Janus Taps Two for Newly Created Fixed Income Positions

May 10, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Janus Capital Group Inc. has announced a pair of newly created positions reporting to Janus Co-CIO, fixed income, Gibson Smith.

 

The investment management firm announced the appointment of Christopher H. Diaz, CFA, as head of global rates and John Kerschner as head of securitized products for Janus’ fixed income investment team.

According to a press release, Diaz, who joined Janus on May 2, will work closely with Smith, the fixed income portfolio management team and Colleen Denzler, in her leadership role as head of fixed income strategy, to guide Janus’ global interest rate and global macro process. He will also serve as co-portfolio manager on Janus Global Bond Fund, effective May 11. As co-portfolio manager, Diaz will serve alongside existing Janus Global Bond Fund portfolio managers Gibson Smith and Darrell Watters. According to Smith, Diaz’s expertise in global rates will enhance Janus’ deep fundamental bottom-up research process.

“With the continued growth in our fixed income business we are fortunate to have someone with Chris’ extensive global investment experience joining our team,” said Smith. “Not only will he be a welcome addition to Janus Global Bond Fund, but we believe his expertise and approach using fundamental research will be instrumental in driving global investment ideas across all of our fixed income portfolios.”

Prior to joining Janus, Diaz was head of the Global Rates Group at ING Investment Management where he also served as senior portfolio manager, Global Interest Rate Strategy and co-portfolio manager of ING Global Bond Fund. He has 14 years of experience in global bond investing, including almost 11 years with ING. Diaz earned a bachelor of science degree in finance from the University of South Carolina and a master of business administration from Emory University.

“I look forward to joining Janus and the fixed income team, which is gaining significant market share in the institutional and intermediary marketplace,” said Diaz. “I believe they have one of the best credit research teams in the business and my style and approach, which focuses on fundamental research to shape my macro views, will be a good complement to their approach.”

Kerschner originally joined Janus in December 2010 as a mortgage analyst. In his new role as head of securitized product he will be responsible for guiding Janus’ process around the mortgage market and securitized products, according to the announcement.  Prior to joining Janus, he was Director of Portfolio Management at BBW Capital Advisors. Prior to that, he worked for Woodbourne Investment Management where he was Global Head of Credit Investing. He began his career at Smith Breeden Associates as an assistant portfolio manager and was promoted several times over twelve years becoming a Principal, a senior portfolio manager and Director of the ABS-CDO Group. He received his bachelor of science degree in biology from Yale University, where he graduated cum laude, and his MBA from the Fuqua School of Finance at Duke University, where he was designated a Fuqua Scholar. Kerschner has 19 years of financial industry experience, according to the announcement.

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