Jamie Kase will join ING Investment Management early next month as...

Jamie Kase will join ING Investment Management early next month as executive vice president and head of distribution, confirmed Tracey Gordon, ING spokeswoman. The position is new. He will be responsible for managing distribution for all of the firm's institutional and managed account businesses, and will be responsible for ING's consultant relations and client services business. Mr. Kase will report to Robert Crispin, chairman and CEO of ING. Mr. Kase was COO of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Institutional in the Americas; he resigned Friday, according to an internal memo distributed to MLIM employees. Frank Porcelli, managing director and MLIM's COO for the Americas, issued a memo that said he will assume Mr. Kase's responsibilities until a replacement is hired. MLIM "will be moving aggressively to fill this critical position," according to the memo. Megan Frank, spokeswoman, declined to comment on whether MLIM is using an executive search firm.

Donald R. Frank joined Argent Capital Management as director of business development, said Steve Finerty, chairman. Mr. Frank replaces John Prosperi, who left the firm on amicable terms, Mr. Finerty said, declining to say where Mr. Prosperi went. Mr. Frank reports to John Meara, president of Argent Capital. Mr. Frank was a regional director for the Midwest with SEI Investments, said Larry Wexler, an SEI spokesman. SEI officials expect to replace Mr. Frank soon, and his responsibilities were allocated among other staff in the interim.

Amit Popat joined hedge fund-of-funds manager Optimal Investment Services as senior vice president. It is a new position. Mr. Popat will be responsible for marketing the firm's strategies in the United Kingdom, Ireland and northern Europe. Optimal has focused on the private client market, and Mr. Popat's new job will be to build up the firm's institutional client base, he said. Mr. Popat was head of U.K. business development at Northern Trust Global Investments. Christine Harmon, an NTGI spokeswoman, did not return a call by press time seeking information about his replacement. Optimal also hired Rajiv Jaitly as chief risk manager, a new position. Mr. Jaitly was head of operational risk-multimanager funds at Global Asset Management. Mary Beth Grover, spokeswoman for Global Asset, did not return a call by press time seeking Mr. Jaitly's replacement. Messrs. Popat and Jaitly are based in London. Optimal, a subsidiary of Santander Asset Management, manages more than $5 billion in single- and multistrategy hedge funds and hedge funds of funds.