Five Questions With: Margo Cook

MARGO COOK, president of Nuveen Advisory Services, said millennials are much more interested in socially and environmentally responsible investing than previous generations. / COURTESY NUVEEN

As president of Nuveen Advisory Services, Margo Cook leads the company’s global client organization, overseeing product, marketing and distribution for the firm, which has nearly $1 trillion in assets under management. Based in Chicago, Nuveen is an investments-management firm and a subsidiary of TIAA, or Teachers Insurance and Annuity.

At Nuveen, Cook leads the firm’s strategy to deliver consultative, outcome-focused advice and investments solutions to clients worldwide, with responsibility for the Nuveen Solutions Team. Before TIAA acquired Nuveen in 2014 for $6.3 billion, she served as co-president of Nuveen Investments. She joined the firm in 2008. Before that, Cook led the global institutional-investment organization at Bear Stearns Asset Management, where she was responsible for the equity and fixed-income investment teams, product management and institutional clients. Prior to that, she held various senior investment leadership roles at BNY Mellon for more than 20 years.

Cook holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Rhode Island and an executive master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University. She serves on the Executive Committee of the University of Rhode Island Foundation’s board of trustees and was the keynote speaker at URI’s recent Career Day.

 

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PBN: As keynote speaker at URI’s recent Career Day, what was the message you wanted to get across to students?

COOK: I wanted to convey just how rewarding and fulfilling a career in investment management has been for me and how URI gave me a head start in my professional life. I also spoke about the importance of finance and investing in our world.

My company, Nuveen, is entrusted to invest nearly $1 trillion on behalf of millions of people and institutions around the world to provide them with steady income and returns over long periods of time for things [such as] funding retirement or paying for college. The industry has a great responsibility to make a difference in the lives of billions of people, which is something I believe has great appeal to young people starting out in their careers.

I also talked about how this is a fascinating time to begin a career in investment management as the industry is rapidly changing. The next generation, millennials, have proven to be very different investors than their parents, and even their grandparents. They are as interested in making the world a better place through their investments as they are in earning a competitive return. The industry has offered responsible investment or environmental-, social- and governance-themed investment products for decades, but they were historically viewed as niche or fringe products.

Today, however, with millennials leading the charge, demand has grown rapidly. Our research found that 92 percent of millennials would put all their savings in products that aim to invest responsibly – a major increase from just a few years ago. The field continues to grow and evolve, and soon most money invested around the world will likely have some connection to responsible or ESG themes. I think that’s exciting and one of the many attractive reasons starting a career in investment management now offers tremendous opportunity.

PBN: You have advocated for women in the financial-services field. Why have you felt that is needed?

COOK: The industry has room to improve in terms of retaining and promoting women. The numbers show that women enter the industry at a similar rate compared to other industries but by mid-career, the number of females working in financial services dramatically trails off.

The industry has also grown significantly over the last few decades, but women’s participation has not kept pace with this growth. It is critical for us to fix this, because improving gender diversity makes investment decision-making better, and because women are a key client demographic that hasn’t always been served as well as it should.

Women control a significant and growing amount of wealth around the world. While an estimated 15 [percent] to 25 percent of financial advisers are women, women control an estimated $14 trillion, or 51 percent, of wealth in the U.S. Research shows that most financial advisers view serving the specific needs of women as a very low priority.

PBN: You have maintained strong ties to URI through the years. What have you hoped to accomplish in doing that?

COOK: URI and Rhode Island are special to me for many reasons. URI launched my career and I feel it is my responsibility to give back by helping the students prepare for careers. As the state university, URI is a critical engine for the economic growth and development for Rhode Island, a place that I love and spend a lot of time in.

I’m a member of the Executive Committee of the University of Rhode Island Foundation board of trustees, which is charged with raising and managing private donations to support the university. I also spend a lot of time in South County each summer and plan to retire there someday with plans to continue to help URI and its students.

PBN: As president of advisory services for Nuveen, what has been your long-term mission, apart from your daily duties?

COOK: I have sought to address what I call the “10-year cliff” for women in our industry. It seems that after working in the financial-services industry for a decade, the number of female employees falls dramatically. I’ve been an advocate for improving retention of female employees at my company and in the industry. I have a strong network in the industry and we support each other.

I’m a strong believer in sponsorships rather than mentorships for helping young women in their careers. There is a difference. Sponsors take an active interest in helping someone achieve their career goals, whereas a mentor is more of an adviser. A sponsor can be male or female – gender isn’t as critical as having someone actively in your corner, advocating for you.

PBN: During your career, what would you say have been the most impactful changes that have taken place in your field?

COOK: Investors are much better educated today than they were a few decades ago, when 401(k)s became the primary retirement savings vehicle for most people. Early in that evolution, many investors were mainly concerned with investing in hot products, individual stocks, or with chasing the best performing funds.

Today, people are much savvier. Rather than trying to maximize their returns through risky approaches, they are working toward achieving their own personal goals, such as saving enough to fund their retirements. Many more people today understand the importance of diversification in a portfolio, the trade-off between risk and return among various investments, the impact of fees on returns, and the value of advice.

Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.

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