Pacific Global Advisors Grows Its Investment Management Team, Announces Two New Key Hires

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pacific Global Advisors, a New York-based pension advisory firm (formerly J.P. Morgan’s Pension Advisory Group), announced two new key hires – Brian Fullerton and Jim Burritt. Brian will be co-CIO with Leon Desbrow, who will be retiring at the end of the year, and Jim will be a managing director with responsibility for alternative asset classes.

Brian brings over 25 years of investment and risk management experience across a wide range of investment products. He began his investment career at J.P. Morgan where he spent 11 years gaining expertise in research, derivative structuring, and risk management. In 1995 he moved to the buy side, joining Putnam Investments as chief risk officer, later adding the responsibilities of treasurer. In 1999, Brian joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) as global chief risk officer, and was promoted to chief investment officer of the Americas. During his seven-year tenure at MLIM, the Merrill Lynch mutual fund family rose from the bottom of Barron’s annual investment performance ranking to among the top performers in 2006. From there, Brian rounded out his investment management experience as a managing director and senior investor with international fund of hedge funds manager Gottex. Brian has a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a CFA® charter holder.

Jim Burritt brings over 15 years of alternative investment experience and has been directly responsible for investing over $10 billion. From 2002 to 2012, Jim was the managing director and chief investment officer for Thomas H. Lee Capital where he built a multi-billion dollar alternative investment business. Additionally, Jim managed Rockledge Capital Management for an ultra high net worth investor. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Capital, Jim was vice president at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers’ Alternative Strategies Group where he was responsible for hedge fund research, due diligence and portfolio construction for institutional clients, as well as being the lead analyst in building Merrill Lynch’s HedgeAccess Platform for high net worth clients. Jim has an MBA from Cornell University and dual bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and interdisciplinary studies from Bucknell University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

These appointments highlight Pacific Global Advisors’ commitment to develop its human capital and its focus on providing superior quality investment advisory service to its clients. As part of this focus, Pacific Global Advisors continues to hire top talent in the industry and develop a best in class team of professionals.

David Oaten, managing director of Pacific Global Advisors, said, “We are delighted that Brian and Jim have joined us, adding to the breadth of our existing capital markets capabilities. We will continue to make investments in building a strong and professional team and in providing superior quality client service. We want to thank Leon Desbrow, who has been Pacific Global Advisors’ chief investment officer since its inception, and wish him all the best on his well deserved retirement. We are confident that Brian and Jim will build upon the tremendous foundation that Leon has established.”

About Pacific Global Advisors

Pacific Global Advisors provides advisory services primarily to large defined benefit pension plans and other institutional clients. Pacific Global Advisors specializes in providing full-service customized solutions, consisting of both advice and implementation. These solutions include services such as asset allocation, portfolio construction, asset-liability modeling, manager selection, risk management, hedge implementation, termination solutions, custodian relationship management, investment consulting and regular reporting. Pacific Global Advisors is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Life Insurance Company; more information about Pacific Global Advisors can be found at www.PacificGlobalAdvisors.com.