Women to Watch: Jen Wing, CIO of GeoWealth

This is the fourth in a series of articles appearing each Monday in March celebrating Women to Watch in the ETF industry.

Jen Wing, the chief investment officer and head of investment solutions at GeoWealth, has a long history in the exchange-traded fund industry. With a promising career ahead, she also represents the future of asset management and ETF model portfolios.

Wing’s career was launched as the ETF universe's massive expansion started.  

“I was first introduced to ETFs while working on the due diligence team at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank in 2009 when Schwab launched its commission-free ETFs," Wing wrote in an email interview.

At that time, she was mostly dedicated to fund-of-fund portfolio management; however, Wing became involved in ETF due diligence as the industry took off.

“I vividly remember when ETFs hit $1 trillion in 2010," she said. "Today, there are over 12,000 ETFs listed globally with assets under management of around $13 trillion.”

Today, Wing is responsible for overseeing the management of investment portfolios at GeoWealth, the Chicago-based turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) with $32 billion on its platform.

She leads the investment solutions suite, which includes the firm’s ETF model portfolios, as well as enterprise consulting and investment research for registered investment advisors who build their own models on the GeoWealth platform.

ETFs, Mutual Funds and Private Equity

Looking to the future of ETFs, Wing believes that they will continue to take market share from mutual funds, particularly in the rising and innovative private equity ETF space.

She anticipates that exchange-traded funds are going to become even more interesting than they are today with the new developments GeoWealth is working on, including the ability to combine ETFs with semi-liquid private markets in the same account.

“With so many active and passive ETFs available, they offer a valuable source of liquidity within a comprehensive portfolio,” Wing said.  

Women, the Future of ETFs and Beyond

Women are essential for any firm that wants to succeed in the ETF and broader wealth industry, with numerous studies showing that having women at the helm creates better financial outcomes, more innovation and greater talent retention.

“What is most interesting to me is that women are quickly becoming a larger client base. According to recent Cerulli reports, women are on track to control significantly more assets through 2048, with trillions of dollars projected to shift into the hands of women,” Wing said.

As women step into this expanded pool of wealth, they will be seeking professional management and guidance.

“I’d argue more often than not, women will be interested in allocating their dollars to female wealth managers and financial professionals,” Wing said.

Jen Wing’s contribution to advancing women’s presence in ETFs clearly comes through her leadership in an investment role at a fast-growing firm with a vision of hiring qualified women and mentoring women throughout the industry.

“I take every opportunity to use my voice and be visible as a way to show the industry that women can—and will—continue to succeed in asset management, and that the industry cannot succeed without women.”