MFC Global Investment Management has appointed Don Rich as vice president and head of tactical asset allocation.
Rich, who will be based in Toronto, will report to Mark Schmeer, chief investment officer of equities, asset allocation and research. His appointment is effective immediately.
He will be responsible for determining the appropriate percentage of assets held in various categories for many of MFC Global’s tactical asset allocation portfolios worldwide.
He will also provide overall guidance in the construction of multi-asset class strategies. In addition, he will conduct investment research supporting other portfolio management teams.
"Don Rich has exceptionally strong experience both as an academic and a practitioner in the finance industry. As we continue to execute our growth strategy and further strengthen our global asset allocation capabilities, we are very pleased to have him join the MFC Global team," Schmeer says.
Rich worked previously for Harvard Management, which manages Harvard University’s endowment. He was a portfolio manager and director of research for foreign exchange. He also was a member of the portfolio committee which established the secular and cyclical outlook for the endowment’s assets. He assisted with tactical asset allocation, implementing derivative overlays to develop alpha and to hedge tail risk.
He also worked at Wellington Management where he also served as foreign exchange team portfolio manager and director of foreign exchange research. He designed and implemented quantitative tools to monitor the linkage between macroeconomics and capital markets.
Prior to that he worked at State Street Associates and was co-architect in the development of the continuous value at risk model that is now a commonly used measure of risk. He also developed models focused on macro activity, capital flows and savings.
