Alternative investment marketing specialist Brookvine has promoted Jack Gray, a respected investment practitioner and academic, to its board.

Gray, formerly co-head of asset allocation with GMO in Boston and chief investment officer of Sunsuper, joined the small capital-raising and marketing firm in early 2008.

Steven Hall, managing director of Brookvine, said that apart from contributing to board discussions, Gray’s role in the company was largely unchanged (his formal working hours will vary between two and three days each week) but that his involvement on the board “cements the relationship”.

“We always intended to bring him onto the board,” Hall said.

Gray is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance with the Paul Woolley Centre for Capital Markets Dysfunctionality at the University of Technology, Sydney, and consults to some offshore funds.

In late 2008, Brookvine made three appointments to its team. Kristen Westwood, formerly lead asset consultant and head of product and communications with ipac, joined to work with Gray on marketable alternative assets, which puts emphasis on hedge funds and more specialised strategies.

Tim Peters was recruited as senior investment analyst to work on due diligence and deal selection. He previously worked with the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

The firm also added an internal branding, graphic design and communications resource – skills often needed by emerging funds managers – by hiring Jeanne-Marie Dorner as marketing and client service coordinator.

Hall said the appointments substantiated Brookvine’s ambition to provide a “broader remit” than capital raising, encompassing investment analysis, due diligence, marketing and branding.