Wells Fargo Nikko Reorgs I.T. Group, Hires Barra's Grinold

AS part of a reorganization that split Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors into four separate business units, the money management firm's information technology division has been restructured. The IT group will remain central, but a number of roles have changed--most notably that of Rolf Theisen, the firm's former head of technology development. Theisen has been let go and was replaced by Alan Havey, previously an associate at Wells Fargo Nikko.

Separately, the firm has hired Richard Grinold, the former president of Barra Inc.'s Barra Global Investment Technology Inc. Grinold, who joined Wells Fargo Nikko in January, serves as managing director and director of research at the money management firm.

At Barra, which he left last fall (IMT, Sept. 17, 1993), Grinold was also a one-time director of research. Wells Fargo Nikko, which pursues quantitative trading strategies, makes use of Barra's portfolio risk analysis, optimization and performance-attribution services (IMT, July 23, 1993).

Havey, who took over for Theisen after he was terminated about a month ago, was promoted from associate to principal. He acts as group leader of investment process development at the firm. Wells Fargo Nikko chief information officer Scott Thompson, to whom Theisen reported before he departed and to whom Havey now answers, declines to comment on the reasons behind either the departure of Theisen or the promotion of Havey.

"Several jobs and several players have changed," says a spokesperson for the money manager. The shuffle in IT at the firm was designed to bring the firm's technologists into "closer integration" with the newly formed business units, which focus on defined benefits, defined contributions, capital markets and mutual funds.

To effect that shift, she says, Wells Fargo Nikko is putting in place a series so-called of liaisons. "We'll have more liaison work between the business units and technology, which will enable them to work together much more closely." She declines to be more specific.

It was unclear whether the firm's ouster of Theisen specifically reflected a dissatisfaction with the way technology was being delivered. Theisen had a number of ongoing projects under his stewardship. Among other things, Theisen oversaw development work on the firm's inhouse portfolio accounting and management system. He also headed up the installation of a digital data distribution platform supported by Micrognosis Inc., which the firm uses to deliver real-time market data and analytics to its portfolio managers' and traders' desktops. (The platform is the former FD Consulting Inc.'s Mips.)

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Nikko has in excess of $125 billion under management. The firm is a joint venture between Japanese securities firm Nikko Securities Co. and San Francisco's Wells Fargo & Co.