GLOBAL - Watson Wyatt Worldwide has appointed Watson Wyatt LLP partner Simon Gilliat to the new role of head of its international consulting group, which will focus on employee reward and benefits consulting to multinationals.

Gilliat will lead the firm’s international consulting teams in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. He will remain managing consultant at the firm’s European head office in Reigate, England.

“Simon’s considerable experience and background make him ideally placed to grow our already strong reputation with multinational corporations,” said John Haley, president and chief executive of Watson Wyatt. The appointment has immediate effect.

Gilliat specialises in assisting multinational employers with worldwide pay packages. He gives advice on mergers, global benefits strategy, pay reviews and expatriate policy, as well as specific individual country advice.

He is also a co-author of the European Federation for Retirement Provision’s reports on pan-European pensions, a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in the UK and an associate of the Actuarieel Genootschap in the Netherlands

The firm yesterday released a five-year track record of its manager research performance.

It said 13 so-called model portfolios outperformed their benchmark - 12 after transition costs and fees.

“We have invested a lot in our manager research teams around the world as we believe it is a key differentiator of our service,” said Nick Watts, European head of investment consulting.

“However, this is only true if we continue to find and select skilled and successful investment managers for our clients, so on the basis of these Model Portfolio results we appear to be on the right track.”