By JANE KOTCHKINA 02/09/2010
Gervais Williams has resigned from Gartmore and will be leaving the company at the end of September 2010 to pursue other opportunities. His replacement as head of UK Smaller Companies is Adam McConkey, who will be reporting to Dominic Rossi, Chief Investment Officer. McConkey has been with Gartmore for ten years and prior to the new appointment was a Senior Investment Manager within the UK Small Companies team. He has a PhD in International Relations from Loughborough University.
McConkey and Rob Giles, Senior Investment Manager, will co-manage the Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies fund. They will continue to co-manage Gartmore AlphaGen Volantis hedge fund and the offshore Gartmore UK Small Cap Best Ideas fund.
Gervais Williams is also releasing his duties as co-manager of Gartmore Fledging Trust. Harmesh Suniara, previously a co-manager, has been named the lead manager of the trust and will be supported by Gartmore UK Small Companies team. We are currently waiting for the boards of Gartmore Irish Growth and Gartmore Growth Opportunities funds, also previously managed by Williams, to announce replacement managers.
Due to the departure of Gervais Williams we have removed our two star rating from Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies fund pending further information about the new managers.