JPMorgan hires Aon Hewitt exec

The firm is expanding its $3bn DC real estate platform in the US.

JPMorgan Asset Management has tapped an executive from consultancy Aon Hewitt to expand its defined contribution real estate platform in the US, the New York-based firm said Wednesday.

Jani Venter, who started earlier this month as an executive director in the firm’s headquarters, reports to Sue Kolasa, the portfolio manager for the firm’s DC real estate business. At JPMorgan, Venter is growing the firm’s DC real estate strategies domestically. The platform invests financial services giant and parent company JPMorgan Chase’s commingled pension trust funds and currently comprises about $3 billion of real estate assets.

She previously spent five years at Aon Hewitt, where she led the DC real estate research and consulting practice. Before that, Venter worked for three years at Institutional Property Databank as the director of US business development, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“DC plans are increasingly adopting real estate strategies as they look to provide participants with the diversification advantages that defined benefit plans have enjoyed for decades, and we’re continually expanding our team to address this demand,” Kolasa said in Wednesday’s statement. “With her deep understanding of this rapidly growing space and a passionate focus on improving participant outcomes, Jani was a natural addition to the group as we continue our momentum and serve our clients.”

JPMorgan’s DC real estate business encompasses a wide range of single- and multi-asset investment strategies for DC plans, including target date funds, or mutual funds where the asset allocation mix typically becomes more conservative as the target date approaches. The company’s overall alternatives platform manages over $120 billion in real estate, private equity, infrastructure and other strategies.