Platinum hires from Colonial First State

Platinum Asset Management has nabbed a former Colonial First State sales operative to lead its engagement with investment and research consultants with a focus on supporting managed accounts.

Steele joins the investment specialist team reporting to Dean McLelland, head of investment specialists (Retail).

This is an additional headcount joining the team as Platinum looks to ramp up further engagement and support for key segments of the market.

All up, John Steele worked at Colonial First State for seven years most recently as director of investment sales.

He mainly worked for not-for-profits, family offices and insurance firms creating portfolios with a focus on impact, sustainability and ESG solutions.

Before that, he spent nine years at BlackRock looking after iShares Australia as an account manager and then as vice president and state manager of New South Wales.

Earlier, Steele was the northern region account manager for iShares, looking after Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

Prior to joining BlackRock, he was an internal sales associate at Russell Investments.

McLelland commented "I am delighted to welcome John to our team. John's wealth of industry experience and technical skills will be a valuable asset for our sophisticated clients and for the firm. We're excited by the outlook for our truly active approach to global equities in a time of significant market uncertainty.

"I look forward to working with John to build on our engagement with key decision-makers and helping to achieve our goals".

As at 31st May 2023, Platinum had $18 billion in total funds under management.