Cambridge Associates has named Noel O’Neill as president and head of global investing, promoting him to the dual role after he led the advisory firm’s research unit for three years.
O’Neill will oversee Cambridge’s research division and outsourced-chief investor officer business, as well as client practices focused on endowments, foundations, pensions, and family offices, according to a statement Tuesday from the Boston-based consulting and investment firm. Ashby Hatch, the former head of public investments research at Cambridge, has taken on O’Neill’s previous role as head of global investment research.
O’Neill’s new dual role as president and head of global investing was initially created for Cambridge’s chief executive officer David Druley, who held the position for six months before he became chairman and CEO in July 2016. In promoting O’Neill and Hatch, Druley pointed to their decades of commitment to Cambridge’s mission and values.
“They have each had a large impact on our ability to deliver outperformance for our clients, remaining laser-focused on uncovering and accessing what we believe are the best investment opportunities around the world,” he said in the statement.
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At the time of Druley’s promotion to CEO, the president position was given to Philip Walton, then head of Cambridge’s private client practice. O’Neill replaced Walton as president, according to a Cambridge spokesperson. Walton, who joined the firm in 1999, now serves as head of client services and investment operations.
O’Neill joined Cambridge in 1995, working as a managing director before ascending to head of global investment research in 2016. O’Neill said in a phone interview earlier this month that he led a team of 150 research professionals responsible for sourcing investment ideas and evaluating managers.
O’Neill’s successor, Hatch, has been at Cambridge since 1993. As global head of public investments research, she oversaw public equities research and conducted due diligence on long-only global equity managers.
According to Cambridge, Hatch’s promotion improves female representation on the firm’s global executive leadership team to 50 percent.
Managing director Eric Thielscher, who joined Cambridge as a research consultant in 2007, will replace Hatch as head of public equities research.
