The Americas chief of 3,600-employee fund firm is preparing to pass the reins. About 25 percent of the publicly traded, multinational asset manager's 833 billion euros ($870 billion) in AUM (as of June 30) comes from U.S. business.

Dirk Goergen DWS Group Global Head of the Client Coverage Division

Last week, Karl von Rohr, chairman of DWS Group [profile], and Stefan Hoops, CEO of DWS, confirmed that Mark Cullen, CEO of DWS' Americas business and chief operating officer, will step down at the end of the year and that Dirk Goergen will succeed Cullen as Americas chief. Goergen, age 41, will also continue to serve on DWS' executive board and as global head of the client coverage division (overseeing sales management and sales strategy worldwide), while Cullen is expected to retire from the industry in the spring.

Goergen, currently based in DWS' global headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, will move to this side of the pond and be based in New York City.

Von Rohr lauds Goergen as "a culture carrier with deep expertise of the global asset management industry."

""His role leading the Client Coverage Division provides him with a 360-degree view about the opportunities and challenges that clients are facing," von Rohr states.

Hoops puts Goergen's appointment in the context of boosting DWS' "position in the important U.S. market."

"Having an Executive Board member on the ground not only reflects our continued commitment to the United States. It is also a signal that we are focused on addressing growth opportunities in the U.S. market," Hoops states. "We will increase our investments in strengthening our U.S. Xtrackers platform and growing our Alternatives capabilities, while maintaining our commitment to our Active business."

"At the same time, Dirk will continue his global role and stay in close contact with our key clients worldwide," Hoops adds.

"I'm humbled and energized by the opportunity to work with the entire Americas team during such a transformational time," Goergen states. "We are committed to deliver strong results for our clients and to grow our key business segments in the region as one team."

Von Rohr offers thanks to Cullen for his work at DWS and Deutsche Bank (DWS' parent) over the past 30 years.

"While we're optimistic about the next era of the firm, we also owe a great deal of gratitude to Mark Cullen for his years of service and contributions to DWS," von Rohr states. "He has been instrumental in increasing our presence in the Americas market, made significant gains in building our culture, and will have a legacy through his mentoring of [the] next generation of talent."

Goergen, a German, joined Deutsche Bank in 2016, leading private client sales in Germany. He shifted over to DWS in 2018, leading client coverage in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), then rose in 2020 to global head of client coverage. Earlier, he worked for Bain & Company. He is an alumnus of the University of Trier.

Cullen, an Australian, joined Deutsche Bank back in 1992, serving in various equities leadership roles before joining Deutsche Asset Management (a precursor to DWS) in 2004 as global COO. He returned to the Deutsche Bank side in 2012, then returned to DWS in 2018 as COO and added the Americas chief role in 2020. He is an alumnus of Monash University. 

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