NEW YORK - Theresa A. Hamacher has been named managing director and head of U.S. active equity management for Bankers Trust Co.'s Investment Management Group, New York.
She previously was head of equity investments at Prudential Investment Advisors, Newark, N.J., where she oversaw the management of $22 billion. Her replacement at Prudential has not yet been named.
At Bankers Trust, Ms. Hamacher will take over the position previously held by Paul Higgins, who becomes president of Bankers Trust Connecticut in Greenwich, a trust company for private clients.
Ms. Hamacher's experience in active management was clearly an attraction for her new employers. "A key factor in her selection was her background in active management," said Bankers Trust spokesman Tom Parisi. Bankers Trust, which had been best known as an index fund manager, recently began a major shift toward active management and the use of derivative securities (Pensions & Investments, Feb. 7).
In her new job, she will oversee the $7 billion U.S. active equity management business. That includes two product lines for pension funds, a large-capitalization stock value approach and a small-cap offering; trust management services;, separate accounts; and commingled trusts.
While expansion of the business "is a goal," Ms. Hamacher said in an interview, "nothing has been spelled out yet" about possible new products and services.
In her 12 years with Prudential, Ms. Hamacher held a variety of roles, starting as an equity analyst in 1982. She served as the porfolio manager of the Prudential Bache Utility Fund from 1983 to 1985; in 1984, that fund posted a 38.6% total return, ranking it as the top performing equity mutual fund that year, Bankers Trust said. She also has managed the Prudential Bache Option Growth Fund and the Income Vertible Fund, a convertible fund. She was co-manager of the Prudential Multi-Sector Fund.
In 1988, she became managing director of the equity group, whose staff expanded during her tenure to 30 portfolio managers handling more than $3 billion of institutional U.S. equity assets and more than $19 billion of mutual fund assets.
Mr. Parisi also cited Ms. Hamacher's active involvement in the New York Institutional Options and Futures Society. "Clearly, at Bankers, a background in derivatives is important," he said.
