Boston Brahmin analyst (by way of Beirut) to lead FinMason team of in-house experts

After decades of serving as product manager, analyst and consultant at a roll call of Boston's most prestigious financial services firms, it took Maral Boyadjian just a matter of minutes to cast her lot with a quickly evolving analytics startup.

“I have been following FinMason for a while now," says Boyadjian, "and 10 minutes into my conversation with Kendrick, I knew FinMason was the right place for me."

She refers to CEO Kendrick Wakeman, who founded Boston-based FinMason in 2013. The firm calls itself the world’s largest independent investment analytics engine for financial services platforms. See: The T3 Enterprise Conference showed the dark side of the RIA software business in Vegas.

Boyadjian continues, in a statement: "It’s a young, innovative organization that lives and breathes investment analytics and client service. I am excited to help FinMason’s clients build great product."

In her new job, Boyadjian will lead a dedicated team of "subject-matter experts" called the FinMason Investment Analytics Consulting group, tasked with acting as a conduit between current and prospective clients and FinMason's data scientists explaining new data, analytics and industry trends. See: What exactly to make of PCR 'doubling' assets to $250B in an eye-blink amid Addepar's inescapable presence.

So far, Boyadjian is a team of one. Until she builds out the group she will draw upon the knowledge of the firm's in-house data scientists and its nine Ph.D.s.

Beirut, Boston strong

Starting in 1992, Boyadjian's resume lists State Street (where she was product manager, S&D pooled funds); Fidelity Investments (product manager, retirement managed accounts); Charles River Development (product development manager for investment software); and John Hancock subsidiary Independence Investments (managed $3 billion assets in international equities). She began her career at Loomis, Sayles & Company LP as a research associate covering G7 countries for advisory firms.  

Beantown bona fides notwithstanding, Boyadjian began her life more than 5,000 miles -- and a world away -- from the U.S. city.

"I was born in Beirut, Lebanon and after living in the war-torn country for the first 10 years of my life, migrating from place to place for our safety, we were finally able to leave Lebanon and settle here in Boston," she writes in an email.

Boyadjian is a longtime member of the Sayat Nova Dance Company, a non-profit, all-volunteer Armenian folk dance/theater organization founded in Boston in 1986.

No one's vendor

Wakeman says Boyadjian's hire serves notice that FinMason is moving beyond simply delivering analytics and into interpreting and tailoring the raw data to the needs of client firms.

“We don’t want to be anyone’s vendor. We want to be their trusted partner. We are doubling-down on our commitment to a consultative process and that means we will be delivering much more than just analytics. Implementation that is meaningful to the companies that we work with is just as important as the quality of the data and analytics that we provide."

In November 2016, we reported that Mark Hollingsworth left Riskalyze of Auburn, Calif. to join FinMason as its director of advisor solutions. See: How Aaron Klein plans to make Riskalyze the epicenter of the RIA business with $20 million of fresh private equity money. In January, Hollingsworth left FinMason to become RVP of Western States at TradePMR, a Gainesville, Fla. custodian. Hollingsworth is still an advisory member on the FinMason board of directors.

Mass communication

Prior to joining FinMason, Boyadjian spent two years consulting for Gerson Lehrman Group Ltd., a London-based research group. Previously, she served at the Boston office of Natixis Global Asset Management as VP Investment Strategy And Product Management for mutual funds and SMAs.

“Maral not only has a world-class knowledge base and a rigorous thought process, she can communicate that knowledge clearly and effectively to anyone, regardless of their level of sophistication," says Wakeman, in a statement.