Capital Group's Brian Ziedenberg is on a mission to improve people's lives through successful investing
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a teamwork, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
These words by legendary football coach Vince Lombardi are the driving force behind Brian Ziedenberg’s career. He followed this rule as an individual and as part of a team when he first started his career in investment management, and continues to apply its wisdom today, as manager of a team at Capital Group.
“As I ventured into more of a leadership manager role, I remembered a very sage old senior leader in the industry telling me, if your team succeeds, you will succeed,” he says. “This always stays in my head. It’s about the team and we all go forward together.”
Ziedenberg joined Capital Group in 2017 and his current position is senior vice-president of institutional and national accounts for Capital Group Canada. He has 18 years of industry experience, previously working at TD Asset Management where he led the strategic alliances and national accounts team and managed several large institutional relationships. Before that, he was director of strategic accounts at AGF Investments and worked in a sales and consulting role at Morningstar Canada.
During his 20-year tenure, he says he was fortunate to build his skills alongside some of the industry’s top leaders. This period served as a rich learning experience, providing a solid foundation for the opportunities and challenges that were ahead.
Learning from the best
“I was able to work alongside some of the most talented individuals in the industry, both in investment management and in client-facing roles,” he says. “In 2017, I joined Capital Group, and this is a company that I've admired and respected for many years. They were looking to build out both their national accounts and institutional business. It was a great fit.”
Ziedenberg now has a team of six and, together, they work with some of the largest institutional plans in Canada including defined contribution (DC) platforms, consultants, pension plans, foundations, and endowments.
“In my current role, I head up both the national accounts and an institutional team, manage the sales teams based in Toronto (ON) and Montreal (QC), and we have some sales support individuals in Los Angeles (CA) which I manage as well.
“I am responsible for the strategy and implementation of solutions for both national accounts and institutional and focus to ensure the team has everything they need to succeed in terms of resources, marketing, operations, compliance, and product.
“We're also starting to find traction and success by coordinating and collaborating with our global institutional team around the world.”
Ziedenberg says the best part of his work at Capital Group is helping people. “We have a very defined mission which is important, and that is to improve people's lives through successful investing. Everyone on the team is aware of this mission and works towards this goal.”
He also enjoys building relationships with clients, which is another valuable part of his role.
“From an initial client meeting to implementation, the institutional business has a very long sales cycle,” he says. “It could be three to four years, so we build that relationship from the beginning and watch it mature. We like to see how initial ideas grow and resonate with clients.
“It's very rewarding to finally get that phone call from an institutional client or consultant to say that we’ve been awarded the mandate. I like watching the team’s reaction, the smiles and the gratification that all this hard work from those three to four years has paid off.”
Don’t be everything to everyone
The institutional space is constantly evolving and there are a lot of new products and solutions coming to market. Ziedenberg says that for the past 90 years, Capital Group has been focused on bottom-up fundamental research and active management.
“We have managed successfully through many different cycles and market conditions. We're not trying to be everything to everyone. We are very focused on institutional clients, consultants, and pension plans and they are starting to understand we are very proficient and laser focused on active management. That is our sweet spot.
“And, while that's where we thrive, we can’t offer the asset classes that every institutional client wants.
“So, as allocation to other asset classes such as alternatives and private equity grows, we have to remain very skilled at active management because that is a large allocation of institutional portfolios."
Ziedenberg says he is inspired by focusing on improving the lives of investors and being part of a successful team. “Working at Capital Group and applying the 20 years of experience that I've had with this brand gets me excited each and every day. Capital Group has a unique culture where bringing your true self and diverse perspective is encouraged. We believe our differences make us better and it helps us support our clients and their diverse needs.”
As per Lombardi’s famous words, Ziedenberg continues to make an individual commitment to a group effort. He hopes his professional legacy will show he was part of an organization that is focused on improving the lives of hardworking Canadians by helping them plan for retirement and puting their kids through university. “With all the client engagements we were involved with as an investor, if we enriched people’s lives by getting them access to a Capital Group strategy through a pension plan, that puts a smile on my face. I hope to be remembered by how I approached my work and how I collaborated with colleagues and clients, with humility, honesty, hard work, and humour.”
