MacKay Shields announces five new hires in fixed income, emerging markets divisions

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 17 - MacKay Shields LLC said in a press release that it has hired five investment professionals who will expand the firm's expertise in fixed income and equity investing.

James Ramsay joins MacKay Shields as senior managing director and chief fixed income strategist for the firm's high-grade fixed income team. Reporting to Gary Goodenough, senior managing director and head of fixed income at MacKay, Ramsay's duties will include investment strategy, asset allocation and new product development.

Ramsay was formerly senior managing director and chief investment officer of U.S. fixed income at Robeco Investment Management/Weiss, Peck & Greer.

Prior to joining Robeco, Ramsay worked as a senior vice president at Pimco, covering top tier international and domestic consulting firms. He also worked with AIG/SunAmerica's fixed income investment group as an executive vice president and senior managing director, and was a senior vice president at UNUM Provident Corp./Provident Investment Management LLC. Earlier in his career, Ramsay worked at Salomon Brothers, Inc. on taxable fixed income sales and as a mortgage trader.

He is a graduate from the University of Arkansas with a BSBA in finance and banking, and he successfully completed the Fuqua School of Business, Advanced Management Program at Duke University. He is a chartered financial analyst.

Howard Booth joins MacKay Shields as director and lead portfolio manager for foreign bonds with the firm's emerging market debt team. He will report to Goodenough.

Booth worked as a senior portfolio manager, global emerging markets at Robeco Investment Management/Weiss, Peck & Greer. From 1998 through 2005, he was a senior portfolio manager for global emerging markets at HSBC Asset Management. From 1986 through 1998, Booth was with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., most recently working as director of the global financial unit. Other roles at Met Life included government trader, managing trader and senior financial analyst. Prior to joining Met Life, Booth spent five years with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

He received his M.B.A. in finance and international business from New York University and his B.S. in finance and accounting from Syracuse University. He is a chartered financial analyst and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Also joining Mackay Shields LLC are Jordan Alexander, Stephen Friscia and Marvin Fong, previously of Bear Stearns Asset Management. Together, they form MacKay's small and small-mid cap value equity team.

Alexander and Friscia have more than 15 years of industry experience. Prior to Bear Stearns, they were portfolio managers together at BKF Asset Management, Inc. (formerly John A. Levin & Co.) and senior analysts at Palisade Capital Management.

Prior to that, they worked together at Evergreen Investment Management, where Alexander was a portfolio manager/research analyst and Friscia had a portfolio manager role, also working as an equity and fixed income research analyst.

Fong was an analyst at BKF Asset Management and brings over nine years of industry experience to the team.

New York's MacKay Shields is an affiliate of New York Life Investment Management LLC.

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