Bob Steers has hired an industry veteran of more than 30 years to take over a key new role.

Daniel Patrick Charles Cohen & Steers Executive Vice President, Head of Global Distribution

On Tuesday, Steers confirmed that Dan Charles has joined Cohen & Steers [profile] in the newly created role of head of global distribution. Charles, an executive vice president, now reports to Joe Harvey, Cohen & Steers' president and chief investment officer, a spokesman tells Pensions & Investments. Like Cohen & Steers itself, Charles is now based in New York.

Charles most recently served as global head of distribution at Chicago-based William Blair before leaving at the end of 2018. A North American distribution chief and a European distribution chief rose to replace Charles there.

At Cohen & Steers, Harvey describes Charles' "leadership style" as a "strong fit" for Cohen & Steers.

"His hands-on experience across multiple channels and regions will be critical to integrating and aligning our global institutional and wealth management teams," Harvey states.

Steers puts the hiring of Charles in the context of the real estate-focused mutual fund firm's recent distribution progress. (Charles' hiring comes after Steers hired a CMO a few months ago.)

"Cohen & Steers has made tremendous inroads to new channels — entering the U.S. retirement fund market, expanding our outreach to the endowment, foundation, family office and bank trust segments, building out our offshore fund platform, and realigning our strategic efforts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific," states Steers, Cohen & Steers' CEO. "Building on this success requires a deeper focus and coordination across all disciplines, and we are excited Dan is joining us to provide strategic leadership for our distribution efforts."

Charles, an alumnus of Rockhurst University, joined William Blair Investment Management back in 2010. Prior to that he worked at Janus, BofA, and ING.

33-year-old Cohen & Steers, a publicly traded asset manager, now has more than 300 employees working with $62.4 billion in AUM, as of June 30. 

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