Berit Deagan, who spent five years at Zenith in its business development team, has been appointed as head of business development. She joined Zenith in December 2019 as a business development manager (BDM) from four years at investment bank Goldman Sachs and was promoted to senior BDM in March 2024.
This is the second hire for Ascalon from Zenith as earlier this year the firm appointed Ben Davis who was a founding partner of Zenith back in 2005 and spent 20 years with the business in a variety of roles. At the investment house he now focuses on leading its strategic investment consulting work.
Second, Ascalon has also appointed John Burton as head of business solutions. Burton was formerly head of sales at Lonsec for almost four years and previously held senior roles at BT and MLC.
Ascalon chief executive Aubrey Roga said: “Berit and John bring decades of industry experience and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities advisers face every day. Their commercial insight, collaborative mindset and client-first approach align perfectly with our mission: to work alongside our partners to grow, evolve and thrive together.”
It is not known who will be taking over their roles at Zenith and Lonsec.
Meanwhile, back at Zenith, Damien Hennessy has been promoted to investment director. He previously held the role of head of asset allocation and strategy which he took up in March 2021.
Prior to joining Zenith, he spent 20 years as a director at investment strategy and asset allocation consulting firm Heuristic Investment Systems, which was acquired by Zenith in 2021. He also worked as chief investment officer for HSBC Asset Management Australia.
In the new role, he will head Zenith’s portfolio solutions and asset allocation teams and drive its dynamic asset allocation insights and macroeconomic strategy.
Writing on LinkedIn, he said: “My title has changed, but the same high-quality work continues, and I’m looking forward to the next phase – continuing to work with our team and clients on portfolio construction, asset allocation and broader investment strategy.”
