Franklin Resources, Inc., a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton, today announced the appointment of Sandy Kaul as Senior Vice President, to provide advisory consulting and thought leadership as part of the Franklin Templeton Institute. She will deliver actionable intelligence and insights on the future of the investment and wealth management industry for the firm and its clients. Based in New York, Kaul brings over 25 years of well-rounded industry experience, joining from Citi, where she served as Managing Director and Global Head of Business Advisory Services.

“Sandy is a revolutionary thinker with an uncanny ability to predict the future of our industry and foresee the future needs of our clients, and I am quite thrilled to have her join us at this pivotal time in the industry,” said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton. “She brings tremendous expertise in anticipating and interpreting the evolving interests and service expectations across key investor segments globally, and she will deliver her insights to clients and investors through the Franklin Templeton Institute.”

Adam Spector, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Distribution, Franklin Templeton, said, “Now in our 75^th year, we are eager and committed to taking our client-centric history of innovation to the next level. As the pace of change accelerates, Sandy will both challenge and support us in staying on the cutting edge of industry innovation and translating this knowledge into actionable insights for serving our clients. She has differentiated her career by building a macro-level understanding of how the financial services industry evolves and how this evolution affects investor allocations, trading strategies, products, operational practices and supporting technologies.”

Kaul has cultivated deeply informed insights and has an extensive background in driving market-leading research, thought leadership and predictive models centered on the evolution of the investment and wealth management industry. She will identify and champion opportunities to address industry advancements and drive transformation, with a focus on innovative distribution trends and digital disruption. She will deliver strategic insights to inform the firm’s decision-making on partnerships and investments, including within Franklin Templeton’s growing digital asset business.

Kaul said, “I could not be more excited and energized to be joining an organization where a spirit of innovation, disruption and strategic experimentation permeates from the highest levels. We are in a singular position today to define how we are going to respond to the transformative changes taking place across our industry, to position for the next decade and beyond. There is a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm within Franklin Templeton that I am eager to tap into and help harness, as we navigate emerging opportunities and deliver crucial insights to our clients.”

At Citi, Kaul launched and built out Citi’s Business Advisory Services practice, a market leading provider of industry thought leadership spanning Citi’s Markets and Global Wealth organizations, addressing key industry trends such as the integration of both active and passive investing techniques, emergence of beta strategies and solutions, utilization of factor analysis, rise of ESG, importance of people alpha, and embrace of digital assets and tokenization.

Kaul rejoined Citi in 2009, after originally starting her career there in 1985 as a futures research analyst covering the soft commodities markets with Citi’s predecessor firm, Shearson Lehman Brothers. She joined Commodities Corporation/Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1995 as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and portfolio manager. After managing money for nearly six years, Kaul shifted her attention to consulting and led the strategy practice within the financial services division of capital markets niche management consulting firm Scient.

Kaul combines her unique blend of sell-side, buy-side and consulting insights to drive her research and thought leadership around what constitutes best practices and where innovation is occurring. She has been a frequent speaker at industry events and a widely published author, work that will continue in her new role at Franklin Templeton.

Source: Franklin Resources, Inc.