INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
MUTUAL FUNDS
HEDGE FUNDS
PRIME BROKERAGE
RETAIL INVESTMENT SERVICES
DEFINED BENEFIT
DEFINED CONTRIBUTION
Since establishing American Independence Financial Services in 2005, Mr. John Pileggi has served as Managing Partner of the New York City-based investment management firm.
As Managing Partner and Founder of the firm, John Pileggi focuses on overseeing top-rated mutual funds, separately managed accounts and other investment products for institutional and retail investors. Mr. Pileggi also directs the strategic growth of the firm and has spearheaded corporate acquisitions, joint ventures and adoptions, including the acquisition of INTRUST Bank's $500 million mutual funds advisory business. American Independence later adopted the mutual fund business of FFTW, a unit of BNP Paribas.
Before John Pileggi established American Independence Financial Services, he served in multiple senior-level positions for Mercantile Bankshares Corporation. Mr. Pileggi served as CEO of Mercantile Investment & Wealth Management and President and CEO of Mercantile Capital Advisors, Mercantile Mutual Funds, and Mercantile Hedge Funds. As the head of Mercantile's Investment & Wealth Management Division, Mr. Pileggi was responsible for discretionary assets in excess of $21 billion and $25 billion in assets under administration, including personal trust and agency, ERISA, Taft-Hartley, endowments, and foundations. Under his leadership, a stagnant franchise saw unprecedented increases in sales and revenue. Mr. Pileggi also initiated numerous strategic undertakings and acquisitions for Mercantile, including the acquisitions of a multibillion-dollar asset management company and a regional broker/dealer, and the start-up of an independent registered investment advisor. Beyond M&A, Mercantile Investment and Wealth Management reduced expenditures by outsourcing work and reorganizing inefficient internal operations.
Prior to his service with Mercantile, Mr. Pileggi was President and CEO for PlusFunds. John Pileggi was specifically appointed by PlusFunds (its Board of Directors included Walter Wriston) to reorganize the company. In one year, Mr. Pileggi successfully reduced the company's multimillion "burn rate" to almost zero and restructured the firm from a dot-com into a provider of an Investable Hedge Fund Index.
Before joining PlusFunds, John Pileggi served as President and CEO of numerous divisions of ING Financial, including ING Mutual Funds Management Co., ING Funds Distributor LLC, ING Investment Products Distribution, and ING Retirement Services. Mr. Pileggi was also Chairman and President of ING Mutual Funds and a Member of the Executive Committee for ING US Financial Services.
Previously, John Pileggi served as Senior Managing Director and Member of the Board for Furman Selz LLC, where the mutual funds business grew to over $30 billion, and clients included many major banking and independent investment management organizations. Furman Selz was acquired by Xerox FInancial Services in 1987. Mr. Pileggi was part of a team that reacquired the firm in 1992. Furman Selz was acquired by ING in 1997.
He began his career in various positions with Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb.
WST: What were the motivating factors for starting American Independence?
Mr. Pileggi: I speak at a lot of events and I always start off by saying, "Many of you were probably asking why in the world we need another mutual fund company." The answer, in our view, was for a few different reasons. We thought the world did need a boutique asset manager consisting of talented and seasoned entrepreneurs. There has been a lot of consolidation in the asset management business in the last 10 years or so - you've had major banks merged together, major insurance company merged together, the creation of many financial supermarkets - and in many of those instances, the reason they came together had little or nothing to do with asset management. In many respects, asset management was an orphan stepchild. It was our belief that it would be very timely to create a boutique asset manager that had no conflicts, no other sources of income or compensation other than the assets under management, and therefore the client would have to come first. We believe a company that had no other mandate or no priorities other than the client was a good idea. I also believe from personal experience that the happiest and some of the most productive years of my career were when I was with an employee-owned financial services firm called Furman Selz, and I thought that culture helped engender creativity, camaraderie and a true sense of partnership. I wanted to build an employee-owned company in the asset management space that was client focused and that would look for opportunities to try and acquire and/or adopt some of those products and merge them together. So we've done all those things.
TWST: When you say you are an "independent investment manager," does that mean you are in no way affiliated with other firms?
Mr. Pileggi: That's it, exactly right. We are not part of an insurer, we are not part of a bank, we don't have conflicts because another area of the firm may sell research or is involved in underwriting. We don't have any captive audience where we know that assets could be allocated to our management because another area of the firm controls them. We are truly independent.
MUTUAL FUNDS
HEDGE FUNDS
PRIME BROKERAGE
RETAIL INVESTMENT SERVICES
DEFINED BENEFIT
DEFINED CONTRIBUTION
Since establishing American Independence Financial Services in 2005, Mr. John Pileggi has served as Managing Partner of the New York City-based investment management firm.
As Managing Partner and Founder of the firm, John Pileggi focuses on overseeing top-rated mutual funds, separately managed accounts and other investment products for institutional and retail investors. Mr. Pileggi also directs the strategic growth of the firm and has spearheaded corporate acquisitions, joint ventures and adoptions, including the acquisition of INTRUST Bank's $500 million mutual funds advisory business. American Independence later adopted the mutual fund business of FFTW, a unit of BNP Paribas.
Before John Pileggi established American Independence Financial Services, he served in multiple senior-level positions for Mercantile Bankshares Corporation. Mr. Pileggi served as CEO of Mercantile Investment & Wealth Management and President and CEO of Mercantile Capital Advisors, Mercantile Mutual Funds, and Mercantile Hedge Funds. As the head of Mercantile's Investment & Wealth Management Division, Mr. Pileggi was responsible for discretionary assets in excess of $21 billion and $25 billion in assets under administration, including personal trust and agency, ERISA, Taft-Hartley, endowments, and foundations. Under his leadership, a stagnant franchise saw unprecedented increases in sales and revenue. Mr. Pileggi also initiated numerous strategic undertakings and acquisitions for Mercantile, including the acquisitions of a multibillion-dollar asset management company and a regional broker/dealer, and the start-up of an independent registered investment advisor. Beyond M&A, Mercantile Investment and Wealth Management reduced expenditures by outsourcing work and reorganizing inefficient internal operations.
Prior to his service with Mercantile, Mr. Pileggi was President and CEO for PlusFunds. John Pileggi was specifically appointed by PlusFunds (its Board of Directors included Walter Wriston) to reorganize the company. In one year, Mr. Pileggi successfully reduced the company's multimillion "burn rate" to almost zero and restructured the firm from a dot-com into a provider of an Investable Hedge Fund Index.
Before joining PlusFunds, John Pileggi served as President and CEO of numerous divisions of ING Financial, including ING Mutual Funds Management Co., ING Funds Distributor LLC, ING Investment Products Distribution, and ING Retirement Services. Mr. Pileggi was also Chairman and President of ING Mutual Funds and a Member of the Executive Committee for ING US Financial Services.
Previously, John Pileggi served as Senior Managing Director and Member of the Board for Furman Selz LLC, where the mutual funds business grew to over $30 billion, and clients included many major banking and independent investment management organizations. Furman Selz was acquired by Xerox FInancial Services in 1987. Mr. Pileggi was part of a team that reacquired the firm in 1992. Furman Selz was acquired by ING in 1997.
He began his career in various positions with Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb.
WST: What were the motivating factors for starting American Independence?
Mr. Pileggi: I speak at a lot of events and I always start off by saying, "Many of you were probably asking why in the world we need another mutual fund company." The answer, in our view, was for a few different reasons. We thought the world did need a boutique asset manager consisting of talented and seasoned entrepreneurs. There has been a lot of consolidation in the asset management business in the last 10 years or so - you've had major banks merged together, major insurance company merged together, the creation of many financial supermarkets - and in many of those instances, the reason they came together had little or nothing to do with asset management. In many respects, asset management was an orphan stepchild. It was our belief that it would be very timely to create a boutique asset manager that had no conflicts, no other sources of income or compensation other than the assets under management, and therefore the client would have to come first. We believe a company that had no other mandate or no priorities other than the client was a good idea. I also believe from personal experience that the happiest and some of the most productive years of my career were when I was with an employee-owned financial services firm called Furman Selz, and I thought that culture helped engender creativity, camaraderie and a true sense of partnership. I wanted to build an employee-owned company in the asset management space that was client focused and that would look for opportunities to try and acquire and/or adopt some of those products and merge them together. So we've done all those things.
TWST: When you say you are an "independent investment manager," does that mean you are in no way affiliated with other firms?
Mr. Pileggi: That's it, exactly right. We are not part of an insurer, we are not part of a bank, we don't have conflicts because another area of the firm may sell research or is involved in underwriting. We don't have any captive audience where we know that assets could be allocated to our management because another area of the firm controls them. We are truly independent.