Senior Manager, Private Markets Transformation Expert

Paul Howard

Senior Manager, Private Markets Consultant

******@***.*** • 224-***-****

www.linkedin.com/in/howapa • Charlotte, NC

Senior technology, business development and operating model leader in asset management and private markets, with 15+ years driving front-office platform strategy, Charles River implementations, and cross-functional delivery across the U.S. and EMEA. Trusted advisor to CIO/CTO/COO stakeholders, translating investment and operational objectives into scalable processes, controls, cloud and AI-enabled solutions that accelerate growth and strengthen governance.

Career Experience

Liqueo Inc, Charlotte NC August 2022 - Present

Senior Manager, Private Markets Consultant

Launched a new private markets business within a large multi-asset investment firm, scaling assets to ~$1B in four years by driving the target operating model (TOM), product development, and IT onboarding. As part of a four-person team, sourced capital and onboarded investments using existing public market applications, teams, and processes. Led the rollout of Charles River to support the private credit deal pipeline and Investment Committee presentations.

Led the implementation of Charles River for Private Markets, enabling deal pipeline management and Investment Committee reporting.

Delivered Charles River for Private Markets (~$500M AUM) in under nine months, meeting aggressive regulatory, operational, and business timelines.

Designed and implemented a Private Markets target operating model (TOM), integrating existing firmwide applications and processes to improve scalability and control.

Supported resourcing and onboarding of Private Markets Operations staff, enabling a fully implemented front-to-back deal lifecycle.

Partnered with the Asset Management CTO, COO, and CCO to translate strategy into executable operating and technology solutions supporting growth of the private markets platform.

Served on the Liqueo advisory team, contributing to private markets client presentations and business development efforts.

Supported the build-out of Liqueo’s private markets consulting practice by developing relationships with new and existing clients.

Interviewed, trained, and onboarded new Directors and Senior Consultants to support practice growth and delivery quality.

Built and managed relationships with key service providers and technology partners, including Charles River, Broadridge, Allvue, and AI vendors (F2, Nammu21, and Alkymi).

Advised large U.S. asset managers on private markets operating models through assessments/health checks, RFP support, system selection, and implementation programs.

Nuveen Investments, Charlotte NC May/2016 – August/2022

IT Manager (VP) – Fixed Income Front Office Applications

Led the implementation of the Nuveen Private Credit business (~$60B AUM) on Charles River (CRIMS v21 on Azure) and managed a portfolio of 50+ front-office applications, including Charles River IMS, Bloomberg AIM, and Allvue Black Mountain Everest.

Applied expertise in the design, implementation, and support of proprietary applications supporting compliance, analytics, liquidity, and portfolio management. Partnered with teams across IT and the enterprise (Cloud, Infrastructure, Networking, Change Management, Finance, and Business Continuity) to ensure applications met internal control standards and external audit requirements.

Successfully implemented Charles River v21R1 for the Nuveen Private Placements business (~$60B) in under 6 months.

Ensured adherence to software development best practices, including evolving cybersecurity requirements and business continuity/disaster recovery standards.

Modernized the application portfolio by replacing end-of-life databases and platforms with current technology solutions, including AWS-based services.

Provided technical leadership to business partners to support sound decision-making and deliver scalable, maintainable solutions.

Communicated technical risks, issues, and changes to stakeholders at all organizational levels, supporting both production systems and strategic initiatives.

Partnered with teams across IT and the enterprise (Cloud, Infrastructure, Networking, Change Management, Finance, and Business Continuity) to ensure applications met internal control and external audit requirements.

Extensive knowledge across asset classes, including taxable fixed income, municipals, and private placements.

Nuveen Investments, Chicago Apr/2012 – May/2016

IT Project Manager / Relationship Manager (AVP)

Spearheaded projects including the upgrade and rollout of Charles River IMS v17 for portfolio management, trading, research, and compliance teams across multiple Nuveen affiliates. Led the design and implementation of the Perform SMA reporting platform, equity commission reporting, equity analytics, and a Separately Managed Accounts compliance dashboard. Built deep understanding of business strategies, issues, plans, and workflows across Santa Barbara Asset Management, Tradewinds, NWQ, and Nuveen Asset Management. Chaired daily project and program meetings, coordinating stakeholders at all levels and representing front-office priorities across IT. Developed project charters and delivery plans aligned to milestones, produced executive status reporting and steering committee materials, and performed root-cause analysis and cost/benefit assessments to support configuration and implementation decisions.

Migrated US Bank’s First American Funds (FAF) Equity and Taxable Fixed Income Businesses to Nuveen ($27B in Mutual Fund and Institutional assets).

Migrated Charles River IMS from v9 on-premise solution to v17 Saas Solution for three separate affiliates, Santa Barbara Asset Management, NWQ Investments, and Tradewinds businesses onto the Nuveen trading platform ($18B AUM)

Project-managed the system selection and implementation of the Taxable Fixed Income risk management system, FactSet MAC.

Managed the rollout of the enterprise reporting platform, enabling regulatory and Nuveen Board reporting across affiliates (~$30B AUM).

Managed a team of 8 consisting of developers, business analysts and application analysts across multiple locations.

Built and maintained strong relationships with business partners, applying industry best practices in program and project management to advance technology and corporate strategy.

Served as a subject matter expert (SME) on portfolio/order management system redesign, capturing requirements from Portfolio Management, Trading, and Operations and incorporating them into workflows and process improvements.

Conducted root-cause analysis and cost-benefit assessments related to project objectives, including evaluation of configuration and implementation proposals.

Partnered with stakeholders to gather, document, and obtain agreement on business process changes and requirements.

Consult with business stakeholders and project team to provide detailed analysis of data requirements arising from business requirements and ensure that deliverables meet data requirements.

Aberdeen Asset Management, London Feb/2008 – Apr/2012

IT Project Manager / Business Analyst (AVP)

Delivered strategic leadership in leading implementation of FX, OTC Derivatives, and Money Market portfolio modelling and trading through Charles River IMS and the successful migration of both RBS and Credit Suisse businesses onto the Aberdeen Asset Management Charles River platform. Responsible for the system selection and implementation for both front and middle office Fund of Hedge Funds businesses. Managed Business Systems EMEA region. Enhanced Aberdeen project management standards and practices with consistent successful application to appropriate technology solutions for different business areas. Provided 2nd line support of Charles River IMS and training of high profile individuals.

Managed a team of six business analysts and developers responsible for the development, maintenance, and support of Charles River for the EMEA region.

Implemented Charles River IMS capabilities for FX, OTC derivatives, and money market portfolio modeling and trading teams.

Migrated both RBS and Credit Suisse businesses onto the Aberdeen Charles River platform (~$50M AUM).

Led system selection and implementation for the front-office Fund of Hedge Funds Webfolio (Digital Shape Technologies) application, adding ~ $80M in new AUM to Aberdeen’s product offering.

Defined and documented requirements in collaboration with business leads - reviewing business models, process and data flows and ensuring these requests are compatible with the overall IT technical direction.

Lead project steering committee meetings, effectively communicating project status to the Group Project Committee and Aberdeen board.

Establish project delivery requirements, develop effective delivery plans and successfully execute deliverables to meet front office and back office objectives and fit within IT global operating model.

Enhance Aberdeen project management standards and practices with consistent successful application to appropriate technology solutions for different business areas.

Responsible for analyzing the business needs, identifying business problems and proposing technology and change management initiatives to senior IT and business leadership

Merrill Lynch, London Feb/2007 - Feb/2008

IT Project Manager / Business Analyst (AVP)

IT Project Manager/ Business Analyst responsible for managing the relationship between IT and business stakeholders. Delivered the successful implementation of a Funds of Hedge Funds system and data warehouse solution to promote the Merrill Lynch hedge fund platform firm wide.

Led business analysis and implementation for a hedge fund management technology platform (~$25B AUM).

Designed and documented a global eBusiness platform covering commodity futures, foreign exchange, and fixed income instruments across Client Service, Marketing, and Trading.

Replaced daily spreadsheets into a workflow system, including the design of a new data model.

Ensuring daily product support, such as assistance resolving queries relating to positions, transactions, security master, classifications, reconciliations and P&L discrepancies.

Responsible for a new helpdesk website, daily reporting, and improvement of data to and from Administrator, Prime Broker and Trading Advisors.

Responsible for Senior Management Reporting in both US and UK.

Responsible for liaising with the business testers in both the UK and US, training the business on change management and release schedules.

Focal point of team which combined all the client facing groups including sales, accounting, legal and compliance.

IT Support Team Manager (Merrill Lynch India Technology) improving the Support procedures and the efficiency of the team and systems.

DST Global Solutions, London Apr/2000 – Feb/2007

Senior Front Office Implementation Consultant

Lead implementation consultant responsible for large scale implementations of software solutions to global asset managers. Successful implementation of HiInvest, HiPortfolio and DST Global Solutions web based systems across the EMEA, US and Asia Pacific regions.

Successful implementations include the roll out of Performance analysis including construction of Performance Modelling and Benchmarking data, Closed Market Processes, Risk & Attribution, Portfolio Management and Compliance modules.

Senior Consultant responsible for the implementation of Web Based Performance, Risk & Attribution System for UBS London. ($80m AUM)

Senior Consultant responsible for the implementation of HiInvest to Temasek, Singapore ($50m AUM)

Senior Consultant responsible for the implementation of HiPortfolio to Anthos Asset Management, Amsterdam ($25m)

Designated “hostile Client” Consultant responsible for project re-planning & re-scoping requirements where implementations have gone off plan.

Sales support including demonstrations and presentations of DST Global Solutions products to prospective clients.

Successful Implementation of the Front Office Trading System using FIX protocol 4.2 (Lead Implementation for DST) for major US fund manager.

Key Clients

Loomis Sayles, Natixis Investment Managers, UBS Wealth Management (London), T.Rowe Price (Baltimore, US), Anthos Asset Management (Amsterdam), CNP Assurances (Paris), Temasek (Singapore), KeyBank (Cleveland), State Street (Boston, US), UBS (New York, US), Fidelity (Boston, US), Fayez Sarofim (Houston, US), Merrill Lynch (London), Merrill Lynch (Budapest)

Knowledge

Charles River Investment Management Systems, Charles River Private Markets (aka Mercatus), Bloomberg AIM, InvestorTools Perform, Cadis, Netik Data Warehouse, FactSet, HIS MarkIT, Portia, Tableau, SSRS Reporting services, Sybase SQL Server, Clarity, Platinum Autosys, Agile/Scrum, SDLC, ITIL,

Education

2:1 Undergraduate degree with honours in Management with Banking and Finance

University of Wales, Bangor, United Kingdom

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