State Street Global Advisors, the asset management firm, has named Howard Kearns as senior strategist in its investment solutions group, specialising in liability-driven investment strategies. Kearns has previously worked in creating solutions for the pensions and insurance markets at Nomura, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. The firm has also named Max Scharl as portfolio manager for LDI structuring in the investment solutions group. He was previously at SSgA's risk analysis division as an investment risk analyst for fixed income in Emea.