SSgA Reorganizes at the Top

(September 11, 2012)–State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has executed a re-organization at the upper echelons of the firm, naming, for the first time, a global chief operating officer.

Greg Ehret, a 19-year veteran of the firm, will take the COO role. His previous role was head of EMEA business, based in London. He will return to the Boston office in June 2013.

“It’s a new role within the organization,” SSgA CEO Scott Powers told aiCIO. “Asking Greg to take on Global COO is a reflection of us leveraging a variety of different parts of the business in the most efficient way possible.”

Departing the firm under the reorganization is Global Head of Sales and Marketing James Kase, who was hired in 2009.

The reorganization follows recent changes at State Street, with Maureen Fitzgerald, co-head of the Institutional Client Group for North America, departing the firm in late August for rival Pyramis. According to Powers, neither this departure nor earlier ones affected the timing of the reorganization announcement. “There is no magic about the timing–is there ever a bad time to try and improve your business model?” he asked.

The goal of the reshuffle, according to Ehret, is partially to better help clients manage through short-term volatility. “What clients are demanding today is a microcosm of what we expect them to demand in the next few years,” Ehret told aiCIO. “They want more advice, and they also have the need for current income, given today’s rate environment. To get that, they’re looking more into developed countries and markets.” However, “far more [institutional investors] are living in the present than they ever have been-so we are focusing on bringing them back to strategies and liabilities that help them plan for the long-haul.”