Legg Mason appoints Colin Taylor as sales director to support growth surge

Legg Mason have announced that Colin Taylor has agreed to join the firm as Director of Sales, based in Melbourne. Colin will promote Legg Mason’s products and affiliate fund managers under Legg Mason’s hybrid distribution structure that encompasses both institutional and retail segments of the market.

The appointment follows significant growth in the Australian business, with Legg Mason recently recording its best year of inflow.

Beau Titchkosky, Head of Sales for Legg Mason Australia said, “Colin’s appointment underpins our longer term growth plans and reflects the success of our business in developing tailored solutions under our hybrid distribution model. In building out our team we have looked for a strong blend of technical knowledge and relationship skills that can help us provide an edge in the way we service the Australian and New Zealand markets.”

The Australian sales team has progressively expanded with other more recent hires including Sales Directors Nathan Masalski from AllianceBerstein in 2012 and Ben van Den Tol from ING Commercial Bank in 2013. The growth in the Australian sales team is part of a continued strategy to build momentum more broadly, and this may potentially result in further appointments in the future.

Beau said the environment was positive for further expansion of the sales team. “Legg Mason in Australia is receiving continued and growing support from a range of asset consultants, multi-managers and dealer groups and our goal is to deliver on their expectations from an investment performance and relationship perspective.”

Colin joins Legg Mason after three years at JP Morgan as Vice President, Institutional Business. His previous experience also includes 11 years at UBS in London where he was most recently promoted to Executive Director, Head of Prime Brokerage.