Federated Hermes, Inc. announced that R.J. Gallo, CFA, senior vice president and deputy chief investment officer (CIO) for global fixed income and co-head of the Municipal Bond Group, will become CIO for global fixed income, succeeding Robert Ostrowski, CFA, executive vice president and current CIO for global fixed income. Additionally, Ann Ferentino, CFA, senior portfolio manager and co-head of Federated Hermes' Municipal Bond Group, will become the sole head of the group. The moves become effective with Ostrowski's May 1, 2026, retirement and are part of Federated Hermes' long-term succession plan.
As CIO, Gallo will oversee all aspects of Federated Hermes' investment processes across fixed-income products globally, which represent $101.8 billion in assets as of September 30, 2025, managed in multisector, low duration, high-yield, municipal, US government, US corporate bond, international, global and mortgage-backed strategies. He also will be responsible for developing investment teams, as well as overseeing portfolios and risk management. He will continue to articulate Federated Hermes' fixed-income positioning to stakeholders, particularly clients.
Gallo also serves as senior portfolio manager and head of the duration committee, which is responsible for tactical portfolio duration positioning grounded in macroeconomic business cycle analysis and valuation indicators. In this capacity, he works alongside his peer committee chairs responsible for sector allocation, yield curve strategy, currency management and security selection?playing a central role in top-down and bottom-up client portfolio construction and performance attribution decisions. Gallo joined Federated Hermes in 2000 and has 31 years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Federated Hermes in 2000, Gallo was a financial analyst and trader at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As Gallo assumes his new responsibilities, Ferentino will become the sole head of the Municipal Bond Group. In this role, she will assume full oversight for Federated Hermes' municipal managed assets, which total $7.1 billion as of September 30, 2025.
Ferentino has been with Federated Hermes for 30 years. She continues to manage eight mutual funds and other client portfolios. Ostrowski retires with 38 years of investment experience, all with Federated Hermes.
Under Ostrowski's leadership, Federated Hermes built a deep and experienced fixed-income team and a collaborative process for both its fund and separate account products. Since Ostrowski was named CIO in April 2004, Federated Hermes' fixed-income assets under management have grown from $29.5 billion to $101.8 billion, as of September 30, 2025, an increase of $72.3 billion.
