Voice of Experience: Kim Anderson, Senior Vice President of Mutual Fund Product Development, Voya Investment Management (formerly ING U.S. Investment Management)

Whether it is searching out long-lost shareholders for a proxy vote, creating new or merging existing mutual funds, or overseeing the myriad steps it takes to rebrand a family of 161 mutual funds, Kim Anderson spends her days finding ways to get things done.

Learning by Doing – Often without a Net

Kim Anderson started out as a banker in the early 90’s when the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed. Her employer, then known as Bank One AZ, decided to get into the business of selling mutual funds and Kim took her first steps into what was largely uncharted territory for both her and the banking industry. “I became a compliance principal and was responsible for approving the trades made by the bank’s representatives.” Her time at the bank was a big opportunity to prove herself and as she notes, “I learned about mutual funds and the industry, which set the stage for where I am today.”

With her first major accomplishment under her belt, Anderson went on to tackle bigger challenges. In 1995, she moved to Pilgrim Funds shortly after they were acquired by Express America. The prior Pilgrim organization had been floundering under a scandal after the firm and its CEO were fined by the SEC for misleading advertising. Certain Pilgrim Funds were purchased by Express America, a mortgage company looking to get into the mutual fund business after enduring the savings and loan crisis.

At Pilgrim, Kim leveraged her compliance experience into heading up the legal administration group. “I oversaw a paralegal team at Pilgrim who worked in conjunction with outside counsel on Board meetings, SEC filings, and the Secretarial function.” Kim’s willingness to dig into the details and make sense of a situation earned her a reputation as a problem solver. “I had many mentors who helped me along the way by seeing an opportunity and saying, ‘Give Kim a shot at it’ which had a very positive influence on my career growth.”

Taking on Even Greater Challenges by Building a Team

Eventually Pilgrim grew to a size where it needed in-house counsel and Kim moved over to run product development and strategic planning.

“We went through a number of mergers and acquisitions and each one presented significant challenges for me and my team.” Pilgrim made a series of acquisitions in the late 1990s and was acquired by ReliaStar in 1999. A year later, ING purchased ReliaStar and Aetna’s financial service operations.

The early 2000s proved to be challenging for Anderson and her team. “Each transaction required a number of new filings, shareholder and Board approvals and operational integrations,” Anderson recalls, “In 2003, we began to really pull all of the acquisitions together and there were not a lot of templates on how to get things done. It was pretty chaotic.”

Anderson’s team at the time included several who she credits with helping her and the overall effort, to be a success. One important achievement was the development of a methodical approach to decision making around the mutual fund products. “We did a full Design-For-Six-Sigma process on how we make fund decisions and it has made a significant difference in getting buy-in from various stakeholders. The [six-sigma] project created a safe environment for all of the constituents to look at the process and voice their opinions. The process ensures that fund product decisions are made based on fact and thorough analysis. I believe the stakeholders see it as ‘everyone’s process’ – with all involved working towards the best outcome.”

By 2007, the new processes were in place and they were ready to deal with any big changes. And there have been plenty of changes for Kim and her team to take on. In 2013, ING U.S., the retirement, asset management and insurance business, was spun-off from the parent company in an IPO. In connection with the IPO, Kim’s team dealt with securing fund shareholder approvals through a proxy event that touched the entire shareholder base – over 5 million shareholders. The past year or so has been dedicated to ING U.S.’s rebranding as Voya Financial (and the investment business as Voya Investment Management), reducing redundancies in its mutual fund line-up and the strategic decision to focus on growing and scaling proprietary asset management.

Advice to Others

In the professional world, it helps to have a guide to understand the all-important nuances of dealing with others in a big corporate setting. Anderson has been fortunate to have mentors in the organization and has worked with an outside coach. Earlier in her career, she even had one team member who she describes as a seasoned professional woman that helped her deal with some of the “unspoken rules of the job” regarding communication and intercompany relationships. From all these valuable relationships, Kim developed stronger leadership skills.

She encourages women to take risks and keep learning. “When I entered the corporate world, I believed that putting your head down and doing a good job was enough to grow your career – that hard work was the recipe for success. That is most definitely not true. In reality, doing a good job is just the foundation. You must build on that foundation by expanding your knowledge, building strong relationships with others who can be your mentor or sponsor, and building a solid reputation – whether in your organization or your industry. Your reputation, your character precedes you in everything you do and every interaction you have. Be a driver of positive change, always looking for ways to do things better – continuously improving.”

Anderson also adds,“And don’t be afraid to speak-up – be confident and show to others that you have the experience, knowledge and that you want to move ahead. Volunteer for those stretch assignments and leverage that solid foundation you’ve built.”

It’s also important to understand your own strengths and weaknesses. “Be willing to look closely at yourself, recognize and identify areas for improvement and then take action. Solicit feedback from others and be open to what they say. It’s often hard to hear constructive feedback, but truly being open to feedback and then acting on it to become a better employee, co-worker and leader is important. Not only do you become a better person, you build a stronger relationship with others – others that may be your advocate in the future.”

Voya has a number of employee resource groups and specifically a women’s resource group. “These groups are an important part of Voya as they play an important role in welcoming and educating our workforce as well as being a resource to help advance the business. The Employee Resource Groups frequently co-sponsor diversity-related educational events across the organization.” Anderson notes that the group leaders are elected and after leading the women’s resource group for sometime, she campaigned for mid-managers and non-managers to take the leadership role so they could benefit from the experience as well.

Outside the Office

When she’s away from work, Kim likes to spend time with her family, often in the outdoors. “We enjoy traveling, hiking and camping. My kids also play sports, so we’re usually at some sporting event on the weekends.”

By Beth Senko