This week's London appointments

Jim Herbert, BigCommerce

BigCommerce, an open SaaS ecommerce platform, has announced that Jim Herbert has joined the company as vice president and general manager for EMEA.

With more than two decades of ecommerce industry experience, Jim will lead the company’s European operations, working to extend BigCommerce’s presence in continental Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

He joins BigCommerce from AyataCommerce, an ecommerce systems integrator and consulting service, where he served as interim CEO.

Marc Ostryniec, chief sales officer for BigCommerce, commented: “In many ways, Jim is the ideal person to lead the next stage of growth for BigCommerce in Europe – not only does he have extensive experience in European expansion and in-depth knowledge of the ecommerce landscape, Jim also brings lasting relationships with our ecommerce partners who are key to our scaling to meet the market demand with best-of-breed solutions and delivery for our merchants.

“I am confident Jim will make an immediate impact on the ground, and further strengthen the great work already underway to expand the BigCommerce ecosystem to merchants and partners across Europe.”

Jim commented: “Over the last two years, BigCommerce has driven a noticeable shift in the European ecommerce landscape, providing an affordable SaaS option built on a flexible, extensible architecture that can accelerate digital transformation for large retailers.

“Our local team has made incredible progress in a short amount of time, putting merchant success at the heart of everything they do during the COVID-19 crisis, and I’m excited to work with them to further amplify the great work that’s being done across EMEA.”

Dermot Kiernan, Federated Hermes

The International business of Federated Hermes has announced the appointment of Dermot Kiernan as fund director for its Hermes Property Unit Trust (HPUT).

Dermot will join in the autumn from M&G Real Estate where he is the fund manager of the M&G UK Property Fund.

Whilst at M&G he was also fund manager of two other UK portfolios: a discretionary segregated pension fund mandate and a property unit trust.

Chris Taylor, CEO of Hermes Real Estate, commented: “Dermot brings with him a wealth of experience from more than three decades working within the real estate investment industry.

“He brings an investment philosophy which fully complements our responsible approach to investing that has helped deliver outstanding returns over the past decade both in terms of financial outcomes as well as positive societal and environmental results.”

Dermot added: “I have long held the Hermes Real Estate team in high regard having seen them successfully build and defend an enviable reputation in the UK.

“The deep, company-wide commitment to a responsible approach is aligned to the opportunities in the market today and I look forward to building on the strong heritage of HPUT.”

Catherine Lewis La Torre, British Business Bank

Catherine Lewis La Torre has been appointed interim CEO of the government-owned British Business Bank.

Catherine currently holds the position of CEO of the bank’s two commercial subsidiaries, British Patient Capital and British Business Investments.

Catherine joined the British Business Bank in 2016 from Cardano Risk Management, where she was head of private equity, responsible for managing a global portfolio of private capital fund investments with over £1bn of commitments.

British Business Bank Chair, Lord Smith, commented: “Catherine is a highly respected industry leader, with more than 30 years’ investment management experience and a strong track record of success.

“She has successfully led the bank’s commercial subsidiaries, British Patient Capital and British Business Investments and has made a considerable contribution to the bank since she joined in 2016.

“I am delighted that she has agreed to take on the role of Interim CEO and look forward to working with her as we support the UK’s economic recovery.”

Jim MacDougall, Revolut

Digital bank Revolut has announced the appointment of Amazon human resources director Jim MacDougall as its new head of people.

Jim will oversee Revolut’s “people operations” department, which looks after the start-up’s thousands of staff.

He is expected is to join the company in the third quarter of this year.

Jim worked as a director in human resources at Amazon since January 2014.

Jeffrey Wecker, Two Sigma

Two Sigma has announce that Jeffrey Wecker has been appointed chief technology officer and head of engineering.

Jeffrey was previously chief data officer at Goldman Sachs, where, he established Goldman’s data intelligence office, data architecture departments, and various other data offices to curate and produce client data.

David Siegel, co-founder and co-chairman of Two Sigma, commented: “Jeff brings an ideal combination of commercial experience, business acumen, and technical understanding of data analytics and architecture to Two Sigma.

“Science and technology anchor Two Sigma’s offerings, and we look forward to leveraging Jeff’s unique expertise as we continue to grow the company.”

Jeffrey added: “I look forward to building upon the work of Dr Spector alongside a group of innovators who are best-in-class within their respective fields.

“Data-driven systems have taken on increasing importance across financial services over the last decade, and Two Sigma is a true leader in developing and applying advanced quantitative methods to discover areas of opportunity.”