People moves

Conifer Securities has appointed Joseph Young as senior director of relationship management. He joins Conifer after an 18-year tenure with UBS. From 2003-09, he served as a managing director in its prime brokerage.

Investment Management Association (IMA) has appointed Alain Dromer, global chief executive of Aviva Investors; Hendrik du Toit, chief executive of Investec Asset Management; Robert Higginbotham, president of Fidelity International European business; and David Semaya, chief executive of EMEA and Asia (ex-Japan) at Barclays Global Investors as members of its board. Matthew Annable, managing director at Barclays Global Investors; Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive at Jupiter Asset Management; and Simon Ellis previously managing director, multi-manager at FIL Investments International, stepped down from the board. The IMA board also extended the appointment of the chairman, Robert Jenkins, for a further year and appointed Douglas Ferrans as vice-chair.

FinAnalytica, a provider of post-modern portfolio risk management solutions, has made two board level appointments and the promoted Boryana Racheva-Iotova. to president Andrew Huddart has been appointed as chairman. He is currently general manager of the human capital franchise at Corporate Executive Board, a provider of best practices research. David Merrill joins FinAnalytica as CEO. Previously, he worked at NYFIX, where he was managing director, head of sales and client operations.

Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller, a global investment bank specialising in the financial services sector, has appointed Robert Nordlinger as a managing director. He joins the team providing coverage and execution for the North American depository institutions group. Previously he was a member of the financial institutions group at JPMorgan.

ETF Securities, a pioneer in exchange traded commodities (ETCs) and a provider of exchange traded funds (ETFs), has appointed Scott Thompson as head of sales in the UK and Irish markets and Townsend Lansing joins the product development and structuring team as a senior manager. Thompson will head the team alongside Will Rhind, Neil Jamieson and Rachel Kersey-Brown. Townsend Lansing joins from Bank of America where he was a vice president in new product development in equity derivatives.

Managing Partners Limited (MPL), a boutique fund manager, has appointed Graeme Duncan as financial director. Duncan joins from asset management group SGI-management in Hong Kong, where he was finance and operations director. He will divide his time between MPL's Hong Kong and London offices, reporting directly to the company's managing director, Jeremy Leach.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has appointed Ambassador Ford Fraker, the former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and former chairman of private investment banking company Trinity Group, as a senior advisor to the firm.

International law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has hired investment funds lawyer Ash Gulati as senior counsel in London. He joins from UBS Investment Bank, where he was head of the prime brokerage and equity derivatives legal team.

Marc de Kloe is now responsible for alternative investments globally for ABN Amro Private Banking based in Amsterdam, covering hedge funds, private equity and real estate. He joins from MeesPierson, the private banking arm of Fortis Bank where he was a product development manager.

Aviva Investors has appointed Erich Gerth as global business development director based in London and reporting to CEO Alain Dromer, as a member of the executive committee. He begins his role in July 2009. Most recently Gerth was CEO of Janus International, where he was responsible for non-US institutional and financial institutions businesses (Europe, Asia, Japan, Australia).

Brookfield Asset Management has appointed Leo van den Thillart as managing partner, private institutional equity effective June 1. Previously he was senior managing director and global co-head of the private funds group at Bear Stearns, JPMorgan.

Malbec Partners, an institutional alternative asset management platform, has appointed Costas Hamakiotes to the emerging markets team as senior trader. Hamakiotes joins portfolio manager Bill Geisler and senior research analyst Lars Pedersen and will report to Geisler. Hamakiotes joins from Global Securities Advisors, an investment advisor that he co-founded and managed for six years, specialising in managing emerging markets fixed income relative value strategies.

Tokio Marine Asset Management, which recently launched its European business out of London, has appointed Akiyoshi Oba to replace Yoichiro Iwama as president pending approval by the annual shareholders meeting in late June. After the succession Iwama will assume the role of adviser. Prior to joining , Oba was president and CEO at Mizuho Pension Research Institute. Oba is also a vice chairman of the Security Analysts Association of Japan and a director of the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation.

Marketcetera has appointed Christopher (Chris) Grandi to its advisory board. With more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, he joins as a strategic advisor for hedge fund technology and investment services. He spent the past year founding a company called The Abacus Group which provides high level strategy and consulting services to hedge funds and other investment firms. Prior to that he completed a seven-year tenure at Eze Castle Integration where he was managing director of business development and then president.