SEI names Kristie Edling-Day chief information officer, hiring from LPL

SEI has appointed Kristie Edling-Day, an LPL Financial advisor-technology executive, as chief information officer of the asset manager and RIA technology provider. SEI reported managing, advising or administering approximately $2.1 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter, according to WealthManagement.com's Oct. 15 report.

Edling-Day will report to CEO Ryan Hicke and oversee SEI's technology and product organization. Her remit covers digital transformation, platform modernization and cybersecurity governance, along with a multi-year technology roadmap whose investments Hicke said must align with business objectives, client needs and regulatory expectations. "The CIO role at SEI is more than a technology role; it is a strategy role, and it needs to be inextricably connected with both," he said.

Hicke said the hire gives SEI another lens on scaling, alongside a chief AI strategist already focused internally on building out AI. In June, SEI added the chief AI strategist title to Sneha Shah's responsibilities, which had included leading SEI Next, the firm's innovation unit; the same round of changes brought in Michael Tryniszewski as head of AI orchestration and William Coffey as chief data officer.

Edling-Day brings more than 20 years of technology and strategy experience spanning financial services, wealth management and enterprise transformation, according to the report. She most recently served as executive vice president and CIO for advisor technology and enterprise production operations at LPL Financial, where she led technology supporting approximately 32,000 financial advisors. Before LPL she spent 17 years at Vanguard in senior roles, including CIO of intermediary technology and chief product and information officer for financial advisor services.

In August, as PWD reported, LPL recruited Wells Fargo's technology chief, Jonathan Lewis, as its chief technology officer.

Edling-Day said in a prepared statement that she sees a meaningful opportunity to strengthen SEI's technology platforms, product capabilities and data governance. Those changes would help the firm operate with speed and resilience while delivering greater value to clients, she said.