State Street Investment Management announced on 21 July 2026 three senior appointments within its European Client Coverage organisation.
Alistair Byrne State Head of UK & Ireland Client Coverage at Street Investment Management
Alistair Byrne will lead the UK and Ireland, Gerben Lagerwaard will lead Northern Europe and the DACH region, and Francesco Lomartire will lead Southern Europe.
Alistair Byrne takes on the role of Head of UK & Ireland Client Coverage, Gerben Lagerwaard that of Head of Northern Europe & DACH Client Coverage, and Francesco Lomartire that of Head of Southern Europe Client Coverage. The three will lead client coverage activities in their respective regions. The company states that the objectives of the new organisation are to support business growth, strengthen collaboration between teams and across distribution channels, and deliver a more integrated and coordinated client experience.
The three areas of the new Client Coverage structure
The reorganisation divides European client coverage into three areas:
UK & Ireland, led by Alistair Byrne;
Northern Europe & DACH, led by Gerben Lagerwaard;
Southern Europe, led by Francesco Lomartire.
Who are the three heads?
Alistair Byrne
Byrne has worked at State Street for over a decade, in roles focused on the UK market. He joined the firm as an investment strategist specialising in defined contribution pension schemes and subsequently led the European investment strategy team for the same segment. According to his most recent public profiles, he is head of institutional distribution in the UK, with responsibility for pension strategy. He previously worked as a consultant at Towers Watson.
Gerben Lagerwaard
Lagerwaard was appointed Head of Continental Europe, Global Institutional Group in April 2021, based in Amsterdam and reporting directly to Marie-Anne Heeren, then head of the European institutional business. He joined State Street Global Advisors in 2012 and, from 2018, oversaw the group’s operations in the Benelux region, whilst continuing to lead the Dutch subsidiary. Prior to State Street, he spent fifteen years on the sell-side in the Netherlands, focusing on sales, distribution strategy and client relations.
Francesco Lomartire
Lomartire previously held the role of Head of Intermediary Client Coverage for Southern Europe and leads the Southern Europe Intermediary team, based in Milan. He was the company’s spokesperson in the announcement of the opening of the Madrid office, announced on 11 May 2026, which was presented as the formalisation of an operation that had already been underway in Spain for several years.
From channel-based coverage to geographical coverage
The three new appointments are defined solely on a geographical basis. The roles previously held by the three managers, however, combined a geographical area with a distribution channel: institutional distribution for Byrne and Lagerwaard, and the intermediary channel for Lomartire.
The press release does not clarify whether the new roles encompass both channels within each area. However, it does list strengthening collaboration between teams and across distribution channels as one of the objectives of the new structure – a point consistent with this interpretation.
Comment from Marie-Anne Heeren
“These appointments reflect the exceptional calibre of talent within our European organisation,” said Marie-Anne Heeren, Head of the Europe Client Coverage Group at State Street Investment Management. “Alistair, Gerben and Francesco are highly valued leaders with deep experience and expertise, who are a fundamental part of our approach to serving clients. Thanks to our in-depth understanding of our clients and the operating conditions they face, we are ideally placed to offer them comprehensive, bespoke support and solutions. In this context, these new roles will be crucial to continuing to strengthen our business in Europe.”
Heeren was appointed Head of the Client Coverage Group Europe, with the title of Executive Vice President, in December 2025. She is based in Brussels and reports to Ann Prendergast, Head of EMEA. Prior to this, she led the firm’s European institutional business for five years. She joined State Street in 2005, following a career at JP Morgan Chase in New York, London and Brussels.
Key stages in State Street Investment Management’s European reorganisation
The appointments form part of a series of changes to the European structure that began at the end of 2025.
In December 2025, the company announced two appointments: Heeren as Head of the Client Coverage Group Europe, overseeing all client-facing teams in Europe, and Matteo Andreetto as Global Head of Nextgen Business Development and Digital Wealth, reporting to Anna Paglia, Chief Business Officer. Until then, Andreetto had been leading the European business dedicated to intermediary clients.
On 11 May 2026, State Street Investment Management announced the opening of an office in Madrid, presented as an operational base for the Spanish market and the wider region.
The group’s figures as at 30 June 2026
State Street Corporation published its results for the second quarter of 2026 on 16 July. Assets under management in the asset management division reached a record level of $6,300 billion as at 30 June 2026, up 23 per cent year-on-year. Assets under custody and administration stood at $57,900 billion, an increase of 18 per cent.
The figure for assets under management includes approximately $157 billion of assets relating to SPDR products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC acts solely as a marketing agent.
State Street Investment Management is the asset management division of State Street Corporation. It was founded in 1978, is headquartered in Boston and adopted its current name on 30 June 2025, replacing the State Street Global Advisors brand.
Conclusions
The new structure of European Client Coverage completes a cycle of organisational changes that began in December 2025 with the appointment of Marie-Anne Heeren. The structure is now organised into three distinct geographical areas, each led by managers with established careers within the organisation: Byrne for the UK market, Lagerwaard for Northern Continental Europe, and Lomartire for Southern Europe.
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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