BGI hires Prooth as managing director for iShares

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has hired Karen Prooth as managing director and European chief operating officer for iShares, the asset manager’s brand of exchange-traded funds.

She will also work as managing director and European chief operating officer for BGI's global index and markets group (GIMG), which includes the business areas of index equity, cash management, allocations and solutions, transitions management and securities lending. Based in London, she reports to Rory Tobin, chief executive of iShares and GIMG Europe. Before joining BGI, she was a managing director at JP Morgan Asset Management, where she had worked for 17 years.BGI has also hired Kevin Chang as head of strategy, active equities, Europe. He joins from Credit Suisse, where he was global head of derivatives solutions and, most recently, chief risk officer. At BGI, Chang will have dual responsibilities within the Europe active equities team. He will manage the team of investment strategists, as well as working with derivatives for the asset manager’s investment process, including risk management, portfolio construction and alpha generation. In his new role, he will be based in London and report to Nicolaas Marais, head of active equities, Europe.