Name:
Title: Executive managing director
Company: Envestnet | Tamarac
Web address: https://tamaracinc.com/
Andina Anderson is executive managing director of Envestnet | Tamarac, a division of Envestnet, providing integrated, web-based portfolio rebalancing, performance reporting and customer relationship management software for independent advisors and wealth managers.
What does your firm do/offer within the fintech sector?
Envestnet | Tamarac offers some of the most robust capabilities in the industry today, providing an integrated, web-based portfolio rebalancing, performance reporting, and customer relationship management (CRM) platform, combined with a client portal, for independent advisors and wealth managers. Our custodian-agnostic platform and outsourced portfolio management services allow RIAs to run their businesses with greater efficiency, scale, and profitability.
Tamarac can create a single, comprehensive client report containing overall asset allocation and performance, regardless of where assets are held—providing better reporting on complex portfolios involving multiple financial institutions. Advisors benefit from improved portfolio analysis, interactive reports on performance metrics, and a customized dashboard to view held-away assets. Clients can view performance metrics through our client portal, where they can also receive a holistic view of their financial picture. We work closely with our clients to address any feedback or concerns, and consistently update our platform capabilities to make it more flexible and intuitive.
How did you personally become involved in fintech?
I originally started on the trading side of the financial industry when I joined Ragen MacKenzie as an Institutional Equity Sales Trader in 1999.
After realizing technology’s power to completely reshape financial services, I joined Envestnet | Tamarac in February 2006. I was initially brought in to lead the client support team, where I could combine my previous trading experience with my passion for innovative technology to better serve the needs of our clients.
Since then, I have helped lead several initiatives, which include updating the client implementation process, improving the overall support structure within our organization, as well as building Tamarac's consulting services.
What has been the biggest success in your firm to date?
I think the biggest success for Tamarac is how much we’ve grown the business and developed so many innovative solutions since I joined almost 15 years ago.
Most recently, when Envestnet adapted its current organizational structure last year, I assumed responsibility for leading Envestnet | Tamarac. When I first joined the company in 2006, we had five employees; today we have over 380 staff, divided between our Seattle, WA and Raleigh, NC offices, specifically supporting the Tamarac business.
One milestone I am especially proud of is the acquisition and rollout of PortfolioCenter last year. A key objective for my team was to focus on providing PortfolioCenter’s existing users with our elevated, best-in-class reporting insights along with high-touch support. The integration significantly expanded the audience of RIAs that we can assist with growing and scaling their businesses.
With the addition of PortfolioCenter, we added over 2,000 RIA firms to our growing client base, totaling over 3,100 RIA clients managing over $1.2 trillion in collective assets. As a side note, the total AUM was around $10 million between 19 clients when I started in 2006. Thanks to a successful launch, we are now able to provide smaller and emerging RIAs with a foundation to help them deliver better outcomes, and financial wellness, to clients.
What area/s of fintech do you believe will grow the most in the coming 5 years?
I believe (and hope) over the next five years that we will continue to see an increase in diversity within the overall financial industry, but even more so within fintech. While representation of women and minorities in fintech is better compared to when I first started, there is still room for improvement.
I encourage women, specifically, to avoid limiting themselves in how they envision their careers once they enter the workforce, and to think outside of the boundaries of their college major or previous employment history. The financial services industry is extremely broad and continuously evolving, with different areas that cross over, so there are many possibilities to explore. My background was finance and marketing, not technology, so I never envisioned myself working for a fintech company. But with technological innovation, more areas of financial services are more closely connected, so much of what we learn and do can be leveraged in other parts of the industry.
One thing I would challenge the financial services industry to do is to support more nonprofit organizations that expose girls, young women, minorities, and disadvantaged youth to finance and technology educational programs. By explaining how the industry works and highlighting potential career opportunities within it, we can help bridge the gap between these different groups and employment in our industry to improve diverse representation. At Envestnet | Tamarac and across the entire Envestnet organization, we are proud to support various women and minority-focused and organizations because we understand how important these initiatives are to resolving gender disparity in areas like computer science, engineering, and financial technology.