Stacia Graham
Managing Director and Asset Management Lead
Stacia Graham has more than 25 years of experience in investment management, bringing a deep understanding of end-to-end asset management processing and project management to her role as Managing Director, Asset Management Research Lead at Cutter Associates.
Stacia also serves as a subject matter expert for targeted engagements in Enterprise Risk and Compliance.
Prior to joining Cutter in 2018, Stacia worked at Wellington Management Company LLP in Boston in various senior roles within compliance, investment administration, and operational risk, including leading and managing the global Investment Guideline Compliance team for eight years. She earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Bryant University and an MBA from Bentley University.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- Client Portal Solutions
- Client Reporting Systems
- Cutter Benchmarking: Client Reporting
- Cutter Benchmarking: Modern Compliance in Investment Management
- Electronic Communications Surveillance Systems
- Hybrid Work Arrangements and Their Impact on Firm Culture
- Performance Measurement and Attribution Systems
- Portfolio Analytics Solutions
- Research Management Systems
- Using RPA to Automate Business Processes
Recent Consulting Engagements include:
- Assessment of business processes and systems to support regulatory reporting (shareholder disclosure reporting) for a large asset manager
- Assessment of requirements and vendor solutions for Electronic Communication Surveillance for a small asset manager, to rectify SEC findings
Laura Jesson
Senior Research Analyst
Laura Jesson has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry as a project manager, business analyst, and consultant. She joined Cutter Associates in 2013. Prior to Cutter, Laura spent eight years at Wells Capital Management and Evergreen Investments, where she managed investment operations projects, including those focused on outsourcing, client reporting, and trade management. She previously worked at Omgeo as a member of the Central Trade Manager (CTM) product design team. Laura started her career at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as a process consultant supporting a variety of projects for clients in the financial services industry. Laura earned her bachelor of arts in economics and psychology from Amherst College. She holds the Project Manager Professional (PMP) certification.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- AI Use Cases in Investment Management: Infinite Possibilities
- Business Intelligence Tools
- Cutter Benchmarking: Client Reporting
- Cutter Benchmarking: Firmwide ESG Capabilities
- Cutter Benchmarking: Managing Vendors and Service Providers
- DataOps: In Theory and Practice
- Enabling Data Analytics
- ESG Data Management
- ESG: It’s a Jungle Out There ─ A Look at the Data Provider Landscape
- ESG Investing: One Vision, Many Lenses
- Execution Management Systems
- Hybrid Work Arrangements and Their Impact on Firm Culture
- Using RPA to Automate Business Processes
- The Role of the CRM for Asset Managers
Overall, firms today accept hybrid work as their current-state work arrangement, and many envision it as their future state as well. Investment management firms may define and approach hybrid work arrangements differently, but most firms have made investments to enable more flexibility and improve in a few key areas to support hybrid work arrangements.
This report examines Cutter Research members' current work arrangements, expectations, and challenges in fostering their cultures, as well as their plans for the future. We investigate how firms are tackling hybrid challenges, and evolving their support for talent acquisition, staff onboarding, training/skills development, and mentoring to foster their unique cultures during this time of workplace transformation.