Seitz Partners’ Monday Q&A This Week’s Focus: Gender Disparity in Institutional Distribution

Q: Is there a gender gap in institutional distribution and if so, how large is it?

A: Unfortunately, yes – only 35% of the institutional distribution population in the United States is female.

According to Seitz Partners research, which included a review of over 3,000 client-facing professionals in the U.S. including institutional sales, consultant relations, relationship management and hybrids/combinations of each, from the associate level to the head of institutional, women make up 35% of the institutional distribution population.

The Breakdown: By Asset Class

Among firms focused on traditional, long-only investment strategies, women make up 27% of the institutional distribution population.

Women account for 30% of institutional distribution professionals within firms with a combination of traditional, long-only and alternative investment strategies.

Strikingly, within firms that focus solely on alternative investments, women make up 46% of the institutional distribution population.

Key Takeaways

The asset management industry has a long way to go to reach gender parity. Within institutional distribution, the gap is significant but closing, albeit slowly.

Alternative investment firms have done a much better job of hiring and promoting women than their competitors in long-only and mixed long-only/alternative shops.

Leaders, human resources partners and recruiters are aware of the disparity and are actively engaging to source and present a more diverse slate of candidates. In addition to targeting competitors (recognizing the smaller pool of talent), we leverage our network to identify candidates with relevant, transferable skills in other parts of the industry (i.e., investment consulting, plan sponsors/institutional investors, wealth managers, recordkeepers, etc.) as well as other industries.

About Seitz Partners

Seitz Partners is a retained executive search firm dedicated to serving clients in the asset and wealth management industries. We deliver unparalleled access to talent and unrivaled market insight to our clients. For more information, please contact:

Christopher Seitz

Managing Partner

cseitz@seitzpartners.com

Seitz Partners Monday Q&A