State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has appointed Kathryn Sweeney as head of SPDR Americas Institutional sales, reporting into Nick Good, co-head with Rory Tobin of the global SPDR business.
Sweeney will be responsible for defining and leading the execution of the SPDR Americas Institutional Sales Strategy in the Americas. Sweeney will also be responsible for collaborating with the Americas Institutional Client Group (ICG) team under Barry FX Smith, head of the Americas ICG at SSGA, to drive ETF sales with asset owners.
“ETFs are being used by a greater number of institutional investors seeking to reduce fees and increase the liquidity and transparency of their holdings,” says Good. “Our global SPDR ETF business has a strong track record of product innovation, including working with large institutional clients to develop products such as SHE, LOWC and SPYX to meet their specific investment needs. Given Kathryn’s visibility and relationships within the ETF industry we are confident that she will continue to advance the SPDR position in the institutional market, and we are excited to have her join our Global SPDR team.”
Sweeney joins SSGA from Goldman Sachs, where throughout her more than 19 year tenure, she played a strategic role in building out its ETF business, first in London and then in New York. She held a variety of roles, most recently as Global Head of Distribution and Product Strategy for the Securities Division. In this capacity Sweeney worked closely with ETF Asset Managers, Institutional Trading desks and internal stakeholders to increase ETF activity. Prior to this, she held roles as Head of US ETF Execution and Risk, and as an ETF trader in London and New York.
