A senior Legg Mason veteran is rejoining his former chief, taking on a newly created leadership role at a $575-billion-AUM (as of December 31), freshly independent, PE-backed fund firm. Watch for the new hire to spearhead the asset manager's SMA push.

John D. Kenney Allspring Global Investments Head of Strategic Initiatives

On Monday, Joe Sullivan, chair and CEO of Allspring Global Investments [profile], confirms that John Kenney has signed on with the Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm. Kenney now serves in the newly created role of head of strategic initiatives, and he reports directly to Sullivan.

Before leaving Legg Mason at the end of 2019, Kenney served as executive vice president and global head of affiliate strategic iniatitives and as an executive committee member under Sullivan, who was then chairman and CEO of Legg. Since Kenney's departure from Legg, he has served as an external advisor to Boston Consulting Group's asset and wealth management group and as an independent board member to mutual funds from Principal. His move to Allspring comes after the fund firm spun out of Wells Fargo last November.

At Allspring, Kenney will be charged with overseeing product development and product strategy, plus expanding Allspring's Remi separately managed account (SMA) platform. (As of December 31, Allspring had more than $75 billion in SMA assets.)

"Our SMA platform represents a strong and important growth opportunity for Allspring, and we have full confidence that John will help us further refine the firm's product strategy and development," Sullivan states.

Kenney, for his part, lauds Allspring as evolving "into one of the truly great independent global asset management firms with scale."

Kenney rejoined Legg back in 2011, and over the years he served as CEO of Legg Mason Global Asset Allocation (LMGAA) and managing director of corporate strategy and business development before rising to EVP in 2015. Earlier, he held fixed income trading and sales leadership roles at Stifel Nicolaus, Wells Fargo, Rain Rausher, and (in an earlier stint at the company) Legg Mason. He also worked in pharmaceutical sales and is an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame. 

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