Rod Paris to retire as chief investment officer of abrdn

Rod Paris is set to retire as chief investment officer of abrdn at the end of 2021.

Rod Paris to retire as chief investment officer of abrdn

Rod Paris

In response to his departure, abrdn, formerly Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), has outlined a structure for its investment management team, organised around pillars of strategic importance for clients – public markets, real assets, solutions and central investments.

The team will report directly to Stephen Bird, the firm’s chief executive officer.



In the firm’s public markets arm, Devan Kaloo and Craig Macdonald will continue to lead their respective asset classes as global head of equities and global head of fixed income respectively. Devan has been appointed as global head of public markets and Craig as deputy head.

The business has also created a Real Assets franchise led by Neil Slater. He will lead the Real Estate and Infrastructure capabilities.

Robert McKillop will continue to lead the Global Product and Solutions business. He will now be directly supported in this by Aymeric Forest who is responsible for driving investment outcomes across multi-asset & solutions.

Archie Struthers will continue to lead the Central Investments teams, with overall responsibility for investment oversight and first line investment governance framework, as well as investment execution and our investment platform. He will also continue to lead on Responsible Investing and Stewardship activity.

Stephen Bird commented: “When Rod and I first spoke about his plans several months ago, our priority was to ensure continuity and clarity to clients – while also putting in place a structure that empowers the talented team we have at abrdn, and the significant expertise and experience they have in delivering for our clients.

“Investment management is at the heart of what we do and I believe that this evolution to our structure will allow us to better align with the evolving needs of our clients, and the pace and scale of change across the industry. It’s indicative of the confident, futurist business that our new brand abrdn represents.”

“Rod has worked in financial services for 40 years and been with the company since 2002.. He has made an enormous contribution to the company over that time and we thank him wholeheartedly for the value he has created. I will personally miss his wisdom, support and his fierce intelligence. He leaves a fantastic legacy for us to continue to build on.”

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