia allegedly misappropriated more than $1.2 million of investors’ funds to finance L-R Managers’ payroll, pay rent for its Park Avenue office in New York City, and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges on the firm’s credit card, among other unauthorized expenses. And at least $191,000 went directly to, or for the benefit of, LaGuardia personally.

“Donald LaGuardia pitched his clients on frontier market investments, but the Frontier Funds turned out to be a front for fraud,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “LaGuardia betrayed his clients’ trust by diverting millions to other uses, including his own personal and business expenses.”

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As an example, the indictment cites a time in 2013 when LaGuardia solicited $800,000 in the Frontier Funds from an investor. When one of his employees emailed him for approval to forward the $800,000 to the Frontier Funds, LaGuardia allegedly said no and then transferred $390,000 of the investment to accounts held by the firm, rather than the fund the investor intended the money to go to. LaGuardia allegedly used approximately $52,000 of that money to pay himself and the rest for various other personal and business expenses.

LaGuardia is also accused of accepting a $2 million investment in the Frontier Funds during the firm’s waning days when it was near insolvency and unable to support even payroll and mission critical services. The indictment alleges LaGuardia agreed to take in the investment even though he was warned by a principal that doing so would be “ethically troubling.”

In addition to the five-year prison sentence, LaGuardia, 54, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit nearly $2.6 million and pay more than $4 million in restitution to victims.