Blair Pickerell

Blair Pickerell is currently the Head of Asia and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Nikko Asset Management Co. Prior to this, Pickerell was Chief Executive of Morgan Stanley Investment Management for 3 years, following his position as Chief Executive, Asia Pacific, of HSBC Investments Ltd.

Early life

After attending high school in Berkley California, Pickerell attended Stanford College where he received his BA and MA. He attended Harvard Business School following a brief stint in Taiwan.

Career

Pickerell joined Jardine Matheson Group in 1984, and quickly afterward he set up the Jardine Fleming office in Taiwan. While there, he played an important role in setting up the Taiwanese mutual fund industry, and was a pioneer in setting up the bank-dependent distribution system.

Pickerell returned to Hong Kong in 1990 where he spent two years at Mandarin Oriental Hotels. Following this, he returned to Jardine Fleming as General Manager. In 1995, he was appointed Managing Director of Jardine Pacific Limited, where he was in charge of over 73,000 staff in over 20 countries dealing in industries ranging from consumer goods, financial services and restaurants to engineering, transportation and security. While there, he oversaw the Asian expansion of Pizza Hut as well as Ikea franchises.

In 1999, he rejoined JF Asset Management as Managing Director and as Chairman of JF Funds Limited. JF Funds became a unit of JP Morgan Chase & Co, and Pickerell relinquished his role after the U.S. fund manager broke off talks to set up a venture in China with Huaan Fund Management Co.

Following his appointment as Asia chief executive of HSBC Asset Management, Pickerell helped establish a China fund management venture with Shanxi Trust & Investment Corp.