Garrisonsmanaging director Kim White has announced his resignation from the group, with Synergy managing director Jim McKay moving into the role on an acting basis. Both groups are owned byChallenger.
White notified Garrisons early last week of his intentions to depart the group by the end of the week.
Challenger general manager for funds management and distribution Rob Adams says White’s move was not related to the splitting of Garrisons and Synergy into separate businesses within the group in June this year, but was his own decision.
Adams says the group has begun a search for a permanent replacement for White and has contracted recruitment group, the Collecton Partnership, to conduct the search.
However, he says Garrisons has already received some expressions of interest from within the market, with candidates “attracted to the arms length place of Garrisons in the Challenger group”.
At the time of going to press it was not clear what White’s next role would be. Prior to holding the post of head of Garrisons, he moved from the group as deputy managing director to work in Challenger’s funds management business before moving back into the dealer group in the top role.
McKay, who joined Synergy in August this year, will also be working with Garrison’s founder John Sikkema until the appointment of White’s successor. Sikkema stepped down from the managing director role in February last year to become executive chair and is still involved with the group at a board level covering strategy for the group.
Adams says McKay will continue to lead Synergy, as it benefited from the split and is being positioned for further growth in the platform market.
However, he was not willing to state whether the group had made any definitive moves in the creation of a low cost platform to compete in that newly created space.
