Joanne Frawley has worked at a string of prominent firms in her financial services technology career, but she never felt those companies shared her level of motivation for providing portfolio performance data that strictly adhered to industry standards.
That changed when a former colleague suggested she fill a void that had opened up at wealthTouch, the Denver-based firm that provides complex portfolio reporting services for banks, family offices and wealth management firms, after several partners left the firm in August 2009. Frawley was hired by wealthTouch as its director of portfolio reporting products, a newly created post, a company spokeswoman said.
“Asset management, private wealth firms … they see many details of what need to get done,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “Rarely do people go through all of the steps that they need to, and in the right order.”
This might sound like Frawley is being particular, but as the economy struggles to shake off market volatility, clients insist on having predictable access to reliable information about their portfolio holdings, Frawley explained.
“In volatile markets managers might make certain picks to minimize risk or maximize returns, and they could end up with a style drift,” she said. If clients bought a large-cap value stock at some point in the recent past, for instance, they often want to make sure that the advisor has respected that choice and kept the security in their portfolio, no matter how the market has fluctuated since the stock purchase.
The wealthTouch system allows advisors to present information in highly customized ways, as well, Frawley said. For example, a large and wealthy family headed by a matriarch, patriarch or both, might ask that each generation only see financial information for levels below its own. So grandma can see how certain financial instruments and holdings for the youngsters are performing, but not the other way around.
Regarded as a top expert in the areas of transaction processing, Frawley joined wealthTouch from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, where she was vice president in charge of performance and client reporting, wealthTouch said. Before that, she was the director of Information Products at Private Client Resources.
“The constantly evolving wealth management landscape absolutely requires this level of expertise to ensure that our customers continue to have the best portfolio reporting in the industry,” James Shehigian, president of wealthTouch said. Shehigian worked with Frawley at PCR and again at Morgan Stanley.
The founders who left the firm are still on amicable terms with the company, Frawley said. That’s a good thing, since they are sometimes called on for their institutional memory of the industry—and to share their passion for getting performance reporting right.
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Also on the move this week:
BNY Mellon Wealth Management hired Henry Martinez as senior advisor for strategic relationships. Martinez, who will be based in Miami, primarily, had been a client relationship representative for Northern Trust since 2004.
Gladstone Associates, based in Conshohocken, Pa., hired Dawn Doebler as a senior business consultant. Also Christopher Bulkey was hired as a senior analyst.
Craig Castner has joined ING U.S. Retirement Services as its new regional vice president, covering New York City. Previously, he was the eastern regional sales team leader for ADP.
Robert P. Mulligan has joined Mirae Asset Global Investments as a senior vice president and strategic relationship manager for the U.S., a newly created role. Ge was was director of national accounts at GE Asset Management, where he served the intermediary market. Mirae also announced that it hired Matthew J. Brancato, Peter Corritori and Jennifer M. Fuentes as emerging market specialists.
Raymond James Associates, in St. Petersburg, Fla., named Tom Hirsch as manager of its Kentucky branch complex. Hirsch worked at Merrill Lynch previously, where he was a managing director of its Louisville complex.
