Driving the Expansion of an Asset Manager’s Fund Administration Platform Amid a Rapidly Growing Global ETF Footprint

Overview

A global asset manager, well established in the mutual fund space, sought to expand its Fund Oversight team as it accelerated growth into the ETF market. The firm aimed to build a more robust fund administration function to support increasing regulatory complexity and new product launches.

The Client

Based in the most populous city in the Midwest, this highly respected asset manager oversees approximately $40B in assets across mutual funds, closed-end funds, ETFs, and other investment vehicles.

The Challenge

The client engaged Boyden’s Asset Management team to fill four specialized management-level roles within their Fund Administration group. Each position required deep expertise in registered fund operations, regulatory compliance, and fund oversight.

Adding to the complexity, the firm had a strict 5-days-a-week in-office policy, at a time when hybrid work remained the industry norm. In fact at the time, only 3.5% of the sub industry in the US was working fully in-office. Identifying candidates with the right experience who were also willing to relocate or commute full-time to the office presented a significant challenge.

The Solution

Given the niche requirements and in-office mandate, Boyden executed a comprehensive search across both the client’s local market and other major U.S. asset management hubs. We tapped into our national network, uncovering high-quality talent across the country.

Ultimately, we successfully placed all four roles—two candidates were local, while two others relocated from different regions, demonstrating strong commitment to the opportunity and the firm.

The Results

The newly expanded team played a pivotal role in the onboarding, regulatory setup, fund administration, and ultimately the launch of a pipeline of new ETFs. Their contributions helped accelerate the firm’s entry into the ETF space. Notably, more than half of the client’s current ETFs were launched after the final hire for this project joined the team.