Robert Joseph was hired as senior vice president and managing director of consultant relations by National City Investment Management, said John Abunassar, executive vice president of institutional asset management. It is a new position. Mr. Joseph was a senior vice president at Northern Trust Global Investments, where he was in charge of product management for the quantitative management group. Northern is recruiting to fill the vacancy, said spokeswoman Christine Harmon.
John Dionne was hired as CIO and senior managing director of Blackstone Distressed Debt Advisors, a new unit of Blackstone Group. Mr. Dionne will lead development of a new distressed debt investment strategy, emphasizing smaller, less efficiently traded issues. A source with knowledge of the new unit, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Dionne's product development work will likely lead to the introduction of hedge funds focusing on distressed debt. Mr. Dionne was a partner at the $1 billion hedge fund Bennett Restructuring Fund. Jim Bennett, managing partner of the restructuring fund, said in a statement: "Although we regret John's departure, we wish him well in his exciting new career opportunity." A spokesman for Bennett Management declined to comment about a replacement for Mr. Dionne.
Mark Koenig and Michael Wayton joined Fifth Third Asset Management as portfolio managers and will serve as the nucleus of the quantitative investment team the firm is building, said E. Keith Wirtz, president and CIO. Both positions are new. Messrs. Koenig and Wayton previously worked at National City Investment Management as director of quantitative analysis and a quantitative research analyst, respectively. National City spokeswoman Kelly J. Wagner said her firm is in the process of replacing the two.
