Justin Thomson was named to head up the T. Rowe Price Investment Institute, a new initiative scheduled to launch next year, T. Rowe announced in a news release Oct. 1.
The T. Rowe Price Investment Institute will focus on enhancing the firm’s investment talent development and strengthening the delivery of its proprietary investment insights to clients, T. Rowe said.
Thomson, a 26-year company veteran who currently serves as head of international equity and a chief investment officer, is charged with creating the institute’s charter, which is expected to involve establishing a center of excellence for developing differentiated investment thought leadership and internal investment talent management.
“More than ever, investors and advisers need a place where they can find timely and actionable insights from people who are on the ground asking the right questions of the companies that are shaping the present and future of the financial markets and global economies,” Thomson said in the news release. “That’s why the time is right to establish this institute.”
Among other things, the institute will curate and highlight insights generated by T. Rowe Price’s investment research organization and develop educational content to help clients and T. Rowe investment professionals augment investment decision-making.
The institute, which is scheduled to launch Jan. 1, will engage experts in business and academia and with other institutions on topics such as portfolio construction, behavioral finance and geopolitics, T. Rowe said.
Thomson, who is based in London, will continue to be a member of the management committee and head of international equity until he transitions to his new role, and he will remain CIO after the transition, a spokesman said in an email.
The company veteran helped conceive the firm’s international small-cap equity strategy and managed it for many years before stepping into his current leadership role in 2020. He was also an important contributor to T. Rowe’s asset allocation committee for the past nine years, T. Rowe said in the news release.
