William Y. Yun, an industry veteran with four decades of experience, has rejoined Fiduciary Trust International as a senior advisor, the New York City-headquartered company said.
In his new role with Fiduciary Trust, Yun will be based in Palm Beach, Fla., where he will seek to drive and support the company’s growth in the South Florida region. He reports to Gene Todd, head of regional markets at Fiduciary Trust International.
“Bill is a class act who is deeply embedded in our history and culture, and we are thrilled to be able to work with him again,” Todd said in a news release. “He has a long track record of driving growth across our organization. It is a testament to Bill, and to our firm, that he has chosen to continue his four-decade career with us—focusing on our ongoing expansion in South Florida, a key region for our business.”
Yun received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a M.B.A. degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Society New York. He is a trustee of the China Medical Board and serves on the President’s Advisory Council of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. He was previously a trustee of the Commonwealth Fund in New York.
A financial services industry veteran with over four decades of experience, Yun worked in both asset management and investment banking at Blyth Eastman Paine Webber, First Boston, and CB Commercial Holdings before joining Fiduciary Trust International in 1992. He served as a portfolio manager for eight years before rising to executive vice president in charge of the firm’s global equity division. In 2000, he was promoted to president of Fiduciary Trust International, headquartered in the World Trade Center.
On September 11, 2001, his rise to Fiduciary’s executive suite nearly came to an end, but for an early morning business meeting that may have saved his life, said Yun.
“At 6:30 a.m., I was in our office on the 94th floor of 2 World Trade Center, but left at 7:30 a.m. to meet with a client outside the city,” he said in an email.
Fiduciary’s offices were located on the 92nd through 97th floors of the south tower. At that time, the firm’s 650 employees would typically be arriving for work. But on that day, workers had instead started making their way to the building’s ground level after the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 struck the neighboring north tower at 8:46 a.m. Less than an hour later, at 9:59 a.m., the south tower collapsed, killing more than 800 people in and around the building.
Only five months before the attacks, mutual fund firm Franklin Templeton, headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., had acquired Fiduciary Trust—a 70-year-old asset manager catering to high-net worth clients and institutional investors—for $825 million.
Yun said in the email that the attacks of 9/11 have forever changed his life, as well as the way he does business.
“I was fortunate to be part of a tightly knit organization where employees take responsibility and care for one another, which has in large part contributed to who I am today,” he said.
Although Yun left Fiduciary in 2005 to join Franklin Templeton, he has continued to serve as a member of Fiduciary Trust International’s board of directors since 2000, he said. Upon joining Franklin Templeton, Yun has served in a variety of leadership roles, including president of Franklin Templeton Institutional, president of Franklin Templeton’s Alternatives business, and most recently, head of advisory and wealth strategy of Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. In 2016, he briefly returned to Fiduciary as interim CEO. This time, however, the return will be on a permanent basis.
“I’ve built strong relationships and networks in the investment industry over the years,” he said. “I plan to work with the local teams at Fiduciary Trust International to further expand those connections.”
Asked if the industry had become any more or less competitive since leaving Fiduciary Trust, Yun indicated that while some things had changed, others had not.
“The expansion of investment capabilities, sophistication of advice, and advancement of technology continue to drive competition in the industry, but they need to be fully integrated to provide the most value to both current and prospective clients,” he said in the email. “This is something that Fiduciary Trust International does really well.”
Financial Advisor asked Yun what Fiduciary Trust will offer prospective clients in the South Florida market, well known in the industry as a hub for an international clientele.
“We have local teams on the ground with experience and experience in cross-border planning,” he said in the email. “With demographic shifts and the ongoing migration of transplants from across the United States due to the state’s business-friendly policies, however, we see a tremendous opportunity to serve clients across a broader spectrum, including family offices, foundations and endowments, and as the investor’s investor. Our local specialist teams and personalized approach to planning is a competitive advantage within the marketplace.”
