Who Are Wall Street’s Top Operational Executives?

TOP OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE: Conrad Kozak, JPMorgan Chase


From his perch as CEO of Worldwide Securities Services at JPMorgan Chase, Kozak oversees a team of 12,000 employees and manages a complex and global swath of operations-oriented bank services.


In 2009, WSS won – through a competitive process – the largest custodian mandate of the year when it was selected to serve as custodian for the $500 billion U.S. Federal Reserve program to purchase mortgage-backed securities (MBS).


The program was designed to purchase up to $500 billion in such securities backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. The goal was to foster improved conditions in financial markets. At present, the trading part of the program has ceased, but JPMorgan continues to act as the custodian of the assets.


Participants involved in the investment management side of program were BlackRock Financial Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Pacific Investment Management (Pimco) and Willington Management.


In 2010, WSS won custody and related service mandates that included John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust, which has in excess of $1.2 billion in total assets under management; Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., an international reinsurance organization with $11 billion under management; BankInvest, an asset manager and provider of investment funds in the Nordic region with $23 billion under management and administration; Nasdaq OMX, which appointed JPMorgan as custodian for its derivatives markets; and AQR Capital Management, the adviser to AQR Funds, which required a full suite of fund administration, prime-custody and related services for the firm's mutual funds, with more than $2 billion in assets.

TOP OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE: Hans Hufschmid, GlobeOp Financial Services


For Hufschmid, the chief executive officer of GlobeOp Financial Services, the past year has been a time of positive developments.


When the returns are tabulated for 2010, we will finish the year at record revenue levels and assets, achieved key client wins and have a very healthy balance sheet, with no debt,” Hufschmid said.


The London-listed firm's continued expansion – the firm added 29 new clients in 2010 and increased its total of funds served to 1500 – can be attributed in part to Hufschmid's ability to maintain high standards, diversify service and product offerings, anticipate the reporting, regulatory and technology needs of clients and deftly deal with the due diligence demands of hedge fund investors.


Hufschmid is the former head of foreign exchange at Salomon Brothers, where he ran currency trading for nine years. Then, he joined Long-Term Capital Management, a massive $102 billion hedge fund that failed but nonetheless, was praised for its state-of-the-art, administrative technology, overseen by Hufshmid. Then, he launched launching GlobeOp.


In 2010, GlobeOp landed General Motors and Morgan Stanley as clients. GlobeOp helps the US carmaker handle daily collateral management, valuations and reconciliation including foreign exchange, commodity and interest rate derivatives. For the global bank, it provides independent middle and back office services and detailed daily data and reporting for its managed account platform ALPHA.