Janus (Finally) Appoints President, CIO

March 15, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Gary Black, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer (CIO), has been tapped by Janus Capital Group to take over as Janus' President and CIO.

In his new role, Black, 43, will report to CEO Mark Whiston, and will be responsible for the performance of all Janus Capital Group products and investment-management activities, including:

  • overseeing Janus portfolio managers
  • research analysts
  • trading personnel.

Additionally, Black will work on product development and investment performance in conjunction with Janus’ subsidiaries – INTECH; Perkins, Wolf and McDonnell; and Bay Isle Financial and will work with Janus Chief Investment Officer (CEO) Mark Whiston to “continue to broaden the company’s product lineup and leverage its global distribution network,” according to a news release.

Prior Experience

Prior to inking the deal at Janus, Black served in the CIO role for Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s (GSAM) Global Equities business in 2002. In that capacity, he managed all GSAM CIOs, portfolio managers and analysts who specialized in growth, value, blend and international equities. Black joined Goldman Sachs in June 2001 as managing director of its US institutional and third-party businesses. From 1992 to 2001, he worked at Alliance Bernstein and its predecessor firm, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co .

Black’s appoint brings to a close Janus’ search for a new CIO after the departure of Helen Young Hayes from that post on June 16 (SeeHelen Young Hayes Leaving Janus). Hays, who was also the co-portfolio manager of the $11-billion Janus Worldwide Fund and $2.6-billion Janus Overseas Fund, remained with the company through the end of 2003 to ensure a smooth transition of her responsibilities.

Timing Allegations

Janus, one of the first mutual fund firms named in the expanding fund trading scandal, has divulged 12 arrangements that allowed for market timing across its domestic mutual fund business in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing in November following an internal review (see Janus, Colorado in Settlement Talks ). Janus, which had been named in the complaint by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as having allowed hedge fund Canary Capital to engage in market timing in certain Janus funds (See Spitzer Fund Abuse Probe Pumps Out More Subpoenas ), said at the time that “significant, frequent” trading appeared to have occurred in four of the arrangements.

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