Hanneke Smits, CEO of BNY Mellon subsidiary Newton Investment Management, is to be appointed CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management, following the retirement of current CEO, Mitchell Harris, effective 1 October, 2020.
Harris’s role includes the Wealth and Investment Management businesses, and following his retirement, Catherine Keating will continue in her role as CEO of BNY Mellon Wealth Management.
Smits and Keating, leading their respective parts of the Investment and Wealth Management business, will report to Todd Gibbons, CEO of BNY Mellon, and Smits will join BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee.
Gibbons said, “We are delighted to elevate Hanneke into the CEO role for Investment Management. She has spearheaded Newton’s business momentum and client-centric culture, and we look forward to her leadership within Investment Management. Mitchell has cultivated a strong bench of leaders, including Hanneke and Catherine, who will continue to drive the execution of our strategic priorities to deliver leading investment solutions to our clients underpinned by exceptional investment performance.”
Smits said, “I am deeply honoured to serve as CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management. We have made great progress in building a diversified investment portfolio to help our clients achieve their investment goals. We will build on this strong foundation to continue to drive performance and innovation across our investment products, while also serving as a trusted partner for our clients in today’s rapidly changing investment environment.”
She will continue as CEO of Newton until 1 October and a search is currently underway to replace fill that position. Over the next several months, Mitchell will work closely with Smits and Keating to deliver a smooth transition of leadership.
Smits has been CEO of Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, since August 2016. Her career spans close to three decades in financial services, including serving as a member of the Executive Committee at private equity firm Adams Street Partners from 2001 to 2014, and chief investment officer from 2008 to 2014. She is a non-executive director to the Court of the Bank of England and serves on the board of the Investment Association.
She is chair of Impetus a venture philanthropy organisation that supports charities that aim to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people, and as part of this appointment, she is Trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation, founded in 2011 by The Sutton Trust in partnership with Impetus. She is co-founder and former chair of Level 20, a not-for-profit organization set up in 2015 to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry. Originally from the Netherlands, Smits has a BBA from Nijenrode University and a MBA from the London Business School.
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