Exelon has poached Jessica Hart from Northern Trust Asset Management. Hart replaces Brian Andersen, who was second-in-command to Doug Brown, Exelon’s chief investment officer.
The news comes after Exelon and Constellation’s split in February, which involved separating the investment teams into two. Andersen now leads Constellation’s team as CIO. Andersen, along with Brown, was tasked with dividing up a $51 billion investment office — which included both pension and nuclear-decommissioning trust assets — amid a burgeoning bear market.
“It was difficult to split up a really good team,” Brown said in an interview. “It created great opportunities though.”
Brown, meanwhile, has also been adding to his team.
Hart had been with Northern Trust for roughly 22 years and was most recently in charge of the outsourced CIO business for retirement plans. She will now serve as v.p. of investment strategy and public markets at Exelon, the same role held by Andersen before the split.
“We are very excited that Jessica has joined us,” Brown said. “Her extensive investment expertise and previous experience in leadership roles are a great addition to our investment program.”
At Northern Trust, Hart served in a number of roles, including global head of manager research and fund management and as retirement practice lead. Before joining the Chicago firm, she worked in the financial and commodities risk consulting group at Arthur Andersen.
Both Brown and Andersen have bolstered their investment teams with other new hires in the wake of the investment office split.
Andersen previously told Institutional Investor that he hired three senior portfolio managers: Austin Cooley from the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado, Dennis Montz from Sentinel Trust, and Wesley Pulisic from New York City’s Retirement System.
