NETHERLANDS – Former Towers Perrin investment consultant Bart Noordman has joined global investment management firm GMO as business development director for the Netherlands.

This is a new position at GMO. Until now, all GMO activities in the Netherlands were the responsibility of the broader GMO Europe team. These members will still be involved.

“My arrival is an expansion and reflects continued commitment to our clients and to the market, with the aim of having someone fully responsible for the Netherlands,” said Noordman, who is based in Zurich.

“I am responsible for all aspects of the market,” he told IPE. His new responsibilities include client relationship management, client services and product management in the Dutch market.

GMO’s three main European target markets include the Netherlands, UK and Switzerland. It regards the Dutch market – with its sophisticated institutional investment industry - as “a good fit” with its own investment and research driven philosophy.

The chief executive officer of GMO Europe is Alex Onrus.

Noordman, 34, was at Towers Perrin for two and a half years. He told IPE: “I did enjoy my role at Towers Perrin very much. But the opportunity to work for a company like GMO is not an opportunity anyone will have too often. Taking this opportunity implied that I had to leave Towers Perrin.”

Before this, he was portfolio manager at F&C in London, and investment strategist at the Philips Pension Fund.

While Noordman could not name any specific GMO pension fund clients in the Netherlands, he said, “We have a substantial client base in The Netherlands, half of which is in the top 25 largest pension funds.”

According to a Towers Perrin spokesperson, no replacement for Noordman has been appointed yet. “We are currently looking,” he said.

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