FTSE Taps White for Content Services Unit

Index provider FTSE is setting up a new internal business unit, dubbed Content Services, to manage internally all the data produced and sourced by the vendor, and package it for commercial use where appropriate, and has hired market and reference data expert John White from State Street Global Advisors to run the new group.

As managing director of Content Services, reporting to FTSE’s chief marketing officer, White is currently creating a business plan for the unit, which has the broad remit of expanding FTSE’s brand by leveraging “any other collateral or analytics associated with our index data,” he says. “It’s about how we bring in any inbound content, our governance of it, what else we can bring in, and what else we can package for clients.”

The unit is part of FTSE’s executive team, and works closely with the vendor’s operations, IT, sales and marketing, and client services groups, though White says he will determine whether the Content Services team will need to hire staff or will create a “reporting matrix” where he draws on existing resources from within the organization—though he says he wants “a certain level of expertise” sitting directly within the team—when he presents his business plan to FTSE’s board.

In the meantime, White says his role involves understanding the roles and pro-cesses of those around him to identify the best processes within the vendor from which to create optimal packaging and delivery mechanisms, as well as plenty of contact with clients to determine what additional products they want from FTSE.

“Ultimately, FTSE wants to leverage my expertise in market data and data governance from my previous roles,” including global head of market and vended data services at SSGA—a central group for the entire acquisition and management lifecycle of market data—as well as strategic data roles at Columbia Asset Management and Wellington Management, and 11 years at IDD Information Services, White says. These roles all required him to liaise with users and create appropriate packages of information for their needs, he adds.

While the new unit is still in the early stages, White says it won’t be a matter of years before it begins generating new products—though he says it is still premature to say what they might include. “We definitely want to move fast and furiously, and act with a sense of business urgency to respond to client requests,” he says.

State Street officials say they are actively recruiting a replacement, and that Randy Miller—currently managing director of data management and governance at SSGA—has assumed White’s responsibilities on an interim basis.