JANA poaches Russell’s Lonergan for liability-aware push

Binaya Dahal

Editorial Intern, Financial Newswire

28 January 2026

Investment consultant JANA has poached Oscar Lonergan from Russell Investments to become its new senior client development director, as it seeks to expand support for not-for-profit (NFP) and liability-aware investors.

The hire comes amid rising demand from smaller institutions outsourcing governance and investment execution, driven by limited internal resources, regulatory scrutiny, and increasingly complex market conditions.

In his new role, Lonergan will report to Head of Client Development Sai Srinivasan, and focus on insurers, redundancy trusts, long-service leave funds and other organisations with complex investment needs.

At Russell, he held senior institutional business development roles, most recently as Institutional Business Development Manager, working closely with NFP, insurance and government clients.

Srinivasan said Lonergan’s experience would strengthen JANA’s ability to support clients seeking an institutional-quality consultant or investment implementation partner.

“Oscar’s experience working with NFP and liability-aware investors will be instrumental as we continue to support clients navigating more complex investment, governance and implementation requirements,” he said.

According to the firm, its implemented consulting platform has grown from $11 billion to over $18 billion over the last five years.

Likewise, total funds under the advice had reached AUD$1.7 trillion as of September 2025.

Lonergan said he understands the difficulties of NFP and liability-aware investors and stands ready to support them.

“NFP and liability-aware investors are operating in an increasingly complex environment, and there is growing demand for advice that is both rigorous and practical,” he said.

“I’m excited to be joining JANA and working with clients to support their purpose and long-term objectives.”

Lonergan officially commenced his role at JANA on 19 January.