Rick Bodio joined food and agribusiness manager Ceres Partners as a managing director.
It is a new position, spokesman James Maloney said in an email.
Mr. Bodio will help build out the firm's specialized private equity strategy in food and agriculture investments.
Mr. Bodio "brings a seasoned perspective that will immediately add value to our private equity investments and successfully guide our subsequent funds," said Perry Vieth, Ceres founder and CEO, in a news release.
Until Jan. 31, Mr. Bodio had been deputy chief investment officer, agriculture at Manulife Investment Management, said Elizabeth Bartlett, Manulife spokeswoman in an email.
Hugues Rinfret, managing director, resource planning and analysis, is interim deputy CIO, Ms. Bartlett said. Mr. Rinfret, an economist by training, has been with the company since 2017, and led the development of Manulife Investment Management's agriculture global investment valuation group. Manulife IM has launched a search to permanently fill the role.
Ceres Partners has about $1.4 billion in assets under management in an open-end farmland fund and a combined $42 million in Ceres Sustainable Food & Agriculture Fund I and Fund II.
