DHR Completes Top Search for World Gold Council
October 28, 2016 – Executive search firm DHR International has placed Joseph Cavatoni as managing director, U.S., and officer of World Gold Trust Services for the World Gold Council. The search was led by Carol Hartman, managing partner of the firm’s financial services practice in North America.
Mr. Cavatoni will lead the development of new gold-backed financial solutions that complement investors’ core portfolio holdings as well as bring equity research to market. He will also be responsible for all market facing activities for SPDR Gold Trust, working in close collaboration with State Street Global Markets, the marketing agent for SPDR Gold Trust. He also becomes a member of the World Gold Council’s executive committee.
Mr. Cavatoni joined the World Gold Council from BlackRock, where he was the managing director responsible for iShares Capital Markets – Americas, and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. At BlackRock, Mr. Cavatoni managed relationships with broker-dealers, market makers, exchanges, index providers, clients and managed the iShares plans for the top 15 investment banks. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Cavatoni worked for UBS Securities and Merrill Lynch.
“In an environment where gold is increasingly relevant in protecting investors against unprecedented market uncertainty and negative interest rate policies, Joe’s deep knowledge of ETFs and asset management will enable us to develop a new generation of investment solutions, building on the foundation of GLD and significantly expand the investor base,” said Aram Shishmanian, World Gold Council CEO.
“We look forward to working with Joe and his team to continue promoting the potential benefits that gold investing brings to investor portfolios,” said Nick Good, co-head of the Global SPDR Business at State Street Global Advisors. “He brings tremendous ETF and capital markets insight to our marketing and distribution efforts around GLD.”
“I am very excited to be building on the strong foundation and track record established by GLD and I’m looking forward to expanding the range of gold-backed solutions we provide to investors,” Mr. Cavatoni said.
A Highly Sought After Recruiting Specialist
The World Gold Council is the market development organization for the gold industry with the purpose of stimulating and sustaining the demand for gold, and providing industry leadership to be the global authority on the gold market. It develops gold-backed solutions, services and products based on authoritative market insight and its work with a range of partners to put ideas into actions.
“The World Gold Council was seeking a leader who would bring capital markets and ETF expertise, new product development and the interpersonal skills to work closely with key partners like State Street,” said Ms. Hartman. “They also needed someone who could collaborate with the other leaders at the World Gold Council who are not necessarily engaged with the ETF business, but with equally important, mission-driven aspects of the company.”
In an investment environment where the interest in gold continues to grow, added Ms. Hartman, there is an opportunity to innovate other gold based investment products. “Joe’s leadership comes at a time where his strong command in product development and distribution made him the perfect fit,” she said.
Ms. Hartman’s practice focuses on capital markets, asset management, regional and private banking, mortgage, risk/compliance, payments/financial tech and retirement income. She also has worked with private equity, insurance, real estate and startup companies. Just recently, Ms. Hartman recruited the chief investment officer for Alaska Permanent Fund, two board members for Stifel, three board members for ScotTrade, as well as the chief financial officer, chief marketing officer and head of tech and operations for SRS Acquiom.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
