Why mentorship and sponsorship programs aren’t enough to help young women up the ladder to asset management’s elite senior echelon.
“Sure, there’s not much of the Wolf of
Wall Street behavior left in the industry,” begins a 25-year-old
quant analyst in Boston. “You don’t hear about overt and blatant sexism
anymore. That kind of behavior is no longer acceptable, right? People are
generally respectful.”
Respectful, maybe. But fair? Certainly not. It’s
the unconscious bias against female investors that is “far more insidious and
destructive than the conscious form,” according to State Street research.
Empirical evidence has already proven that women invest just as well—if not
better—than men. But folklore and stereotypes nevertheless continue to build
today’s financial system and culture.
And the result? CIO’s own research found
that only 10% of senior money managers are women. State Street’s data revealed
an even broader gender gap: Only 19% of asset-owning investment analysts, 7% of
asset managers, and 34% of consultants are female.
“The effort to bring more diversity and gender
equality to asset management is not really working,” says Suzanne Duncan,
global head of research for State Street’s Center for Applied Research. “Twenty
years ago, we had denial. About 10 years ago, we started seeing awareness of
gender imbalance. And it’s only today that we’re beginning to see some appetite
for change and action.”
Art by Josh CochranHowever, this ‘action’ may not be enough.
Katherine Chan—partner at Anandar Capital Management, a hedge fund spin-off
from Magnetar Capital—says the problem isn’t lack of visibility for female
managers. The problem is that they barely exist. And to make matters worse,
neither do the research and help required to guide young women up the ladder to
the elite senior echelon.
“I don’t think the traditional mentorship and
sponsorship programs are truly successful,” Chan continues. “Two women, with little
chemistry together, going to lunch every four months or so can only do so much.
Unless you’re lucky enough to find a real sponsor who not only knows your
skills, your background, and your goals, but also advocates on your behalf,
it’s safe to bet you’re on your own.”
Chan, however,
is working towards a possible solution. For the last four and a half years, the
hedge fund executive has led an initiative with 100 Women in Hedge Funds—dubbed Next Generation—focusing on women
in alternatives with less than 10 years of experience. The goal, she says, is
to create a real community—not just for networking, but also to gather industry
information and develop skills. “It’s all about the collective mind,” Chan
says. “We feel it’s more beneficial for women to connect and share with other
women on similar career paths.”
Next Generation is, unfortunately, an anomaly.
According to the quant analyst in Boston, little came from speaking to her
manager about her career growth. A luncheon for female employees at the firm
only happened once, never to be repeated. Another 26-year-old portfolio analyst
at the same quant shop confesses it is difficult to bond with senior male
investment staff on a deeper level—enough to have conversations about her
career path. “I find it easier to form personal relationships with women in
non-investment roles, but they’re not necessarily the people I need to be
networking with to further my career,” she says.
There’s a translation flaw between the older men who built the financial industry and the younger women who exist in it.So where is the disconnect? What is inhibiting
younger female analysts from not only interacting with their superiors, but
also finding the opportunities to become portfolio managers and managing
directors? The bottom line, Chan says, is that women essentially speak a
different language than men. There’s a translation flaw between the older men
who built the financial industry and the younger women who exist in it.
“Take ‘teamwork’, for example,” she continues. “To
most women, teamwork means helping out for the greater good: fill in for
someone who is sick, or buy a birthday cake for the office party. Men, however,
tend to believe that doing your best at your own job adds the most value to the
team. They wouldn’t take on someone else’s work, like a fantastic hitter
doesn’t play shortstop.”
This language barrier extends to the presentation
of risk, Chan adds. Simply put, women have trouble presenting risk in a way
that is palatable for men. “Being risk-averse is different from managing risk,”
she says. “What we do as money managers is put dollars to work while mitigating
risk to see the best returns. Showing a fear of risk can mean poor money
management skills—it’s not ideal.”
State Street’s Duncan says the gender disparity
in today’s asset management industry is no longer a “leaky pipeline” problem.
That theory is, in fact, an excuse. Instead of the discrimination and lack of
interest that existed decades ago, she says the problem today is in unconscious
biases that falsely claim women are inferior investors. The industry needs a
disruption of these stereotypes—and the conviction to change the culture.
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You are strutting up Park Avenue, bold pinstripes encasing your magnificently broad
shoulders. Your stride consumes Manhattan blocks in bounds as you glide back to your
office. Your chest—Napoleonic—leads.
“Look at that guy,” you imagine both tourists and locals thinking as you march by. “He’s going
places.”
And you are. Because what’s that in your hand, you capital-market Bonaparte? “Why thank
you for asking. It’s an offer letter.”
Not just any offer letter, of course. This one took months to acquire, starting with the phone
call from the recruiter whose midtown office you’ve just exited. It’s the spoil of endless
interviews, covert travel, finessing your résumé, sweet-talking your references, and, perhaps
most importantly, your cultivation of the recruiting industry titans who act as gatekeepers to
asset management advancement.
But your coup de grâce awaits. For at the end of your uptown parade lies not a fond farewell
to colleagues past, but a haggling over your future. You see, the offer letter in your hand
is for a job you don’t want—and a paycheck that you do. You’ve played it perfectly: You’ll
walk in, confidently hand your bosses the letter, and after a brief back and forth they’ll
acquiesce to your will. You’ll then call the recruiter back, apologize quickly but profusely, and
triumphantly debouch for a night of debauchery at Smith & Wollensky.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Here’s why you’re an idiot: If you possess any investing talent at all, there is a strong
chance that the office from which you just decamped belongs to one of American executive
recruiting’s Big Four: David Barrett, Deb Brown, Anne Keyser, and Jane Marcus. And chances
are even greater that if—somehow—you made it through their intense screening process
without being exposed as a counteroffer hunter, you will not be invited back. By playing
them for fools, you have just stepped on one of the many landmines littering the career advancement
battlefield. Forget about those magnificently broad shoulders, my friend. Time
to start focusing on how you’re ever again going to get an audience with the most important
non-investors in the investing industry.
David Barrett pondered the above hypothetical.
"I'd be disappointed in myself," he offered. "If I
haven't figured out that they were just doing it for a
counteroffer, it's my fault."
Barrett sat in his 230 Park Avenue office on an overcast
Friday in May. Unless they were travelling—and given
their vocation, that was very likely—he was less than
100 yards away from the other members of the Big
Four, huddled in various offices surrounding Grand
Central Station. Closer still was his impressive-by-any standard
collection of New York Yankees memorabilia:
the handiwork of Mantle, DiMaggio, Jeter, and perhaps
hundreds of other past members of baseball's most
despised team.
Unlike the contemporary Yankees, however, Barrett and Anne Keyser—the "two grizzled vets"
who lead David Barrett Partners—are executive recruiting's hot hand. Since the beginning
of 2014, they've placed Jagdeep Bachher (University of California Regents from Alberta
Investment Management Corporation), Greg Williamson (American Red Cross Foundation
from BP America) and, perhaps most notably, Robert Wallace (Stanford from Alta Advisers—
the family office for billionaire Hans Rausing). This team knows how to get CIOs their dream
jobs.
Barrett also knows how hard that actually is, statistically and otherwise. Take, for example,
Wallace's placement at the Stanford Management Company.
"In the first meeting—when we were trying to get hired over Russell Reynolds and others—we
gave the search committee about 20 names: Canadian pension plan executives, endowment
and foundation CIOs, Stanford grads," he explained. "Eighty percent of the legwork is done
before that meeting even starts."
There are generally two types of candidates, according to Barrett. "You have your 'in-the-fairway'
people, and you have your 'best athletes.'" The first group consists of traditional
allocators—in this case, largely CIOs and their deputies at smaller nonprofits. The second
group is largely an alumni pool—for it is an open secret that elite endowments prefer their
own. "We probably did over 100 calls to Stanford grads in investing," said Barrett. Yet
committees, and by extension recruiters, often "stay in the fairway."
Once formally hired (after a purgatory of "sweating and waiting"), the winnowing began.
Barrett and Bruce Dunlevie—a venture capitalist and Stanford board member chairing the
search committee—were "attached at the hip. Most candidates came to Mohammed, so to
speak, but Bruce was willing to travel to meet people, which was helpful." They kissed many
frogs. More than 150 people made the initial call list, according to Barrett. Fifty were more
formally reviewed, and Dunlevie "met 15 or so." Wallace, the eventual winner, met two key
criteria: He had worked at a fund of similar scale, and he had managed a large investment
team. Training at Yale under David Swensen certainly helped, and so, perhaps, did his
unusual career path: Before Alta Advisers and Yale, Wallace danced professionally with
the American Ballet Theatre, among several other top companies. And, according to Russell
Reynolds' Deb Brown—who knows Wallace's career well—he also did two other things right:
"He had a broad range of experience across asset classes, and he waited for the fat pitch."
There you have it: a simple mix of intelligence, not playing recruiters for fools, management
experience, familiarity with a fund's size, multi-asset class experience, and patience makes a
career. And yet that's not remotely the whole story.
“You try to have a balanced slate to present to the selection
committee, but boards want to sleep at night, frankly. It’s still
a ‘hire IBM’ thing a lot of the time. You can only be as lateral
as the client lets you be.”
How to Win Jobs & Alienate No One: If, in some alternative universe, Jagdeep Bachher
and Greg Williamson were to co-author such a book of advice, it would be a bestseller
among CIOs. Over the course of two separate discussions with Bachher and Williamson,
following their moves to the University of California Regents and the American Red Cross
Foundation, respectively, an imaginary table of contents emerged—one that extends far
beyond the above checklist.
Chapter One: Have an insatiable curiosity about portfolio management, because ancillary
benefits abound. "I didn't actually try and position myself to be a specific type of investor,"
says Williamson, who spent a quarter-century at BP America and its predecessor, Amoco.
"I wanted to do a good job and learn as much as I could about the investment business and
portfolio and risk management. That meant meeting endowments, foundations, wealthy
family offices, sovereign funds, and many of my corporate peers so that I could see how
they did things. If there was a better model, I wanted to know about it." Of course, with so
many connections, it was inevitable that the all-powerful recruiting industry would also
take notice.
Chapter Two: Don't worry too much about the brand. Here, recruiters tend to disagree with
Williamson and Bachher. To many of their clients, the imprimatur of a Yale Investment
Office or Texas Teachers can have a significant effect on their willingness to hire. But
Bachher is explicit: "I wouldn't necessarily worry about which brand you end up with,"
he says. "I say that because over a 10-year journey, you're essentially collecting skills and
experience. They don't have to be linear—they can come from a variety of things and
places. It's not pay; it's not title; it's not even brand—it's the collection of skills you pick up
over that time frame that matters."
Chapter Three: If you're not growing, leave. "The key to advancement is to be a part of an
effort where you have the opportunity to develop and grow. If you are not, then it likely will
not be an enjoyable environment—and it's going to make you less valuable," Williamson
says. "Sometimes it will be made very clear to you that your organization isn't structured to
help you grow. Perhaps the defined benefit plan is shutting in five years, or being offloaded,
but it won't always be that obvious. So take stock of your situation, and plan accordingly."
Chapter Four: Forget pay, forget titles—and aim big. "I had a mentor at Manulife," Bachher
remembers. "When I was interviewing, I noticed he'd taken notes on my résumé before
we'd met. He greeted me with such personal attention to detail—it showed me that I wanted
to work with him." This mentor gave Bachher three pieces of advice. "He said, 'I wouldn't
worry what we pay you, because the reality is that a decade from now you'll be paid 10
times that if you're good. Don't worry about the title we give you, because you'll naturally
gravitate towards the role that suits you.' And then he said the most important one: 'If
you're going to take on an assignment, take on a challenge—a big one—and own it, so that it
counts if you get it right.'"
Chapter Five: Nurture the recruiters. "In the summer of 2013, I knew that the travel to
Edmonton, Alberta from New Jersey, where my family lived, was not a sustainable model,"
Bachher concludes. "I had some interest from the Middle East, which was in the back of my
mind. So on Labor Day, I was actively starting to look—and Anne Keyser called me. We'd
connected a year prior when someone had introduced us—Barrett Partners was looking
to fill a risk role, and she wanted to know if I knew anyone who might be interested. That
started an ongoing discussion: They'd call me, and I'd suggest people." Eventually, Bachher
says, Keyser's questions became more direct. "I got to know Anne, and she approached me a
couple of times for different role. Then, that Labor Day in 2013, she called me about a role in
California, saying the client was very interesting and the position fit my background." The
rest is history—Bachher joined the fund eight months later as its CIO.
It is very unlikely that you are the next Bachher or Williamson. While Barrett and Keyser
have a track record of placing nontraditional candidates in nonprofit CIO roles, even they
admit that it's not the norm. "The endowment and foundation world needs new blood,"
Barrett says. "You try to have a balanced slate to present to the selection committee—some stellar public fund CIOs, family-office types, people from other areas of asset
management—but boards want to sleep at night, frankly. It's still a 'hire IBM' thing a lot of
the time. You can only be as lateral as the client lets you be."
Therein lies the central tension of executive recruiting: the stubbornness of the status quo,
which some headhunters are rebelling against. "It's still all the same people!" Renee Neri
says to the suggestion of a changing search industry. A rising star of asset management
executive search, the Heidrick & Struggles principal isn't just talking about the Big Four
(one of whom, Jane Marcus, she worked under and admits to adoring). To Neri, all the talk
about bringing in nontraditional job candidates is just that—talk. "It's still just a revolution
of the deck chairs."
Which raises the specter of disruption. At this point, Uber is as much a management cliché
as it is a business—but it also poses a pressing question. "On the asset management side,
services like LinkedIn and other changes are taking away some flow," says Neri, who
focuses on public fund, family office, insurance, and health care fund searches. "People
post jobs to the CFA Institute website; Pensions & Investments has job boards. It's become
slightly more commoditized. Asset management firms are building their own talent
acquisition teams, which also take away business. But on the asset-owner side, because
of governance issues, lack of resources at some funds, and the relatively narrow field of
candidates, it is less disrupt-able." Of course, taxi medallion holders thought that too.
There are those on the other side of the table from recruiters who would be all too happy to
see disruption occur. A recent conversation in a Greenwich Village coffee shop highlighted
this point. Upon hearing that one of the patrons was interviewing at a hedge fund, I
mentioned this in-progress article. The patron was not a fan of recruiters. After a brief back
and forth, I suggested that perhaps there was a level, far below the Big Four, that could be
categorized as "hustlers."
"That's exactly what they are," he responded, and left.
But this is all rather obvious.
When you left for college, your mother probably reminded you of a few key life points:
Do what you love, do it well, don't do it for the money, and treat people like you'd like
to be treated. (And maybe, don't drink too much.) The advice from executive recruiters,
and from those who have successfully navigated the recruiting process, is pretty much the
same—which raises the question of just what, exactly, puts a candidate over the edge.
To find out, I called Deb Brown for approximately the fifth time in a week. When we met for
coffee the next day (we could literally see Barrett's office from the café), she had a one-word
answer: "leadership."
"Take the Ontario Teachers' CIO search, for example," she explained. (Her firm Russell
Reynolds is currently working with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to find a replacement
for outgoing CIO Neil Petroff, arguably the most prestigious CIO search in the market.) "It's
unusual because it's a large pool of directly invested funds, with six investment teams
running the gamut from traditional public equities to real estate and infrastructure.
Because of this, we are scouring the planet for people who are pioneering and can think
very broadly about portfolio construction. We are looking for a potential nonlinear
career—it could be an investment banker who went to private equity, it could be someone
who's spent some time in corporate finance, maybe someone from an opportunistic family
office—and we're looking for someone who can lead that organization and has business-building
skills."
The problem with leadership as a concept is that it is exceedingly broad, and not something
a candidate's LinkedIn will tell you. In essence—although she is too dignified to ever say
it—this is exactly why funds are still paying substantial sums to hire executive recruiters
like Brown.
So next time you're peacocking down Park Avenue, chest puffed to full breadth, it better be
because you've taken the offer.
Three of the Big Four—David Barrett, Deb Brown, and Jane Marcus—have prowled the halls of
one recruiting shop: Russell Reynolds.
"It's not a coincidence," Brown said recently. "Russell Reynolds has spawned almost all the
competition in the asset management space. But there's no single reason."
There was, however, Rick Lannamann. "Many moons ago, we had a dean of the industry,"
Brown said. "It was Rick. He was at Russell Reynolds for 23 years, and he did an excellent job
of building up a practice and being the team to beat."
He built that practice through a rather obvious (for a recruiter) method: Hiring top talent. "I
joined in the 1980s—I'm not telling you which half!—and they were generally hiring newly
minted MBAs, just like McKinsey was," according to Marcus. "And just like the consulting
and banking firms, you either went up the ladder or you were cut. Other recruiting firms just
didn't follow that model." (Marcus admitted that executive search was not her primary career
objective: "I wanted to be a trader, and for some reason I thought this job would get me a job in
trading!" she said.)
The Russell Reynolds Mafia—his former underlings—split much of the elite asset management
search market among their respective firms, thanks to an interesting, if obvious, dynamic.
In that community, your personal brand may be as important as your firm's—and likewise
for your superiors.' Rick "was in the business a long time, so unless you wanted to be in his
shadow, you went onto a new firm or started a boutique," Brown explained. "For David, he
took an entrepreneurial route, and it's turned out great. For Jane, although I can't speak to
her motivations, she probably saw a great opportunity and jumped at it." Other alumni, most
notably George Wilbanks and Marylin Prince, also now run their own boutiques. "In essence,
we had a very senior guy who was the dean of the space for a very long time—and that's why
so many of the successful recruiters in asset management started here."
For Brown, timing proved fortuitous: "I joined in 1996; Rick left in 2002." And Brown was
quick to point to the quality of the brand Lannamann left behind. "There is more to serving
clients than just finding asset managers," she said. "And with a bigger platform like Russell
Reynolds"—compared to a boutique shop being the implication—"you have a broader ability
to help clients in all aspects of their business. You also have colleagues around the world who
can help." She cited the firm's ongoing search for the CIO role at Ontario Teachers' Pension
Plan—perhaps the most powerful job to open this year. "I like doing a Teachers'-style search.
It's truly global. I just got off of a call with colleagues all over the world—we wanted to reach
more into Australia—and that's harder to do at a boutique. I still see immense value in the
platform we have here."
But now that she is perhaps the new dean of asset management recruiting (a title she actively
shies away from), how does she avoid creating a Lannamann-style talent diaspora? "Our team
is much flatter than it used to be, and we complement each other," she responded, ever the
diplomat. "We are not a star system. I depend on my colleagues for their expertise in areas
where I am less knowledgeable and plugged in—and they know they can depend on me for the
same. The platform is the glue that has kept me here for just shy of 20 years."
The future of search is family offices. There you have it. Family offices are the future of
executive search.
Here's why: Disrupters like LinkedIn and internal talent acquisition groups are taking away
the lower-tier employment search. That said, given the smaller salaries associated with these
positions, these were never recruiting's sweet spot anyway.
On the asset-owner side of the business, that means recruiters focus on the top: CIO and
portfolio manager positions, with a skew towards nonprofits, sovereign funds, and large
corporate pensions. But once in a premier role, senior allocators are notoriously cautious
about departing. There are market environments—like right now, perhaps—where more
moves occur, but the default setting for a CIO is to stay put.
So where will the action happen? New family offices, multiple executive recruiters say. A
variety of factors have led to an increased number of families attempting to institutionalize
their asset management, and that means not only finding a CIO, but also creating the role from
scratch. Recruiters are more than happy to help.
"You're not just filling a chair. You're defining it," said Jane Marcus of Korn Ferry. "It's about
advising, about seeing around the corner." Even some stellar CIOs are not right for the role,
she admitted. "Not everyone likes ambiguity. But some need it—some love innovation and
entrepreneurship. For these new roles, we need someone who is strong amid ambiguity, and
strong at being an entrepreneur."
They'll also need to be strong in a changing portfolio environment. "There is a sea change in
the structure of the family office investment portfolio," according to Renee Neri of Heidrick &
Struggles. "Before the crisis, they saw themselves as mini-institutions. 'Just do what Swensen
does,' they thought. Post-crisis, they realized that they are not entirely permanent pools of
capital—they need liquidity. They need to be more goals-based, and their asset allocation
needs to be for the purpose of the family." The logical extension of this, Neri said, is "in some
places a barbell portfolio. Also, more direct investments, more internal trading, and more
disintermediation." Any individual who can fill such a role, in Neri's view, will bring "creative
ideas—and won't necessarily come from the endowment and foundation world."
Another active space for recruiting as of late has been the outsourced-CIO (OCIO) market.
According to the firms themselves, assets under management are growing at an astronomical
pace. The number of firms entering the market is increasing, with well north of 50 OCIOs
attempting to play in the US alone. The word "bubble" has been muttered under more than one
breath.
Neri is skeptical. "OCIO feels a bit like the fund-of-funds business in the 1990s," she said. That
is far from a resounding endorsement—and perhaps an indication that the future of search is not in the OCIO space.
The Knowledge Words of wisdom from the talent allocators.
"Follow your passion," your mother likely told you. It turns
out she was right. According to these six respected executive
recruiters—some well established, some up-and-comers, all
insightful—doing what you like, for the right reasons, is
essential for career success. What else do they recommend?
Read on. Or go ask your mother for more advice.
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
The most under- and overvalued qualities in an asset management
job candidate are...
The most overvalued is the undergraduate
degree—who cares
if I went to Yale
and Columbia? I'm
looking for academic
achievement
wherever you went,
and how you levered
it. Undervalued is what you can't
see on the résumé:
communication skills.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
On a personal level,
the most overvalued quality is charisma.
It's too easily confused
with leadership, and
many people lead from
a quiet confidence.
Professionally,
manager selection
can be overvalued.
What's undervalued is having a great
network of leaders and
mentors to rely on.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
Overvalued: Current
compensation. I will
quote Warren Buffett:
"Price is what you pay.
Value is what you get."
Undervalued: The
proven ability to
mentor, train, and
promote staff. How do
you treat the people
underneath you?
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
A breadth of asset class
experience can be undervalued—for so
many people are really
siloed. Breadth of asset
class experience shows
a breadth of thinking.
The 'soft' skills can
also be undervalued—and the bigger the
team to lead, the more
important this is. As
for being overvalued,
I call it the 'But... but...
but' issue: The idea
that a candidate wants
to point to something
that doesn't really
matter, when they
should be looking for
breadth.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
Undervalued: Humility.
Overvalued: What's
another word
for bullishness?
Assertiveness?
Assertiveness is often
overvalued.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
Overvalued: Counterintuitively,
the ability
to get things done.
It's not just what you
do, but how you do it,
that leads to persistent
success.
Undervalued: On the
flipside, respect and
cultural fit. You want
to be a disrupter—but
in the right way.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
Without using names, what is the biggest misstep you've seen
by an asset owner in building his or her career?
People trading down
in terms of quality of
platform for the money
or title—because it's
very hard to recover
from that. What's
key is the quality of
organization where
you work. Don't
compromise on your
platform in terms of
the next step.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
Speaking ill of a past
employer and not
taking ownership of
a mistake, misstep,
or blunder. There are
people who will cast
aspersions and make it
look like it's someone
else's fault. It's just so
unbecoming.
For an asset owner in
particular, a mistake
might be taking what
appears to be an
industry spotlight role
as a stepping stone
when your heart isn't
really in it.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
A lack of patience.
But the flipside of that
is lethargy. Fifteen
years in the pension
world can be too long.
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
Too many moves—it usually indicates
you're chasing the
money. Oh, and lying
on your résumé.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
Going to a public
sector scheme. It
doesn't always work
out badly, and there
are some within the
public sector (like the
Pension Protection
Fund) that are seen as
good moves. But in at
least one instance I've
seen someone take a
public sector scheme
position—and it set
him back years. He's
back on the right track
now, which is great.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
In one instance in
the insurance space,
someone was about
to get an offer but
went off the rails
when asked about
compensation. They
were way too cagey
about what they
currently made—and
that leads people to
think you're being
dishonest.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
What is your reaction when a candidate reaches the point of receiving what you
see as a strong offer, then drops out?
It was my fault. I
didn't manage the
process. If the offer
is fair and strong,
and you've been
managing relocation,
spouses' jobs, and all
that, I don't blame the
candidate. I blame the
recruiter. It can always
fall apart if the client
gives a poor offer—but
if you've checked all
the boxes, it's on us.
That's what we get
paid for.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
First of all, we try
really hard to not let
a client make an offer
that won't be accepted.
We have tested it,
tweaked it, and then
both sides get what
they want. Does it ever
happen? Of course it
happens. My reaction
is disappointment.
I don't want to be
played—and if we've
orchestrated the
search well, we have
a close runner-up
that the client will
be equally happy
with. Also, I've
advised clients to not
make an offer if I
know the candidate
is interviewing
elsewhere—I don't
want that offer in their
pocket!
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
I hope I have a strong
backup candidate!
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
It doesn't happen very
often, so my reaction
is, 'Something went
wrong.' But it's an
outlier.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
My reaction is
disappointment. By
that point, I think
it's important to
understand where
you stand. I generally
mean it when I say I
don't end up angry—except if it's clear
that they've wanted
an offer to get a
counteroffer, but that's
only happened once or
twice. My first thought
would always be to
look at why I didn't see
that coming.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
Disbelief. Massive
amounts of
frustration. The
nature of the search
hinges on human
emotion—and that's
hard to anticipate. It's
not always possible,
but to avoid being left
at the altar you need
to suss out all the risk
factors. Flesh them
out early and hit them
repeatedly.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
What is the most challenging search you've ever undertaken?
Don't take on a search
where you don't know
exactly what you're
getting into. Know
your client. In our
business, it's easy to
get wrapped up into
the next search, the
next seat. To avoid
that, don't be greedy.
Don't take something
on that you can't sell
yourself. [Editor's note:
Slightly better than
Anne's answer, but still]
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
KAUST, or the King
Abdullah University of
Science & Technology,
in Saudi Arabia. When
we were brought in,
the school was just a
dream on blueprints.
$20 billion was
bequeathed to rival the
Harvards of the world.
It had an iconic board,
with brilliant finance
people alongside some
treasury experts
from Saudi Aramco.
They wanted the
most brilliant minds
in endowment and
foundation land to
be CEO and CIO of
this new idea. As
recruiters, we had
to tell a story. It was
challenging because
no one had ever
heard of them. If you
name the big names
in nonprofits, we
went after them. The
ultimate pick—Sindo
Oliveros, from the
World Bank—has done
a splendid job.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
There is no winning
in answering this
question! [Editor's
note: Much persistence
was exhausted in
attempting to get
Anne to answer this
question.]
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
Like I'd tell the name!
The most challenging
one for me was a
family office. It wasn't
a bad client at all,
but a family office
investment head can
be drawn from such a
diverse background,
and this was its first
CIO. It was an 'I'll
know it when I see it'
search, and we had
to kiss a lot of frogs—little ones, fat ones,
round ones. It took a
long time.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
The most challenging
one was for multi-billion
dollar pension
search. There was
someone on the
trustee board who
was extremely well
regarded and well
known in the city and
among consultants—and was also known
for being incredibly
tough. A number of the
candidates heard he
was on the board and
had a nervous giggle.
We did find someone
for the position in
the end—but it could
have been better if
people hadn't backed
away due to his tough
reputation.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
The most challenging
position I've had to fill
was backfilling a CIO
who had risen to the
top of his organization.
We couldn't replicate
the new CIO, and we
had to complement
their strengths and
weaknesses. It was
tough—so tough that it
brought about a very
helpful conversation
about restructuring
the organization.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
Which specific chief investment officer or asset owner has structured their
career extremely well, in your eyes?
Jason Klein, CIO
at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. I
like backgrounds
that include
direct investment
experience, and Jason
began his career at
Lehman Brothers in
private equity. He then
made the conscious
decision to move into
the endowments and
foundations world.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
Rob Wallace, the new
Stanford investment
leader, has been very
smart. He had great
training at the Yale
Investment Office, and
he stuck very close to
a strong mentor. And
don't think that the
recruiting community
hasn't been running
after him for years. He
was patient. He waited
for the fat pitch.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
Oftentimes prospects
tell us that their dream
job is to manage
money for their alma
mater. There are many
success stories out
there, but one is Pam
Peedin, Dartmouth's
talented CIO (an
undergraduate and
graduate degree holder
from the college). She
successfully leveraged
her Cambridge
Associates experience
to ultimately land
the top spot at the
investment office.
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
Greg Williamson, now
at the American Red
Cross Foundation. A
recent placement—not
mine. Greg has always
been very discerning
with what's brought to
him, and that's why he
was at BP America for
so long. You might say
'He's an old timer!' and
you'd be right—but
that's the point.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
On the asset-owner
side, Ian McKinlay
has done it very well.
He rose to a senior
position with a large
consulting firm,
developing his skills
there, and then he
moved to take on a
big role at the Pension
Protection Fund at a
time it was growing
very quickly. He then
parlayed that into a
good role at Aviva. He's
in a strong position to
go on to even bigger
things.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
Greg Williamson. He
has had real staying
power, and he really
delivered for BP. Mark
Schmid, now at the
University of Chicago,
and DTE Energy's Paul
Cavazos have also
done a good job—with
Paul largely being
under the radar.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
Which specific organizations impress you with their ability to develop
CIO-level talent? And please don't say the Yale Investment Office...
In the traditional
money management
arena there are many
examples, including
Wellington, Capital
Group, T. Rowe
Price, Fidelity, Tiger
Management, and
the Tiger Cubs. In
the endowments and
foundations world, it
hasn't gotten to that
level of scale. You
have to look at Yale,
Notre Dame, Michigan,
and even some of the
Canadian plans in the
pension space—but in
most cases there isn't
enough scale to say
they're huge feeders of
talent.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
Two that come to
mind are the Teacher
Retirement System
of Texas and the
University of Notre
Dame. With Notre
Dame, Scott Malpass
has done an awesome
job. He's filled the
office with alums,
and they have huge
retention—which
of course makes it
hard to recruit them
out of there! Also, I
must add that more
broadly, in terms of
generating the next
generation of talent,
the Canadian pensions
are unparalleled.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
Any of the companies
and funds that David
said. More generally,
anyone with over $5
billion in assets who
performs well. You'll
find talent there.
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
Because they are
both strong at talent
development in
their own unique
way, T. Rowe Price
and BlackRock. On
the asset-owner
side, the MacArthur
Foundation—under
the leadership of Susan
Manske—has great
talent.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
Aberdeen Asset
Management is
good—they've got a
great culture. Legal &
General Investment
Management as well.
The best among
the pension fund
side is Universities
Superannuation
Scheme, I think.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
Look at Boeing, at
Chrysler, at Ely Lilly—these corporations
have done a great job
of spawning talent. It's
no coincidence they're
all corporations.
Pensions can have
a material impact
on a corporation,
so the management
of those assets and
liabilities is done very
professionally.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
If you were to give one piece of advice to an ambitious deputy CIO,
what would it be? And for a CIO?
For a deputy: Don't
get overly siloed. Work
across asset classes
and get good asset
allocation and board
exposure.
For the CIO: Stay
focused on your
current role, on your
performance, and
on your team. Don't
look too far ahead—if
you're good, we will
find you.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
Advice for an aspiring
CIO: I'd be silly if I
didn't say do a great
job in the role you're
in. Also, find a way to
move from a specialist
to a generalist. And
get on Chief Investment
Officer's Forty Under
Forty, of course.
For a CIO: I think
the answer to that
has a little to do
with visibility. Do a
great job, but become
visible and connect
with influencers. Get
noticed, but not to
the point that you put
off your board. Find
that balance, and get
noticed.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
For both groups: I
would advise excelling
in the seat they're in.
Be open to relocation.
Focus on investment
performance,
effective leadership,
and management
of your board and
committee—which
ultimately are your
references—and
opportunities will
come knocking.
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
For a deputy: Broaden
your exposure to asset
classes and broaden
your exposure to
leadership. Get a
coach. Know who
you are.
For a CIO: Don't get
stuck on titles. You
may now be a CIO at a
smaller fund, but don't
be afraid of being the
deputy at a larger,
more sophisticated
fund. And have an end
game.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
To deputies: You need
to assess the likelihood
of being a CIO at your
current organization.
The thing is, when
the CIO leaves, the
deputy often gets
overlooked—so you
need to call upon
confidants about what
they think will happen
if your CIO leaves. The
CIO also has a network
of other CIOs, which
can help.
To the CIO: Great,
let's talk. But is larger
the real goal in your
career progression?
Small can be exciting,
and can grow.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
For a deputy: The
critical component is
showing reach across
the portfolio. Show
you are ready to fly
the plane. I always
ask which internal
committees they've
sat on, how they've
influenced the whole
portfolio, and what
changes they've
affected during their
tenure.
For CIOs, I'd just say
one thing: Have an
opinion.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
What is one non-asset owning role that you would recommend
for aspiring CIOs, and why?
What I love to see is
someone who started
in the traditional
money management
business and has
direct investment
or capital-markets
experience on Wall
Street; Someone who
trained at a T. Rowe
Price, Goldman Sachs,
or Morgan Stanley,
and then transitioned
into a nonprofit or
plan sponsor role. To
me, that's someone
who is passionate
about markets and
then made a conscious
decision to get to the
asset-owner side.
David Barrett,
David Barrett Partners
There is a school of
thought that great
CIOs need to have
some direct investing
experience. So find a
way to do that, either
through co-investing
or spending some time
at an asset manager.
Also, perhaps take on
an advisory role in
some way—maybe as a
consultant or at
a solutions group, if
you are an allocator.
It can only make you
better.
Deb Brown,
Russell Reynolds Associates
Any position that
provides you with an
equity track record.
Combine that with
a track record of
managing people,
and you've got a shot.
Anne Keyser,
David Barrett Partners
I'm not actually sure.
In this business, you're
either the mechanic
or you're selling the
cars—there is little
appreciation for
rotation between those
two sides. So perhaps
I would advise people
to get experience in a
risk department, and
in distribution, if they
can find a way.
Jane Marcus,
Korn Ferry
A multi-asset solutions
job. It's somewhere
where you use a
lot of breadth—you're coordinating
with portfolio
management teams
and consultants—and where you'll get
asset class, allocation,
and relationship
management
experience.
Leo Meggitt,
Forster Chase
A big area is
distribution—it's
valuable to have sat
in that seat. Knowing
this in a multi-asset
class role gives you
credibility you might
otherwise lack. The
flipside of a move
to this space exists,
however. If you have
been a CIO for a long
time, you've probably
gotten used to being
the prettiest girl in
the room—and when
you're in distribution,
you need to be ready
not to be.
Renee Neri,
Heidrick & Struggles
QUESTION
The most under-
and
overvalued
qualities in an
asset management
job candidate are...?
Deb Brown critiques an ambitious public fund researcher.
CAREER GOAL "My career goal would be to serve as a CIO at a large pension
or endowment.
I get a huge kick out of solving the unique
institutional and investment problems
faced by asset owners and
then distilling these often highly technical and complex issues
into a clear message for stakeholders."
CAREER GOAL "A strategic leadership role within an asset management firm
or function. I want to be more effective in helping the company
or enterprise achieve its overall goals."
Art by Josh CochranHowever, this ‘action’ may not be enough.
Katherine Chan—partner at Anandar Capital Management, a hedge fund spin-off
from Magnetar Capital—says the problem isn’t lack of visibility for female
managers. The problem is that they barely exist. And to make matters worse,
neither do the research and help required to guide young women up the ladder to
the elite senior echelon.
