Analyst promotions: Frontier, Fidelity, ART

Frontier Advisors has announced the appointment of Jacqueline Darwis as an associate in the firm's real assets team.

Darwis brings research and consulting experience in the property sector and joins Frontier from PPC Urban, where she carried out strategic research into national childcare developments and conducted population forecasting and demand modelling to support site acquisition.

Her work also involved client-facing tasks, including tender preparation and project coordination.

Before that, Darwis worked at Jones Lang LaSalle building models to analyse macroeconomic and proprietary data, tracking shopping centre performance across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, and preparing reports for clients including Region Group, Lendlease and QIC.

Her role also included developing internal materials and thought leadership to support sales, leasing and investment reporting.

Frontier head of real assets Lucy Minichiello said: "We're pleased to have Jacqueline joining the team. Her research, modelling and consulting background will be a valuable asset across both our property research program and client advisory workDarwis will join the asset consultant later this month, focusing on investment and manager research. She will be based in the Melbourne office.

Meanwhile, Fidelity International has appointed Zara Lyons as portfolio manager within its Australian equities team.

Based in Sydney, Lyons will oversee the Fidelity Australian High Conviction Fund, including the ASX-listed vehicle and associated mandates, from next month.

She has had around 25 years of experience in Australian equities, joining Fidelity in 2017 as an investment analyst, covering the local healthcare sector and later financials.

Before that, Lyons worked at CLSA, Nomura RBS Equities, JP Morgan Research and ABN AMRO.

The new portfolio manager will replace Casey McLean, who will leave Fidelity after a decade.

Fidelity International's local head of investments, Paul Taylor, said many years of investment experience and a strong track record in delivering research-driven results make her the right choice.

"Zara is also a great example of internal talent progression and will play a central role in delivering great client outcomes within our Australian equities product range," he added.

Elsewhere, Australian Retirement Trust has promoted Andrew Woo to associate portfolio manager for defensive and liquid assets and portfolio intelligence.

The fixed income and currency specialist previously served as a senior portfolio analyst, focusing on manager selection within the fixed-income universe.

Woo began his career in the fixed-income syndicate at China Construction Bank, pricing certificates of deposit and medium-term notes for issuers. He later undertook contract work at several banks before moving to Australia's superannuation sector.