NEW YORK - Frank P. Minard has returned to marketing after a stint on the investment management side of the industry.
Mr. Minard on Jan. 19 became head of global marketing and client services at Morgan Stanley Asset Management, New York, and Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, West Conshohocken, Pa.
He resigned at year end as a managing director and head of quantitative equity investment management at Bankers Trust Co. There, he had been head of global investment management operations, until a reorganization moved active equity management within the bank to its Sydney, Australia, office.
In the newly created position at MSAM, he oversees all aspects of marketing and client services for the firms' domestic and international institutional businesses.
Morgan Stanley had been looking for a global marketing head for more than a year, said Marna C. Whittington, managing director and chief operating officer. The marketing and client service functions of the two firms were combined after Morgan Stanley acquired Miller Anderson in 1996.
"The person we sought needed to have the ability to plan strategy, excellent management skills, a deep understanding of what institutional clients want and client service expertise. Frank was the perfect fit," Ms. Whittington said.
A major part of Mr. Minard's charge is to take the firms into the global marketplace and to increase institutional business both in the United States and abroad.
"The growth has been substantial at MSAM and there is potential to grow it even more strongly. For me, this was a great opportunity because it is not a question of having to fix something, but rather, to grow a business, not just domestically, but also internationally," Mr. Minard said.
Mr. Minard also will develop uniform marketing procedures, products and teams to streamline the distribution of both firms' investment vehicles to institutional clients abroad.
"We are working on ways to make sure our products can best be deployed locally, by staff in those countries, in ways that make sense given varying regulatory and political environments," Ms. Whittington said. "We want to be able to bring core products from the (United States) to clients worldwide."
"MSAM intends to be one of the new paradigm managers . . . in an industry dominated by fewer, bigger, broad-based, multifunctional money managers, which deliver their products more flexibly on a global basis," Mr. Minard said.
Marketing teams based in the United States, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia will report to Mr. Minard, who in turn reports to Ms. Whittington.
The company hopes to make inroads with institutional investors in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and Latin America.
"It's a tremendous opportunity to take a very broad product line and distribute it traditionally - through DB and DC plans - as well as through alternative channels, such as mutual fund supermarkets, wrap programs and variable annuities," Mr. Minard said.
Morgan Stanley and Miller Anderson have been working more closely with staff at Morgan Stanley's two mutual fund divisions, Van Kampen American Capital and Dean Witter, Discover, to bring institutional investment management to their mutual fund families, especially on the international side. MSAM and MAS have begun to manage some funds for Dean Witter, Discover and VKAC, said Ms. Whittington, and there are plans for more mutual fund subadvisory relationships.
But there are no plans to combine the marketing or client service functions of the institutional and mutual fund management divisions.
"They distribute to totally different channels. It wouldn't make sense," Mr. Minard said.
