Mercer appoints Head of Intermediary Relations
Mercer has named Alexa Shanks as its first Head of Intermediary Relations, helping to connect clients with the right fiduciary managers. She joins alongside two other principals in the investment team: Adam Lane and Jemma Beattie.
Advisors and their clients need to be adaptable to the challenges that lie ahead. As one of the largest investment consulting firms worldwide, Mercer can leverage its global infrastructure to help advance its clients’ investment management capabilities. As well as offering solutions of its own to help standardise a company’s investment process, the firm also works with third party evaluators (TPEs) to recommend and evaluate fiduciary managers.
As Mercer looks to strengthen this service line in the UK, it has created a new position: Head of Intermediary Relations. Arriving from Invesco, where she was a Consultant Relations Director, Alexa Shanks will be the first incumbent in the role, and will be responsible for driving AUM growth through the TPE channel.
Commenting on the news via LinkedIn, Shanks said, “Great to be on-board! I'm really excited about collaborating with Third Party Evaluators, at a time where an increasing number of schemes are looking to implement fiduciary solutions.”
She arrives alongside two fellow principals. Adam Lane and Jemma Beattie arrive in the investment advisory team to meet growing demand from clients looking to refine their de-risking journey and investment strategies.
Lane joins from PwC, where he led the investment practice. He is well-known for innovating investment solutions for a range of asset owners. Meanwhile, Beattie joins from Hymans Robertson where she was an investment consultant and qualified actuary. She has almost 15 years of industry experience, with strong journey planning, LDI and risk transfer credentials.
All three will report to Dan Melley, Head of UK Investments for Mercer, who remarked, “I’m delighted that we have been able to attract such high calibre talent. Adam and Jemma bring strong cash flow driven investing experience that our maturing defined benefit clients increasingly use to achieve their end game objectives. Alexa brings experience and rigour to our fiduciary management relationships with the third party evaluators. All three appointments position us well for our growth trajectory in both investment advisory and delegated solutions.”
