The strong upward compensation trends that finished off 2017 led to an unusually confident recruiting environment for the half of 2018. Our business is running almost at the pace of 2015, but the work has focused on a much narrower field of specialty firms and functions. Recruiting work with ETF providers and niche alternative investment product firms has been strong, and weaker with traditional managers of long-only products, particularly the retail distribution functions.
We launched a new website and hope that you will take a look. We highlight for the first time our innovative research and recruiting techniques built on a proprietary set of big data sources that we refine on every search or consulting partnership with several artificial intelligence algorithms. However, needless to say, an invaluable part of the market intelligence and prospect development process is still inextricably tied to over 20 years of building personal relationships through work on over 1,000 searches.
Diversity continues as an important part of all our search strategies and organizational management consulting work. Our participation in a number of industry panels and events, including Pageant Media’s “Fund Intelligence Breakfast Briefing: Cultivating Diversity in Asset Management,” exploring using Big Data to promote diversity; FundFire Exchange: “The Gender Pay Gap” with Financial Times Money-Media; and the Out Leadership US Executive Summit, all provide excellent public insights into these ongoing client discussions. We are encouraged that industry leaders are embracing the promotion of diversity and equality as profitable business practices, not just philanthropy, and have published a blog on this trend.
Despite the highly specialized and focused nature of our work in the C-suite of the asset and wealth management industry, we welcomed the recognition again this year of being voted one of Forbes’ Best Executive Recruiting Firms.
Our work with many firms on succession planning issues remains a major focus and has led to our observationson the industry’s adoption of more aggressive strategies. Our upcoming presentation on this topic at the Institutional Investor US Institute CEO Roundtable is another example of the nature of our client discussions, and we look forward to joining many of our clients at this event.
It was particularly rewarding when the Board leadership of a major industry association, the Insured Retirement Institute, chose to work with us on a transformational CEO recruiting initiative. Our partnership with this unusual coalition of industry participants, including annuity underwriters, investment managers and financial advisors, is a great challenge with far-reaching ramifications to help investors build a secure retirement future.
Other current and recent search partnerships:
- CEO (succession planning and recruitment)– $15 billion AUM Institutional Investment Boutique
- CEO (succession planning and recruitment) – Prominent Family Office
- Consulted to the Board of new mutual fund family
- Head of ETFs – $500+ billion AUM Global Asset Manager
- Head of Sales – Innovative Major Retail Broker-Dealer
- Chief Information Officer – Leading Retail Advisory Business
- Division Executive, ETF Specialty Products – Leading ETF Asset Manager
- Head of Institutional Client Solutions – $50 billion AUM Global Alternatives Asset Manager
- Senior Product Manager – Leading ETF Asset Manager