Casey Quirk snares Ben Phillips from Jefferies Putnam Lovell

DARIEN, Conn. — Benjamin F. Phillips is joining Casey Quirk & Associates LLC in late August as the Darien-based money manager consultant's first partner focused entirely on research.

In an interview, founding partner Kevin P. Quirk called Mr. Phillips “a notable addition” for the firm, with experience over the past decade — as managing director of strategic analysis with investment bank Jefferies Putnam Lovell, New York, and before that as a managing director at Cerulli Associates Inc., Boston — tailored to Casey Quirk's strategic objectives.

The firm's five current partners have focused on the institutional segment of the money management world, but “we continue to see ourselves doing more work in retail markets, defined contribution and internationally” — all places where Mr. Phillips has established a leading reputation in the industry, Mr. Quirk said.

Led by veteran John Casey and Mr. Quirk, Casey Quirk is already cited by many industry executives as a leading — or the leading — consultant to money management firms.

Amid growing competition, however, Mr. Quirk said his firm will face challenges maintaining an edge.

Over the past year or so, Casey Quirk's partners agreed that research — “thought leadership” — could no longer remain ancillary to the project work being done for clients. Uncovering critical themes in the market is not just a marketing tool but “an essential part of what helps drive our organization forward,” he said.

Mr. Casey said Mr. Phillips was the only candidate considered for the position — the first partnership offered by the firm in seven years. He brings a “more disciplined research background than anybody in our firm,” which will help sharpen Casey Quirk's focus, Mr. Casey said.

In a separate interview, Mr. Phillips said he won't be starting from scratch in building Casey Quirk's research effort. It's more a matter of trying to provide “some extra oxygen” and organizational structure in that department to a fast-growing firm, he said.

Mr. Phillips said his overseas experience — opening Cerulli's London office and spending a growing chunk of time in recent years in Australia, Japan and Asia ex-Japan — should come in handy in a global market “where most of the growth in the industry is going to occur outside of the states in the next few years.”

Mr. Quirk said international projects already account for more than 30% of Casey Quirk's revenue, up from roughly 10% at the start of the current decade. The focus of those projects has changed, however, from helping U.S. firms establish themselves abroad or helping foreign firms come to the U.S.

Today, Casey Quirk is seeing more demand from Japanese investment managers working on their investment strategies in Japan, and Australian managers looking to strengthen their positions in their home market — “those types of projects have become a much bigger part of our business over the last couple of years,” Mr. Quirk said.

Mr. Phillips' experience in those markets, his “skill sets,” should be “very complementary to our growth strategy,” accelerating the firm's evolution as a global organization — a process that should see the company adding more people “with strong global experience, (and) eventually putting people on the ground overseas,” Mr. Quirk said.

Mr. Phillips will be based in Boston.

Jefferies Putnam Lovell won't be replacing Mr. Phillips, said Richard Chimberg, a spokesman for the investment bank. Putnam Lovell wishes him “continued success” as a partner “with one of the leading strategic consultants in the investment management industry ... and we look forward to working on projects with Ben and his colleagues at Casey Quirk,” Mr. Chimberg said.

Contact Douglas Appell at [email protected]