CEO, ii Solutions, LLC
Hartford, Connecticut Area
CEO, ii Solutions, LLC
Hartford, Connecticut Area
With over 25 years of experience in the global investment industry Ken has a wide range of professional & consulting expertise. In 2003 he founded ii Solutions (iiS) to provide innovative consulting & solutions for asset managers such as hedge funds, private equity/venture capital firms, institutional managers, & insurance companies. iiS has a unique broad & deep holistic understanding of the markets, products, choices, & administration of the business end to end. iiS is well versed in the complexity & issues challenging this specialized arena. iiS offers evaluations, project management, implementations, process analysis, management consulting, & strategic planning using proprietary methods easily adaptable to the nature & specific needs of clients.
Prior to iiS, Ken founded Pragma Group, a boutique firm with emphasis on the buyside & previously the head of third party consulting for Eagle Development Group (Eagle Investment Systems) & the founder of KMS Associates. Clients have included AIG Global Investment Group, Ameriprise Financial, Driehaus Capital, Fidelity, MassMutual/Babson Capital Management, McMorgan & Co., MetLife, Microsoft Treasury, Putnam, SSRM (now Blackrock), SSgA, Vanguard, technology providers & others.
Before entering the consulting world, he held positions in portfolio management specializing in equity & alternative investments, heading investment accounting for a $100 billion company, managing an operations group, & in international treasury.
Ken has been published in Buyside Technology, quoted in MAR Hedge & other industry publications. He is a contributing author to the book, Straight Through Processing for Financial Services Firms. He is noted for several important whitepapers including a whitepaper & presentation to the Federal Reserve Board with recommendations on the use & regulation of venture capital & private equity funds as investment options by national banks. He has been a speaker at seminars & events.
* Situation appraisal & benchmarking
* Change management: design, execute, achieve maximum mission impact
* Prepare/deliver CXO level presentations
* Preparing business plans, offering materials, pitches
* Identify, analyze potential alliances/partners, negotiate deals
* Performance measurement & attribution
* Use of derivatives
* Valuations & client reporting
* Technologically savvy
* Writing business, functional & tech specs
* Conversions, implementations
* Business development
(Privately Held; Financial Services industry)
October 2003 — Present (6 years 3 months)
Conceptualization & development of breakthrough business transformation buyside investor solution (VC, PE, FoF, HF, insurance companies & others)
• Identified/recruited senior executives
• Managed/analyzed market research
• Wrote business plan & financial projections
• Prepared & gave potential investor presentations
• Researched/targeted strategic partners, gaining commitment & negotiating agreements
Served as SME to $1.4 tril investment firm
• Wrote business, functional & tech specs for trading, analytics, data warehouse & performance measurement/attribution interfaces
• Built transaction generators to model global investment activity
• Worked with firm & vendor identifying areas of improvement
Senior Level Consulting for major wealth management firm
• Gathered requirements; created methodology & tool aligning business objectives, competencies, resources, IT strategy, enterprise architecture, metrics & priorities for COO & CIO investment analysis & decisions
(Partnership; 11-50 employees; Financial Services industry)
1999 — 2003 (4 years )
Led, managed, directed, planned, & participated in engagements. Usually served as Senior Partner in Charge management position responsible for engagements success. Served as an individual contributor to projects, especially in Process Benchmarking & Improvement engagements where broad experience in investment business is critical. As Senior Partner, ensured the firm provided premier services by offering superior, leading edge business & software knowledge to buyside institutional investment advisors through quality control procedures & training
Managed the firm, human capital, & other resources
Served as the primary sales/marketing resource
Personally performed accounting, accounts payable, & payroll functions
Directed business activities with banks, insurance companies, lawyers, & other non technical vendors
Identified, analyzed, & targeted potential alliances & led partnerships negotiations
Developed business plans, company focus, & growth models
(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Financial Services industry)
1997 — 1999 (2 years )
Responsibilities included business development, recruiting of professional staff, project management, and professional staff training. Served as investment industry and investment accounting expert resource for company.
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Financial Services industry)
1994 — 1997 (3 years )
(Financial Services industry)
1991 — 1997 (6 years )
Provided business analysis, test case development, execution, & evaluation.
Project management of conversion and implementation iniatives
Developed change management plans, assessed current & future state data & workflows
Responsible for business development & client relations
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Financial Services industry)
1980 — 1991 (11 years )
MBA , Finance , September 1982 — December 1985
BS , Accounting & Marketing , September 1976 — May 1980
Graduated Cum Laude
Diploma , College Prep , 1972 — 1976
Connecticut Technology Council, Connecticut Venture Group, Association for Financial Professionals, Financial Management Association