MFC Global Investment Management has named Don Rich as vice president and head of tactical asset allocation, Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) said Tuesday. MFC Global is the asset management division of Manulife Financial.

Rich, who will be based in Toronto, will report to Mark Schmeer, chief investment officer, equities, asset allocation and research, MFC Global Investment Management. His appointment is effective immediately.

Rich will be responsible for determining the appropriate percentage of assets held in various categories for many of MFC Global’s tactical asset allocation portfolios worldwide. He will also provide overall guidance in the construction of multi-asset class strategies. In addition, he will conduct investment research supporting other portfolio management teams.

“Don Rich has exceptionally strong experience both as an academic and a practitioner in the finance industry. As we continue to execute our growth strategy and further strengthen our global asset allocation capabilities, we are very pleased to have him join the MFC Global team,” said Schmeer in a release.

Rich worked previously for Harvard Management Co., which manages Harvard University’s endowment. He was a portfolio manager and director of research for foreign exchange. He also was a member of the Portfolio Committee which established the secular and cyclical outlook for the endowment’s assets. He assisted with tactical asset allocation, implementing derivative overlays to develop alpha and to hedge tail risk.

Rich also worked at Wellington Management Co., where he also served as foreign exchange team portfolio manager & director of foreign exchange research. He designed and implemented quantitative tools to monitor the linkage between macroeconomics and capital markets.

Prior to that he worked at State Street Associates and was co-architect in the development of the continuous value at risk model that is now a commonly used measure of risk. He also developed models focused on macro activity, capital flows, and savings, which have proven to be successful tools to forecast currency moves, macro economic variables, and investment strategy.

Rich holds a PhD in Finance from Virginia Tech and has worked as a risk management consultant, and as an Associate Professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

IE