Stockholm (NordSIP) – On July 26th, US-based asset manager V-Square Quantitative Management announced the hiring of Erik Norland (Pictured), a 20-year industry veteran with asset management, custody, and global markets expertise, as its Head of Distribution.
Norland will join the global leadership team and lead the firm’s sales, consultant relationship and client service functions across institutional, insurance and wholesale and report to Mamadou-Abou Sarr, co-founder and President. Prior to joining V-Square, he headed the Nordic Region at Northern Trust Asset Management, where he was responsible for all business activity in the region, with a high focus on the distribution of sophisticated ESG strategies.
V-Square is a global asset management firm and a sustainability analytics platform founded by Mamadou-Abou Sarr and Habib Moudachirou in 2020. V-Square’s aims to be “a new vector of change in the way we generate investment returns for investors in alternative asset classes, core equity and fixed income”.
“Erik is a results-focused leader who brings excellent experience in distribution strategy and execution, sales management and client relationship roles. I had the pleasure of working with Erik for nearly a decade and I have always been impressed by his solution-oriented mindset, leadership and ESG expertise. I am excited to welcome Erik to the firm to help us further build on our strong distribution capabilities,” Sarr said in a news release.
What was your motivation for joining V-Square?
Innovation, a passion for ESG and his experience working with Sarr in the past drove Norland to embrace V-Square. “Given my passion for ESG, I was motivated to join V-Square by my desire to be a part of a specialized firm, driving innovation that strongly aligns with my own values. At this stage of my career, I was keen to join a team with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, track record of success and a great vision. Joining Mamadou, a Northern Trust alumnus with whom I worked successfully for years, was also a strong motivator,” Norland tells NordSIP.
“Over the past 20 years, working for large asset managers, custodians, and banks, I have developed a strong network and expertise covering institutional investors across Europe. In the last 10 years, my passion gravitated towards sustainable investing; I always felt energized when engaging on ESG topics with asset owners and intermediaries,” Norland continues.
ESG Expertise
Norland expects to be able to leverage his ESG expertise as well as his privileged geographical to support V-Square growth. “Throughout my career, my client-centric approach led me to identify bespoke solutions and I look forward to contributing my expertise to a team who have built a fast-paced decision-making process with ESG at its core,” Norland explains.
“Having been a part of various ESG working groups, I have observed how trends in ESG investing move in different cycles around the globe and look forward to supporting V-Square clients, embedding ESG into their investment strategies,” Norland adds.
“The global pandemic made us all realize that innovation must be a part of any successful corporation’s DNA in order to adapt to shifts in social and consumer trends and to weather certain exogenous shocks. I have the advantage of being based in a region many consider at the forefront of ESG innovation. Given my global mandate, I intend to leverage my client engagement experience to support V-Square’s growth and innovation,” Norland says.
Challenges and Themes
Looking ahead, Norland is cognisant of the often overlooked diversity of the Nordic region and is motivated by the prospect of building V-Square’s distribution strategy in the midst of the pandemic.
“The Nordic region is often put in the same ‘bucket’. However, I always keep in mind that this region actually consists of 5 sovereign states (with three autonomous territories connected) that have 5 different languages, rules and regulations and investment preferences,” Norland says. “Generally, my view is that investors will continue to seek efficient, sustainable investment solutions combining pre-defined, and robust engagement & proxy voting policy whilst taking ESG into consideration in combination with relevant reporting.
“The pandemic, social injustice, and natural disasters of 2020 have impacted the lives of many and have had a significant impact on the economy. For an economic recovery to build better value for longer, I believe that governments, companies, and individuals must embrace the core tenets of ESG investing,” Norland adds.
“For me, building a distribution strategy in the face of a recovering economy is exciting when you have a new and unique set of tools and products to provide clients. V-Square was established in 2020 and I am impressed by what has been achieved already in terms of defining the target markets, value proposition and product strategy. Now, we work on the execution,” Norland concludes.
Image courtesy of V-Square
