Working in the New Normal: Effective use of Virtual Events

John Refford

Managing Director

John Refford joined Cutter Associates in 2018 as a consultant in the client-facing practice. John brings deep expertise in digital marketing technology within the financial services industry. Prior to joining Cutter, John spent 20 years at Natixis Investment Managers, most recently as Senior Vice President, Marketing Technology. There, John led the effort to digitize and modernize the firm’s marketing strategy by launching new digital capabilities and marketing channels. He pioneered the firm’s social media and lead generation programs focused on building brand awareness and driving advisor engagement. Prior to joining marketing at Natixis, John spent 12 years in IT, where he was responsible for the firm’s system, network, and security for global offices. John was a member of the Investment Management Education Alliance and served as a Digital Council board member from 2015 to 2017. A recognized leader in digital strategies, John has presented numerous times at industry events on digital marketing topics. He holds a bachelor of science in computer science from Fitchburg State College, a graduate certificate in technology management from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from Babson College.

Cindy Castellano, CFA

CEO

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. 

Apr 21, 2020

As firms adjust to a socially distant business environment, they are increasingly using virtual conferencing technologies to reconnect. Yet hosting virtual events is completely different from in-person events. Our new, socially distant work environment has taught business leaders that our worlds are more interconnected and fragile than we could have imagined.

The crisis has also taught us that we need a more agile approach to connecting with clients. Our ability to meet clients face to face has evaporated causing investment management firms to turn to new technologies. In this article we review the options and best practices for hosting virtual client events.

Three Categories of Virtual Conferencing Software

There are three categories of virtual conferencing software. At their core, the types of software use much of the same technology; however, the communication modes distinguish how the software is used. Virtual conferencing can be for small teams, used to broadcast presentations to many attendees, or to host reasonably large events.

To learn more about considerations for moving from physical to virtual conferences, you can read the full article here.