By Jonathan Barrett Australian Financial Review - http://www.afr.com.au Published: January 18, 2008 They are known as salesmen CEOs and in the financial services industry, almost everyone has one. Fund manager UBS Global Asset Management has one, as does BT Financial Group and Tyndall Investments, to name a few.  The private banking divisions of National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia are also part of the trend. Rather than hiring professional managers or investment personnel to head financial firms, recruiters are targeting former sales staff.  All have other qualifications – including legal backgrounds and MBAs – bit it has been their time as business development managers (BDMs), marketers and heads of distribution teams that elevated them to the top job. Financial Recruitment Group managing director Judith Beck said there had been a definite shift to hiring sales staff to head companies, away from those with actuarial or legal backgrounds, in the past decade. “If they can’t sell the story it doesn’t matter how good the product is.”  Ms Beck said. She said those in sales roles were highly visible, and better able to build their reputation, and that they spent their working lives understanding margins and profits, which made them suitable candidates.  Product managers who showed a great understanding of the market, and knew how to tap into it, were also in demand. The rise of the salesman CEO in the financial services industry has coincided with a push from overseas fund managers trying to tap into the lucrative Australian market. Global giants like Fidelity Investments have set up local offices designed largely to distribute overseas product to Australians.  As a result, they often appoint sales staff to run the business. Reporting lines are sometimes split, and local investment staff report to bosses overseas, rather than the local CEO or managing director who is charged with increasing sales. Large, diversified financial firms also tend to hire salesmen CEOs to manage the different parts of the business, while small, pure investment houses are more likely to have bosses with investment backgrounds. Schroder Investment Management Australia chief executive Greg Cooper said his background in product roles helped when he spoke to institutional clients, because they were looking for technical information.  “It’s much less a product push and more about understanding what gaps there are in the client portfolios.” Said Mr Coopers who has an actuarial, sales and product background. “We place a lot of emphasis on the day to day investment business because that’s such an important piece of who we are and what we do.” Brett Himbury, who heads the asset management businesses at Suncorp owned Tyndall Investments and Suncorp Investment Management, has been using his best sales techniques to convince investors not to pull their money even though Suncorp’s entire Australian equities team has resigned. Mr. Himbury has held a number of sales roles, including working as Westpac Banking Corp’s General Manager of distribution. Ms. Beck said people working their way to the top roles didn’t change companies too often, but would switch eventually if there wasn’t the potential to progress in their organizations, or if a good opportunity arose elsewhere. Paul Bolinowosky secured the top job at UBS Global Asset Management after heading the institutional sales arm of Alliance Bernstein for a number of years.  He held a similar role at Rothschild Australia Asset Management in the 1990’s. In contrast, BT Financial Group boss, Rob Coombe started in BT in 1991, and has had roles ranging from senior legal counsel to vice-president of marketing and distribution, on his way to the chief executive’s position.