RCM has appointed Melissa Gallagher from Gartmore as director, head of investment trusts, replacing Simon White following his move to BlackRock.

The global asset manager, which is a subsidiary of Allianz Global Investors, has hired Gallagher to take responsibility for board and investor relations, as well as business development for its range of investment trusts.

She joins from Gartmore Investment Management where she had spent ten years and was head of investment trusts.

Gallagher said, ‘With RDR on the horizon, there should be an increased focus on investment trusts in the retail space in particular and we believe we are in a strong position to leverage this opportunity.’

Prior to her role at Gartmore, Gallagher was account manager for institutional pensions funds with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (now BlackRock Asset Management).

Earlier this week it was reported that Simon White would be moving to BlackRock as head of investment trusts after spending more than ten years in the role at RCM.

He will report to the group’s head of closed-end funds EMEA, Jonathan Ruck Keene.

RCM is a specialist investment division of Allianz Global Investors, with around £€104 billion of assets under management.