Richard Buxton, one of the financial services industry’s leading investment managers, has been hired by Old Mutual Global Investors to manage its highly regarded UK Equity teams. Ashton Bradbury, who has managed the teams for over three years and has played an instrumental role in guiding and directing the investment performance of the teams, will report to Buxton. In addition, Errol Francis will join the company and brings over 20 years' investment management experience to Old Mutual Global Investors, 16 of which have been spent working with Buxton at Barings and Schroders. Buxton currently runs an identical UCITS unit trust fund to the Schroders UK Alpha Plus Fund, on behalf of Schroders for Old Mutual Global Investors on a sub-advisory basis – the Old Mutual Equity 3 Fund, which has assets of £160m (as at 02/2013). Subject to regulatory approval, Old Mutual Global Investors will rename this fund Old Mutual UK Alpha Fund which will become Buxton’s flagship fund.

Agecroft Partners, a global hedge fund consulting and third-party marketing firm, has hired public fund marketing veteran Bill Barnes as a Managing Director, Head of Public Pension Fund Marketing. Barnes brings over 20 years of institutional experience marketing to pension funds in the United States. His experience includes senior marketing roles at Schroders, AXA Rosenberg and Neuberger Berman. During his career Barnes has developed an in-depth knowledge of a wide variety of investments strategies, which fits in with Agecroft Partners' core philosophy of providing value to investors through strong knowledge of the industry and providing an institutional quality approach to screening high quality managers. Barnes’s responsibilities will include assisting with due diligence on potential managers the firm may represent, and managing the firm’s US public pension fund strategy.

Maples Fund Services, an independent global fund services provider and a division of MaplesFS, has expanded its Hong Kong team with the hire of Kit Pau as Vice President. The addition to the Hong Kong team has been driven by increased market share of new launches in private equity and hedge funds, conversions from other service providers, and organic growth from existing fund manager clients. In his new role, Pau has assumed operational responsibility for the fund accounting and investor services teams in Hong Kong and will complement the dedicated client service team structure. Pau previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong, where he was a founding member of the private equity and real estate fund industry specialised group. He has more than 14 years of experience providing advisory and assurance services, including internal controls, financial reporting, administration and compliance for various types of private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, REITs and privately held real estate funds. Pau received a Fellowship from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

InfraHedge, the State Street-owned managed account platform, has announced it has appointed Robert Picard to the newly-created role of President, InfraHedge North America. Picard will lead InfraHedge’s North American business and further strengthen the firm's global management team. He brings more than 20 years’ experience and a deep knowledge of the hedge fund industry. He will report directly to Akshaya Bhargava, InfraHedge's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Picard has hands-on experience building three multi-billion dollar hedge fund platforms at The Carlyle Group/Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management and RBC Capital Markets. Most recently he has been a leader at Lyxor Asset Management, Navigant Consulting’s Financial Institutions Restructuring and Solutions Team (FIRST) and Boxtree Capital LLC (his own firm), as Managing Partner advising emerging hedge fund managers. Picard graduated from College de Genève and attended the University of Geneva School of Law.

Lyxor Asset Management has strengthened its Sales & Marketing team with the appointment of Véronique Parizet as Head of Sales for French and German-speaking Europe and the enhancement of its sales organisation in this zone. Based in Paris, Parizet reports to Christophe Baurand, Global Head of Sales & Marketing. In her position, Parizet is responsible for developing business with all of Lyxor’s clients based in French and German-speaking Europe (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Following this appointment, an enhancement in the organisation of the Sales team has been implemented. Frédéric Bordas has been appointed Head of Sales Asset Management for France. Julien Martin has been appointed Head of Sales Asset Management for Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Monaco. While Oliver Stahlkopf has been appointed Head of Sales Asset Management for Germany. All report to Parizet. In addition, all the ETF sales teams covering these countries are also working under Parizet’s supervision.

The Conifer Group, LLC, a provider of fund administration, middle office, trading and prime brokerage services to the hedge fund industry has expanded its sales team by naming David Goldstein as Director and Elizabeth Whitehouse as Vice President of Business Development. With over 16 years of experience in fund structures, jurisdictions, regulations, service models, and strategies, Goldstein previously worked for seven years in the fund administration unit at HSBC Securities Services, first as an Assistant Vice President of Sales and later as a Vice President overseeing client relationships and Fund Solutions. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Bryant College in Smithfield, RI. Prior to her appointment, Whitehouse served as a business development and marketing specialist at fund administrator CACEIS Investor Services. Previously she also held similar roles at the global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal, and OpHedge Investment Services, a hedge fund administrator. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and English from the University at Albany (SUNY) in 2005.

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has announced that William Mason will be appointed the Director General upon Nik van Leuven’s retirement. Mason will join the Commission from the position of Head of Risk at the Central Bank of Ireland, where he has led the development and implementation of its PRISM supervisory methodology. Most recently he has been working with the European Central Bank helping it plan for the Eurozone’s proposed Banking Union. Before that Mr Mason worked for the UK Financial Services Authority, joining shortly before the financial crisis, and led teams supervising a range of credit institutions, insurers and investment firms throughout the financial crisis. Prior to becoming a financial regulator, Mr Mason worked as a strategy consultant and latterly at the UK Cabinet Office where he helped write Regulation – Less is More, a report to the Prime Minister. His other publications include: Freedom for Public Services; The Costs of Regulation; and PRISM Explained – Implementing Risk Based Supervision.

ATLIN AG, the Swiss alternative investment company listed on the London and Swiss stock exchanges, has announced the appointment of Tony Morrongiello to the position of CEO of the company. Morrongiello now has charge of managing ALTIN’s day-to-day operations and maximising its shareholder value. Morrongiello is a highly respected figure in the alternative management industry, with more than fifteen years’ experience of managing funds of hedge funds in Switzerland, Europe and Asia. He has managed or advised a number of alternative investment companies and has founded Caliburn Capital Partners, a company which managed funds of theme funds in London, Geneva and Singapore. Finally, he also sits on various committees and boards of directors of funds of hedge funds. He is replacing Eric Syz, who performed these duties in his capacity as Delegate and who will continue to sit on the Board of Directors.