William W. Priest, CEO and co-chief investment officer of Epoch Investment Partners, will step down as CEO, effective April 1, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
Mr. Priest, who has been CEO since he co-founded the company in 2004, will be replaced by Philipp Hensler, president and chief operating officer, the spokeswoman said.
Mr. Priest will retain his co-CIO role and continue to lead the investment team at Epoch, which had $37 billion in client assets under management as of June 30. He will also retain his portfolio management responsibilities, which include serving as lead portfolio manage for the firm's global choice and global absolute-return strategies, a news release said.
Mr. Priest said in the news release that the change will allow him to focus solely on investing.
He will become Epoch's executive chairman upon resigning as CEO.
"Investing remains my lifelong passion," Mr. Priest said in the release. "Best practice suggests a separation between the 'business of investing' and the 'business of the investment business.' This evolution of duties will allow me to focus solely on the former function. I will continue to lead the investment team and focus on our clients' portfolios."
Prior to joining Epoch in August 2018, Mr. Hensler was the president and CEO of Vontobel Asset Management.
Epoch specializes in managing global and regional equity strategies.
