US – Asset manager Janus Capital Group has named a US pension executive as its new chief operating officer and said it is still looking for a chief investment officer.

Denver-based Janus said it has hired Girard Miller as its new COO. He is currently chief executive of the ICMA Retirement Corp., a non-profit corporation serving 6,000 employers and 600,000 participants.

Janus added that it is still looking for a chief investment officer. "We're being very deliberate in our search and, based on the high-calibre people we've seen, are confident that we'll attract the right person," Whiston said.

ICMA-RC has named chief operations officer Joan McCallen to act as CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

Miller, 52, takes up his new role on June 30 and will report to Janus’s chief executive Mark Whiston. Miller was at Fidelity Investments from 1987 to 1993.

Whiston said he was impressed by Miller's success in transforming ICMA-RC into a respected and successful investment company.

Miller will run all of Janus’s day-to-day operations except its investment management subsidiaries and institutional sales department.

He said: "As one of Janus's longtime institutional clients, I've had a unique perspective on the company and consider it a very strong franchise with an exceptional management team.”

Washington DC-based ICMA-RC manages and administers retirement plans for state and local governments in the US.

“We say good-bye to Girard as a friend,” said ICMA-RC chairman Peter Braun.

Janus added that it is still looking for a chief investment officer. "We're being very deliberate in our search and, based on the high-calibre people we've seen, are confident that we'll attract the right person," Whiston said.

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