Episode summary
Check Your Title at the Door: Lori McEvoy on Building a Winning Distribution Team
Dakota Rainmaker Podcast
· · 28 min · Hosts: Gui Costin · Guests: Lori McEvoy
Summary
Lori McEvoy traces her path from a fourth of five children in Malvern, Pennsylvania, to senior distribution roles across Pilgrim Baxter, WisdomTree, ClearBridge, Fred Alger, and Jennison. She says she entered asset management almost by accident, learned the business from the bottom up, and stayed long enough at Pilgrim Baxter to rise from administrative assistant to equity partner. That experience shaped her view that distribution leadership is built through exposure, repetition, and strong teams rather than title alone.
A central theme is alignment: Lori says her first boss rejected the idea of focusing on an asset goal and instead emphasized executing the daily plan, because AUM would follow. She describes her leadership style as servant leadership and says she looks for four traits in sales hires: passion, team orientation, low ego, and a relentless desire to improve. She also argues that good distribution organizations are built on culture, clear decision-making, and hiring people who want to be part of a winning franchise.
The conversation returns repeatedly to systems and leverage. Lori calls CRM the backbone of a company, says Salesforce should hold the truth about activity and performance, and believes that if information is not in the CRM, it “never happened.” Looking ahead, she is relaunching Investment Management Solutions to help managers with distribution, mentoring, and strategic planning, while also expanding her philanthropic work.
Key takeaways
- Lori McEvoy says distribution success starts with daily execution, not obsessing over an AUM target.
- She says she hires for passion, team-first behavior, low ego, and continuous improvement.
- Lori argues that Salesforce and CRM discipline are essential because if it is not in the system, it never happened.
- She believes distribution is a team sport and that firms need the right people, processes, and culture to win globally.
- Lori is relaunching Investment Management Solutions to advise asset managers on sales, distribution, and talent planning.
Notable quotes
“if you do the right things day in and day out and you focus on the tactics of your plan and you execute against those every single day, AUM will follow”
“I wanted people better than me. And playing sports teams like, okay, one a great talent will elevate the whole group”
“my philosophy is if it's not inside the CRM, and you've number of your speakers have said this, it never happened”
“I think you want to surround yourself with people who are like that, who team first, passionate and want to continually improve”
“I just want to be on a good team”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Rainmaker podcast with your host Gee Custin. The goal of this podcast is to give listeners a unique look into sales strategies from top industry executives. We introduce you to the heads of sales and heads of distribution who will help you understand the inner workings of the successful sales organizations from philosophy to execution.
This podcast is essential for sales professionals seeking wisdom from the best in the field. If you're not familiar with Dakota and their Dakota Rainmaker content, please check out dakota.com to learn more about their services.
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Visit dakota.com/dakota-marketplace today. What is up everybody? It's Gee Custin, founder and CEO of Dakota.
Welcome to the latest episode of the Rainmaker podcast. I'm so excited to be joined by my long-time friend Lori McAvoy. Lori, welcome.
Thank you, Gee. Thanks for having me. — Lori McAvoy is a recently retired financial services executive and global business leader. Nearly a decade at Jennison Associates culminated in Ms. McAvoy's retirement as managing director and global head of distribution. In that capacity, she oversaw the firm's worldwide sales and client service organization, providing strategic leadership for its global institutional sales and relationship management, marketing, and consultant relations teams.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- distribution leadership
- sales organization building
- crm and salesforce
- ai call notes
- mentorship and philanthropy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Jennison Associates
- Pilgrim Baxter
- Fred Alger Management
- WisdomTree Investments
- ClearBridge Investments
- Salesforce
- Dakota Marketplace
- AmeriCares
Watch the episode
Watch “Check Your Title at the Door: Lori McEvoy on Building a Winning Distribution Team” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Dakota Rainmaker Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Dakota Team. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
