PROFILE

From accountant to fund manager

Milford Asset Management CEO Mark Ryland’s constant focus on improvement has always been a driving force.

BY DANIEL SMITH

From a high-rise boardroom inside Milford Asset Management, CEO Mark Ryland gazes out at the Waitemata Harbour. Observing the calm, there is a quiet restlessness in his eyes.

This restlessness is what Ryland credits as the driving force behind his career success and is closely tied to what he tries to impart to the company he leads, “A restlessness to improve.”

Ryland’s career in finance began through a keen interest in mathematics leading him to become an accountant in the UK. Although he began in the banking sector Ryland quickly saw himself drawn in by the excitement of investment.

“I was working as an accountant for a large insurance company called Eagle Star which had a sister company called Allied Dunbar. Both companies had substantial investment wings and shortly after I joined, they decided to create a new business that could run all of the asset management functions for all of the group [of] companies.”

That company would become Threadneedle Asset Management, and it took over the care of the combined investment assets of Eagle Star and Allied Dunbar.

Soon after Threadneedle was formed, Ryland had an opportunity to come on board the fledgling investment group. “I was still using my accounting skills, but more in the space of the general operations of an investment manager. They were looking for somebody who knew Eagle Star, but who could go and work in Threadneedle and oversee the transitions.

“What I ended up doing in this period of my career was shifting from a pure technical accountant to branching out into broader fund management activities. Unit pricing, fund accounting, performance attribution. Slowly but surely I was getting deeper and deeper into how a fund management business actually runs. I began to develop much broader business and operational skills in a very fast growing company.”

As Ryland grew deeper into this role, the numbers-focused accountant became an intensely driven fund manager. When Ryland decided to make the move to this part of the globe he brought with him years of fund management and executive experience. He says, “Initially I joined a company called Guardian Trust. It was a more junior role than I had had at Threadneedle but it was a foot in the door in financial services in this part of the world.”

I think that the modern leader recognises that it is not about [them] at all, it’s about building a great team of people that can continue to drive a business forward long after you have gone

After a short stint of nine months, as luck would have it, ASB were looking to do a very similar transition to what had been achieved with Threadneedle. And as it happened the man with the ideal experience for the task had just moved to their neck of the woods.

“At ASB they had an investment team and at Sovereign, which was part of ASB at the time they also had a big investment team. And what they were looking to do was create ASB Group Investments that would pool the two internal teams together and create what I call a ‘centre of excellence’.”

For Ryland, this job was almost a case of “here we go again”. He found himself in a senior role in a newly formed group that effectively had to carve out a new business model from the cobbled together parts of the previous two groups. The growth of this new business came hard and fast for Ryland, “I started with a team of ten and ended up with a team of about 70 inside the space of two to three years.”

This saw Ryland again being part of a company navigating a fast period of growth, managing assets from multiple sources and attracting further assets in their own right.

The next major shift in Ryland’s career journey came in 2006 when he became the CEO of Aegis, which was at that time the largest wrap platform in New Zealand. Of that time Ryland says, “This was the first chance to actually lead a business as opposed to leading large divisions.”

The extra responsibility raised some questions for Ryland around the way that he worked, “I guess the big thing was that being an accountant at heart, I was thinking ‘Can I make the jump to thinking about possibilities of the future?’. You have to be careful that you don’t just sit there looking at things from a risk and control perspective. Companies need to grow, they need to have ideas, they need to have challenges. The big question in my head was ‘Could I make that transition?’.”

Once Ryland settled into his position he found that the adaptation was easier than he had thought. His previous experience leading businesses through fast, and often tumultuous transitions put him in a perfect position to flip things around from an operational perspective.

This change from operations into a leadership role came to play a big part in Ryland’s achievement of becoming the CEO of Milford. He joined the company in May 2014, as the manager of risk and compliance systems. His position put him right in the company’s central nervous system during an expansive period of growth. As one can note through Ryland’s career trajectory, fast paced periods of growth suit his skill set well and after a two year stint as Head of Product and Operations, in February 2019 Ryland became the CEO of Milford.

Ryland doesn’t credit this meteoric rise to himself. He says that what gave him the right experience to take on the role was “working with a lot of very talented people over the years, and having a very varied background”.

Ryland believes it is key for the leader of a company to have a clear idea of where they sit in the business, not to over-centralise themselves, but also not to underestimate their role.

“I think it is vital for a CEO to sit down and understand what the role is about. Things are very busy and it is easy to get into a state of constant doing. But just as vital is standing back and being veryvery clear about what you are bringing to that business, looking at your strengths and what you can directly contribute.”

When Ryland sits back and considers his own role he says, “To me the critical thing with a business is, ‘What is its purpose?’. I think that what great businesses wrap themselves around is ultimately their purpose. You can be doing a lot of things but you need to consider ‘Why are we here?’.”

This focus on purpose is a key element of the way that Ryland runs a business, and plays no small part in the way he approaches his leadership of Milford. “If you take Milford today, its purpose is to grow the wealth of our clients, while also making a positive contribution to the community. You have to have a passion around that purpose.”

For Ryland it is not enough to have a clear purpose, and a passion to see that purpose realised. He says that you also need to have a strategy that sees that purpose delivered in a way that respects the goals of the business.

“You need to have clarity from the top. ‘Why are we here?’, ‘What are we trying to do?’. I think that a lot of businesses just drift. If you have a purpose and a passion then the question for the business is not just ‘Can we function?’ it is “Can we be great?’.”

In his tenure as CEO of Milford, Ryland has certainly answered that question. 2020 has seen Milford pick up a swathe of awards including the INFINZ and Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year awards, the Canstar KiwiSaver of the Year award and Consumer NZ People’s Choice award.

Although Ryland has led Milford to award after award in a tumultuous year, he keeps his head squarely on his shoulders.

If you have a purpose and a passion then the question for the business is not just “Can we function?” it is “Can we be great?

“Without sounding too cynical I believe that if you, as a leader, get a great group of people around you, then they make you look good. You have got to get in your head that it is not about you. You are there to lead the orchestra and to get the right people in and get some great engagement, have some good discussions and to get things done.

“The old fashioned leader was all about them. I think that the modern leader recognises that it is not about [them] at all, it’s about building a great team of people that can continue to drive a business forward long after you have gone.”

But the point at which Milford will function without Ryland at the helm is a long way off. The CEO has big plans for the future. Digital advice aiding consumer education and bringing sections of the industry together to better serve their customers are two of them. And when Ryland speaks about these future plans that same restlessness enters his gaze. A