Interim Chief Transformation Officer — Value Agenda (Asset Management)

A transformation officer who holds the thread

Between the moment an investment committee approves a deal and the moment the combined business runs as one, value leaks in predictable places. The thesis is written by one team, the integration plan by another, and the day-to-day running of funds, mandates and client servicing by a third. Each is competent; none owns the whole. The Interim Chief Transformation Officer exists to own the whole, reporting to the Regional President for 12 months.

In a non-profit asset manager the stakes of that thread are particular. Beneficiaries and trustees expect continuity of stewardship above all else, so an integration that is elegant on paper but disrupts valuation, reporting or client service is a failure, whatever it saves.

Authority over what goes ahead

The officer carries executive authority. You will design how value-agenda decisions are taken, and agree with the Regional President the limits up to which market heads may act without you. You will also name the proof that a request for budget, people or a control change has to bring, and give every inherited commitment a verdict: proceed, hold or close. A plan that leaves trustees or a sister team holding exposure they never agreed to stops with you, and so does an investment case that cannot say which teams will adopt it, what it leans on and what failure would cost beneficiaries. Who leads what, and how bad news climbs, needs your approval; disagreements between the Regional President and the heads of funds or servicing are yours to resolve before budget or staff are moved.

Twelve months, from thesis to continuity

The first ninety days should leave every deal thesis tied to a single person responsible for its integration, with the local thresholds written down and accepted. By month nine every investment case on the value agenda should have been tested for adoption, operating dependencies and the cost of being wrong; those that could not stand the test should be back with their sponsors or stopped. By the close of month 12 the thesis, the integration plan and operating continuity should be reported to the board through a single rhythm, with open exceptions owned and visibly closing.

An early success here may well be a commitment you ended rather than an initiative you launched. You should be able to defend that kind of result with evidence.

The experience that counts

Your value creation work has been felt by a board and by the people doing the daily work, in organisations with revenue of $670 million or more, at least 800 people, and operations in five or more countries. Succession and professionalisation are also in your record, because integrations that last depend on the people left running them. Strategy formation is needed at level 4; PMO governance, change adoption and the value case are each needed at level 3. Before letting an exception stand you have found out whose budget pays for it, and you can lay an open question in front of a Regional President without treating it as grounds to stall. Unanimous agreement from country leaders is not something you need before you act, and you intend to stay accountable for the full 12 months.

Four conversations, seven weeks apart at most

The Regional President speaks with you first, privately over video, during the first week, about the value agenda and the authority behind it. Two weeks later the Risk Committee Chair spends week three with you on how you would weigh continuity against speed. In week five you sit in a room with executives who each run a different function, and in week seven the directors, as a full board, have the last conversation. Our written assessment of each stage follows within four working days.