CEO, New York Life Investment Management
If an asset management firm is like a shopping mall, with a wide choice of retailers, then Yie-Hsin Hung has built New York Life Investment Management into one of the nation’s most vibrant collections of boutique stores.
With $561 billion in assets under management, the New York Life Insurance Co. unit is the world’s 26th-largest asset manager. That figure has grown significantly during Hung’s three-plus years in charge, thanks to both organic growth and the acquisition of numerous boutique money managers.
Her most recent deals tend to focus on international boutiques, such as the acquisition of Tristan Capital Partners in London, a leading private equity real estate investment firm in Europe.
Tristan is now one of 10 boutique and specialist money managers that operate as part of New York Life. Another is MainStay Funds, which offers access to institutional money management through mutual funds and separately managed accounts.
Hung joined the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute last year. She’s also a member of the U.S. Institute, an organization of C-level executives from the top asset management firms.
Managing assets isn’t the only way Hung contributes at New York Life. As part of the company’s executive management committee — three of the 12 members are women — Hung advises CEO Ted Mathas on policy and strategy.
Hung also has taken the lead in helping lift up those around her, such as by creating a collaboration team within the middle-management ranks to find ways to open lines of communication across units. She has launched a program to curate managerial talent as well.
It’s the bottom line that stands out most, though. During her tenure as head of investment management, Hung, the top-ranking female executive at New York Life, has presided over a threefold increase in total assets under management.
