State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Madison, hired J.P. Morgan Investment Management and Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC to each manage $500 million in U.S. equities, said Michael McCowin, chief investment officer. J.P. Morgan will invest in an enhanced index style, and Grantham Mayo will use a quantitative core investment style, which manages $55 billion in pension assets, he said.
The hirings are Wisconsin's first for external active U.S. equities. Assets will come from an S&P 500 fund managed by Barclays Global Investors.
Derek Lau, former senior analyst for Intel Corp., has joined Geocapital's investment team as controller. Mr. Lau will be responsible for partnership financial reporting.
Judith Bolger, former associate for McKinsey & Co., will take on the position of senior associate. She was the co-founder and executive vice president of Scenario Inc., a designer and manufacturer for portable computers. Satya Patel, new associate for Geocapital, worked as consultant and module leader for Monitor Company.
All three positions are an expansion of Geocapital's investment team.
Ajay Mehra, vice president and securities analyst, is one of three people hired in an expansion of Columbia Management Co.'s investment team. Dr. Mehra is the former planning oil manager for Indian Oil Corporation in New Delhi. He also served as consumer products analyst for Morgan Stanley & Co.
Also joining Columbia's Investment Team from Morgan Stanley & Co. is Michael J. Martin, equity securities analyst. He formerly served as financial analyst for Morgan Stanley. Mr. Martin also served as equity analyst at Deutsche Grenfell in Santiago, Chile.
Sabrina Yih joins Columbia as vice president and portfolio manager. She was formerly portfolio manager for Delphi Oil Asset, New York
