(February 14, 2014) — Towers Watson has appointed the UK’s Chris Ford as global head of its investment practice, moving Carl Hess to its executive committee as managing director of the Americas.
The company announced on February 10 that New York City-based Hess, who took the global investment role in 2008, would move up and allow Ford to take on the role.
London-based Ford has spent most of his career at Towers Watson—formerly Watson Wyatt—beginning at the company 23 years ago. He takes the global role having run the company’s investment practice in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Last year, as one of aiCIO’s Knowledge Brokers, Ford told about his experience at the helm of a newly merged company in 2010, as Watson Wyatt combined with Towers Perrin.
“It was an opportunity to work with a big group, to go through the change process with them, to make—and resist making—key decisions about the business,” he said.
Ford takes the reigns of an asset management, consulting, and fiduciary management firm with 800 associates worldwide, assets under advisory of more than $2 trillion, and around $60 billion of assets under management.
Related content: The Knowledge Brokers – Chris Ford