Kristi MitchemWells Fargo has poached State Street Global Advisors’ (SSGA)
Executive Vice President Kristi Mitchem to lead its asset management arm.
Mitchem will become president and CEO of Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) from June 1, her new employer said in a statement. She will report to David Carroll, head of Wells Fargo’s Wealth Investment Management group.
At SSGA, Mitchem has led its Americas Institutional Client Group since 2012. She was previously in charge of the group’s defined contribution business, a role she has also held at BlackRock. Mitchem has also worked at Barclays Global Investors and Goldman Sachs.
“With an impressive mix of industry experience, a deep knowledge of the needs of institutional and intermediary investor clients, and proven success in inspiring large high-performing teams, Kristi is the ideal candidate to lead WFAM through its next phase of strategic expansion and growth,” Carroll said.
Mitchem will take over leadership of WFAM from Mike Niedermeyer, who retired in March after a 28-year career with the bank.
Speaking to CIO in 2013, Mitchem laid out “three pillars” for defined contribution (DC) construction. “Success in DC requires a number of things,” she said. “First of all, it requires participation and contributions—so that has to be part of what the CIO is increasingly managing and thinking about. Secondly, it involves the construction of a well-diversified investment menu. Thirdly, it requires participants to invest with a balanced and well-diversified asset allocation.”
More recently, Mitchem has been an active contributor to debates about gender diversity in asset management. You can watch her discussion with California State Teachers’ Retirement System CIO Chris Ailman from last month, and another with Prudential’s Cathy Marcus and MassMutual’s Elaine Sarsynski from 2014.
Related: Kristi Mitchem and the New Institutional Sales Structure