American Century Investments Announces Retirement Of Co-CIO MacEwen And Other Executive Appointments

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May 16, 2018, 02:37 ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global asset management firm American Century Investments today announced that David MacEwen, one of its two co-chief investment officers, plans to retire at the end of 2018. Senior Vice President and Co-CIO Victor Zhang assumes sole responsibility for leading American Century's investment management organization. A 27-year veteran of the firm, MacEwen has shared the CIO role with Zhang since 2014.

"On behalf of American Century, I want to thank Dave for creating value for our clients over his long and distinguished career at the company, a span that pre-dates our acquisition of the Benham Group in 1995," American Century's President and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Thomas said. "It was Dave's leadership and vision that contributed to the expansion of our fixed income capabilities to include global and emerging markets debt strategies, as well as the development of several yield-oriented solutions to meet clients' evolving needs. More recently, he played a significant role in the launch of our first exchange traded funds. Fortunately, Dave will continue to be a valuable resource for the company as he transitions toward retirement over the course of this year."

As part of a long-term succession plan, American Century recruited Zhang in 2014. Since then, he and MacEwen have partnered to share investment management responsibilities across all asset classes. Going forward, Zhang will solely oversee the teams delivering the firm's investment capabilities, spanning Global Growth Equity, Global Value Equity, Disciplined Equity, Multi-Asset Strategies, Global Fixed Income and AC Alternatives. Leaders on the Global Fixed Income team will continue to report to MacEwen while the firm conducts a search for a new Global Fixed Income CIO, a role MacEwen held in addition to his co-CIO responsibilities. The respective discipline CIOs and senior leaders responsible for the day-to-day oversight of American Century's investment strategies will continue to report to Zhang, whose team encompasses nearly 180 investment professionals managing approximately $173 billion* in client assets.

"When Victor joined American Century four years ago, he brought a strong and contemporary client-centric orientation that remains vital to meeting evolving client preference," Thomas said. "He's proven to be an outstanding leader who will continue to strive for the performance consistency, institutional quality, accountability and transparency that have characterized our approach to partnering with and serving clients for 60 years."

Prior to joining American Century, Zhang was president and CIO of Wilshire Funds Management, a business unit of Wilshire Associates focused on delivering investment management services and solutions to financial institutions. He was responsible for the business unit's overall strategic direction and oversaw all investment-related functions, including manager research, portfolio management and investment research. Previously, Zhang served as director of investments and held other senior investment positions with multi-family office firm Harris myCFO Investment Advisory Services, a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal. Earlier in his career, Zhang was a consultant with Ernst & Young, LLP.

In addition to MacEwen's pending retirement, American Century announced a promotion and expanded leadership responsibilities for Senior Vice President Cleo Chang, who joined the firm in 2015 to lead the AC Alternatives business unit and later assumed responsibility for the firm's investment communications and client portfolio manager teams. Chang becomes Head of Investment Solutions and joins American Century's Management Committee, the company's senior leadership team responsible for establishing and executing the firm's strategic priorities. In addition to her current responsibilities, Chang will oversee American Century's recently launched exchange traded funds (ETF) initiative, working in concert with Senior Vice President and Head of ETFs Edward Rosenberg to deliver the firm's investment capabilities through ETFs.

"Over the past three years, Cleo has proven to be a high-conviction, courageous and results-oriented leader who has built strong relationships with our clients and her teammates across the company," Thomas said. "From spearheading our successful alternative investments initiative to the improved efficacy of our investment communications team and the expansion of the client portfolio manager team, Cleo has had a major and immediate impact on our company. Given her track record with strategic initiatives, I'm confident that she will help us grow our presence in the ETF space as we introduce new and innovative solutions for the benefit of our clients."

American Century also announced Peter Cieszko, senior vice president and chief client officer, will move into the newly created position of Head of Strategic Development. Cieszko, who joined the company in 2011, will contribute to the growth of the organization across all client channels through existing and new strategic partnerships. According to Thomas, the move is a recognition of the vast network of contacts Cieszko has amassed over his three decades working with institutional clients, consultants, professional buyers, wire houses, regional and independent advisors, registered investment advisors, banks and insurance companies.

"Peter's industry knowledge and relationships were instrumental in the creation of multi-faceted business opportunities and referral programs that have yielded impressive results," Thomas said. "His background and experience make him well suited to identify similar growth opportunities with other strategic partners."

With Cieszko transitioning into a new role, all distribution activities will be consolidated under Senior Vice President and Chief Client Officer Joe Schultz, who was previously responsible for American Century's global institutional business. Going forward, leaders in the firm's institutional, intermediary and direct channels will report to Schultz.

"The consolidation of distribution under Joe will bring a more holistic perspective to how we serve and support our global client base, while offering new opportunities for growth for our business and employees," Thomas said. "In his expanded role, Joe's top priority remains growing our global distribution footprint, which requires us to be agnostic when it comes to channels and geography as buyers across the spectrum have become increasingly institutionalized."

American Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,300 employees serve investment professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; London; Hong Kong; Sydney; Mountain View, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan S. Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.4 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit www.americancentury.com.

*Firm assets under management as of May 10, 2018