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Deals & People September 17, 2021
PGIM Names Linda Gibson New CEO of QMA
The appointment comes as the firm is preparing to rebrand the quantitative equity and multi-asset solutions specialist to be called PGIM Quantitative Solutions and as it prepares to launch a dedicated defined contribution unit.
Reported by Amanda Umpierrez
PGIM, the $1.5 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial Inc., has appointed Linda Gibson as CEO of its $119 billion quantitative equity and multi-asset solutions specialist, QMA. Gibson has been with QMA since July 2019 as chief business officer and will step into the CEO role on October 15.
“Linda brings nearly 30 years of global leadership experience across multiple business functions and a strong understanding of the asset management industry,” says PGIM CEO David Hunt. “This is an exciting time for the firm.”
“I’m honored to be leading this firm into the next phase of its development,” Gibson says. “Over the last few years, we have built on our quant heritage to provide increasingly diversified and customized solutions to address the evolving needs of our clients. I am firmly focused on building on that progress.”
Gibson joined QMA in mid-2019, having previously served in a variety of executive leadership positions at BrightSphere Investment Group, a publicly traded asset manager with more than $225 billion of client assets at the time of her departure
Hunt added that QMA’s current CEO, Andrew Dyson, was stepping down for personal reasons unrelated to the business and that both leaders had earmarked Gibson for the role over the past year. Dyson will stay on as special adviser and acting head of PGIM DC Solutions until the end of March.
The CEO change comes as QMA announced it is rebranding to PGIM Quantitative Solutions and is launching a dedicated defined contribution (DC) unit called PGIM DC Solutions.
Gibson said the firm’s rebrand will be effective on September 28 and the name was chosen to reflect its close ties with parent PGIM, one of the world’s largest asset managers, as well as its expanding capabilities and customized solutions in recent years. QMA Wadhwani will now be called PGIM Wadhwani, and its investment team will continue to work independently within the PGIM Quantitative Solutions business.
QMA also recently hired retirement expert David Blanchett as head of retirement research for DC solutions in June. Blanchett was formerly head of retirement research at Morningstar Investment Management.
And in July, Empower Retirement announced it is acquiring the full-service retirement business of Prudential Financial.