Francis joined Towers Watson, a New York City-based, NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange-listed professional services company, in 2011 from PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has held a number of positions with the company since then, and most recently has been a member of the company's EMEA investment leadership team and head of its UK client consulting teams.
Ford, who joined Towers Watson 23 years ago, had been head of EMEA investment since 2011. In his new role, as global head of the company's investment business, he replaces Carl Hess, who has assumed the role of managing director of the Americas region and joins Towers Watson's executive committee.
Towers Watson traces its roots back to 1865, when 1865, when Fackler & Co, out of which it grew, was founded in New York. It specialises in providing risk assessment, strategic asset allocation, fiduciary management and investment manager selection services to institutional investors. It has around 800 employees around the world, with assets under advice of more than $2trn (£,1.2trn, €1.5trn), and assets under management of around $60bn.