Based in London, Lester will report to Baer Pettit, president, the firm said in a statement. He will be responsible for the development of MSCI’s research across its product lines and client segments of asset managers, asset owners, banks, corporates, hedge funds, insurance companies, and wealth managers. He will also partner with MSCI’s product, client coverage, technology, and marketing teams to ensure the development of research, analysis, and solutions that aim to help investors navigate a rapidly transforming investment landscape.

Welcoming the move, Pettit said: "Ashley is an innovative thinker and brings with him a wealth of expertise as an investor, in business leadership and quantitative and qualitative analysis.” 

Lester has over a decade of experience in business leadership, investment management, and multi-asset class investment research. Previously, he spent eight years at Schroders in London, most recently as the founding head of systematic investments, the firm continued. He had also previously served in Schroders’ Multi-Asset Investment Group as head of multi-asset research, leading research into portfolio construction, asset allocation modelling, and capital market assumptions.

Before Schroders, Lester spent two years at New York-based MSCI as the head of fixed income and multi-asset class research, where he managed MSCI’s global team of researchers covering fixed income, multi-asset class modelling, and valuation, managing the research agenda for MSCI’s market-leading risk solutions. Before joining MSCI, he was managing director and head of market risk analytics at Morgan Stanley.