Early "Outs" Create Holes to Fill at State Street
Not only have an unexpectedly large number of workers opted to take advantage (roughly twice the 1,800 anticipated, according to reports), there are some fairly senior names showing up on the roster of departees at State Street Global Advisors, the money management unit of the firm.
The company said July 8 that its buyout would reduce the company’s work force by about 3,100 positions – so many that State Street is being forced to hire 800 to 1,000 new workers to replace some of them.
John Snow , vice chairman of State Street Global Advisors and chairman of State Street Global Alliance LLC, a jointly owned subsidiary of State Street Global and the Dutch pension fund ABP, has left the firm, having taken advantage of the severance package, according to the firm. Snow was responsible for overseeing the Global Alliance subsidiaries, and was a member of the executive committee and investment committee at State Street Global, according to Dow Jones. Joseph Lyons , a senior principal at State Street Global Advisors, and Jay Cromarty , president of State Street Global Alliance, according to the report, have assumed Snow’s duties.
Heydon Traub opted to retire after 16 years with SSgA, where he last headed the Global Asset Allocation group. Traub will be replaced by Eric Brandhorst , who was most recently director of research in the Global Structured Products area, which he’ll continue to lead.
Anne Eisenberg is leaving after 22 years at SSgA and will be replaced by Jim May as head of the S&P 500 Index portfolio, according to Fund Fire. May has worked closely as a back-up manager to Eisenberg for several years, according to the report, citing a firm spokeswoman.
Tapped to head the Global Fixed Income team is Sean Flannery , replacing Victor Thompson, who left the company. Flannery joined SSgA in 1996. Michael Wands (who was just appointed head of the US Core Fixed Income team replacing Joseph Marvan , who took a package) and Vincent Kok (who is in charge of SSgA’s fixed income process outside the US) will report to Flannery. Kok has just been appointed to that position, replacing Mark Talbot , who also took a package – and left to head up Barclays Global Investors’ (BGI) United States domestic bonds team (see Talbot Leaves SSgA For BGI ).
Ben Salm replaces Jeff Adams (who also accepted a package, according to Fund Fire), and assumes the portfolio manager duties for SSgA’s large cap value portfolios. He’ll report to Michael Caplan who continues to manage the US active group, according to the report.
State Street Global also said it tapped Arlene Rockefeller to head its Enhanced Equity Management group, replacing Douglas Holmes , who left the company. Rockefeller, the original founder and director of the group, was recently charged with assessing the effectiveness of State Street Global’s valuation and portfolio construction models in enhanced and active products.
State Street Global Advisors is the sixth-largest money manager in the world with $788 billion in assets under management.