CutterCast: Reporting AUM and Asset Flows

Cindy Castellano is the CEO of Cutter Associates and has over 30 years of experience in the investment management industry. She formerly led Cutter Associates’ Client-Facing and Wealth practices, advising asset and wealth management firms on their sales and distribution, marketing, product development, consultant relations, client service, and client reporting. Cindy has conducted system searches for CRM, marketing automation, portals, pitchbooks/client presentation, content management, client reporting, client onboarding, and RFP systems. Prior to joining Cutter, Cindy served as Vice President and Head of Operations for a division of Guggenheim Investments, where she led mutual fund accounting and administration; institutional accounting, billing, and client reporting; SMA operations, performance reporting (GIPS); and fixed income performance, attribution, and risk reporting. As Vice President and Head of Equities, Cindy led the firm’s investment team and supervised equity trading activities.

Cindy also spent 10 years as a Senior Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst, managing over USD 500 million in AUM for mutual funds and VITs using social awareness (ESG), large cap growth, and mid-cap growth investment strategies. She developed the investment process, directed research analysts’ day-to-day efforts, and created the firm’s social criteria and proxy voting guidelines. Cindy, a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a bachelor’s of business administration from Washburn University. 

Laura Coy is an Assistant Vice President on the Portfolio Services team at PPM America, Inc. (PPM), and she is responsible for managing the Business and Product Reporting team. This group works with various front office teams such as portfolio management, business development, and marketing and communications, to help create and maintain collateral for potential and existing clients. The team members serve as data experts at the firm, bridging the gap between technical investment analytics and end-client deliverables. Prior to joining PPM in 2012, Laura was a Senior Performance Analyst at Harris Associates, L.P., where she was responsible for performing detailed analytical and statistical reviews of investment performance and risk. Previously she spent five years as a Marketing Associate at Harris, serving as a liaison between the investment consultants and the portfolio managers. Laura earned a B.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Loyola University, Chicago, and is currently pursuing an M.B.A. from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management. She is a CFA® charterholder and she holds a Certificate in Investment Performance Management (CIPM).

Serene Gaynor is an Associate on the Portfolio Services – Business & Product Reporting team at PPM America, Inc. (PPM). She is responsible for managing the AUM system and for providing various AUM reports. Currently, she is leading the efforts to obtain the Service Organization Control (SOC) 1 Type II. Serene works on optimizing processes and helping to make sure there is an operational and effective control environment. Prior to joining PPM in 2001, Serene was an auditor at Arthur Andersen. She earned an M.B.A. from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management, and a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA®).

Julie Hill is Assistant Vice President and Senior Financial Analyst in the Finance department of Legg Mason (one of the largest global asset management firms in the United States). Julie has been with Legg Mason for seventeen years and has held a variety of positions spanning from Analyst in the Asset Management Reporting Analytics department responsible for Operating Committee reporting, to Senior Analyst managing performance reporting and revenue analysis. Julie currently is responsible for the consolidation, reporting and analytics for Legg Mason’s assets under management (AUM) of which Legg Mason manages over US$700B in assets. She and her team are also responsible for the cash flow activity, product classifications, and AUM data integrity. Julie is a registered representative of Legg Mason Investor Services holding several FINRA securities licenses. Julie earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications with a Business concentration from Muhlenberg College. She received her MBA at Loyola University in May 2008.

Jihae Hwang joined Nuveen in February 2018, where he serves as a Lead Application Analyst on the Distribution Technology team. Jihae is responsible for analyzing business requirements and processes in the Distribution domain, and for working with business teams and developers to identify and implement solutions. He is currently working on a major project automating the firmwide AUM and flows reporting across all product areas of Nuveen. The project includes building a single data warehouse to store all data points required for consistent and accurate reporting. Before joining Nuveen, Jihae served at ARIS Technology, Enova, and Goldman Sachs, where he provided data-driven solutions to internal teams. He earned his B.A. in Math and Economics from Northwestern University, and his M.S. in Finance from DePaul University's Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

John Ross is the Director of Analytics and Business Intelligence at Hartford Funds, where he oversees the Data Management, Data Quality, and Reporting teams. John joined Hartford Funds in 2013 when they were initiating a complete redesign of their IT infrastructure and reporting capabilities. Prior to joining Hartford Funds, John spent 18 years as a consultant in the Business Intelligence and Reporting field. John holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Villanova University.