McLagan, the consulting, productivity and performance benchmarking firm, has appointed prominent executive search businesswoman Sophie De Ferranti as director for European wealth management compensation.

McLagan, the consulting, productivity and performance benchmarking firm owned by Aon, has appointed executive search businesswoman Sophie De Ferranti as director for European wealth management compensation. She has worked in regions including Asia-Pacific.

De Ferranti, based in London, will report into Peter Keuls, partner and head of global wealth management in New York, and Lex Verweij, partner, head of Europe in London. She is to develop McLagan’s product and service offering to private banking institutions in the UK and Europe.

Previously, De Ferranti founded the executive search firm Valens Goldberg in London and latterly Valens Goldberg Gmbh in Zurich. In 2009 she was also responsible for launching new offices in Singapore and Brussels. In her role, she completed a variety of international retained search assignments, working with industry figures spanning businesses of all sizes, including a variety of smaller Swiss boutiques, family offices and domestic private banks in emerging jurisdictions.

She regularly comments on industry trends to this publication and other financial media and participates in public speaking events in Europe and Asia on industry issues.

In 1998, prior to her career in the executive search sector, she worked for the United Nations at the organisation’s European headquarters in Brussels. She also spent several years managing HR functions and investor relations for a niche venture capital and life sciences firm, Merlin Biosciences.