The firm is using its acquisition of Blue River earlier this year to go after US business growth, with a newly-minted role at the helm.

Global investor services group IQ-EQ has named Wendy Piergolam as head of client development for the US in a newly-created post based in New York.

Piergolam will operate primarily under IQ-EQ's subsidiary Blue River, which the group acquired earlier this year with expectations of growing its US and Americas footprint.

Blue River, which is well-known in the market for outsourced solutions for alternative asset managers, has a team of 200 serving around 500 US clients from offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.

Piergolam, who was formerly director of global solutions at PraxisIFM in New York, has also worked in business development at Vistra where she focused on private equity and real estate investments, ultimately leading Vistra’s international desk.

As the new head of client development, her primary role will be building IQ-EQ's relationships with leading fund managers, while boosting cross-sell and collaboration across the group, a statement said. The group operates in 23 jurisdictions, working with many of the large private equity firms. It has assets under administration upwards of $500 billion.

Piergolam has a history with IQ-EQ spending two years in the firm's Amsterdam office as commercial manager. According to her public profile, she left in October 2013 for a brief stint at BNP Paribas before relocating to work for Vistra in New York.

“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to become part of the business again and contribute to the continued growth of IQ-EQ, Blue River and the wider IQ-EQ US funds business,” Piergolam said. “Having local teams across different states backed by IQ-EQ’s global offering and track record in many of the world’s key financial services jurisdictions presents a fantastic opportunity.” 

IQ-EQ US Funds president Mickey Minces added that the firm has "ambitious plans to continue building our profile and presence across the United States, and having Wendy on board marks a significant milestone on this journey.”

The Luxembourg-based global services group has chalked a busy year of consolidation and M&A activity. It bought Paris-based accounting business Conseil Expertise & Synthese in September for a larger stake of France's private equity market; and in June launched a family office services unit, targeting private wealth in single and multi-family offices as well as for individuals. It made inroads into the Asian market earlier this year by appointing Peter Golovsky to the newly-minted role of managing director, head of private wealth in Asia, with "grand plans" to expand operations.

The firm rebranded from its SGG name last year.