Alan Woods

After 25+ years at Vanguard, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Aegon Transamerica, the through-line of my career is the infrastructure underneath investment products: fund administration, fund accounting, financial reporting, and the finance leadership that holds it together.

I've built that infrastructure on both sides of the Atlantic — and on top of it sits full CFO/Controller capability: close, FP&A, treasury, and internal controls.

As a dual U.S./EU citizen fluent in English and Portuguese, I can lead fund operations under U.S. GAAP and SEC rules or Luxembourg's CSSF/UCITS framework — and connect the two.

WHAT I DELIVER

• Built a Luxembourg UCITS platform end-to-end for a $60B asset manager — SICAV and ManCo formation, domiciliation, CSSF authorization, and 15+ counterparty agreements generating $8M annual revenue; $2B in assets, 12-month launch
• Scaled fund accounting operations from $5B to $35B AUM
• Directed reporting and compliance for $80B iShares platform — 215 products, N-CSR/N-PORT filings, 100% on-time
• Redesigned fund financial reporting: 50% efficiency gain, Morningstar "A" rating
• Reduced monthly close from 15 to 9 days; $1.4M+ annual savings through vendor optimization
• Built and led teams of 35+ across 7 countries
• Directed SOX and internal controls assessments across U.S., UK, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil

CORE EXPERTISE

• Fund Services: Fund Administration • Fund Accounting • NAV Controls • Expense Management • Regulatory Filings
• Regulatory: CSSF • UCITS/SICAV • SEC • SOX • Multi-Jurisdictional
• Finance Leadership: CFO/Controller • Close • Reporting • FP&A • Treasury
• Systems: Fund platforms (Investran, Multifonds, FIS InvestOne, Advent Geneva) • ERP & EPM (Dynamics 365, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Hyperion)

WHAT I'M SEEKING

• Head of Fund Administration and fund services leadership roles — third-party fund administrators, ManCos, asset servicers (U.S., Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal)
• CFO or Controller — investment management, financial services, and mid-market companies across industries
• Client director and relationship management roles within fund services
• Board and advisory engagements (audit, governance) — selectively

U.S. | EU Citizen | Portuguese (C1)

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Built and launched a CSSF-approved Luxembourg SICAV/UCITS platform for a $60B asset manager as Managing Director; negotiated 15+ counterparty agreements generating $8M annual revenue.
• Scaled fund accounting operations from $5B to $35B AUM over seven years (Aegon Transamerica).
• Redesigned a financial reporting platform, cutting cycle time 50%, improving audit accuracy 95%, and saving $500K in year one; achieved Morningstar “A” rating.
• Led teams through consecutive years of clean Big-4 and SEC audits with zero findings across multiple organisations.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ApexVista Asset Management, LLC | Tampa, Florida, USA | 2024 – 2025 Founder & Managing Principal

Founded a boutique real estate co-investment platform covering investment execution and financial management.

• Completed two full-lifecycle value-add residential transactions from acquisition through exit, generating $825K in revenue, including a 48-hour sale on the final disposition.

Crosstree Capital Partners | Tampa, Florida, USA | 2023 – 2024

Vice President of Finance & Chief Compliance Officer, Board Member

Recruited to build CFO-level financial infrastructure for a private-capital M&A advisory firm.

• Built FP&A, financial reporting, and broker-dealer regulatory reporting infrastructure from the ground up.

• Oversaw fund administration for Crosstree Capital Fund I, LP, a Delaware private equity fund (Reg D 506(b), 3(c)(1)), including administrator relationship management, capital calls and distributions, LP reporting, and K-1 tax reporting.

• Delivered quarterly board reporting on financial performance, risk, and strategy, with audit-committee-level oversight and executive compensation involvement.

• Implemented a cloud-based financial reporting platform, cutting the month-end close from 15 to 9 days.

• Optimised treasury operations for a $12M budget, reducing idle cash 18%. Position eliminated in a firm-wide restructuring.

Independent Consulting | USA & International | 2014 – 2023

Controller & Finance Transformation Consultant

Delivered financial operations improvements, ERP implementations, and internal controls frameworks for Fortune 50–1000 firms across investment management, insurance, and asset management sectors.

• Aegon Transamerica ($300B+ AUMA) — improved forecast accuracy 35% and identified $3.2M in cost savings via vendor consolidation and process automation; redesigned chart of accounts with automated journal-entry processing.

• Barings Securities LLC — reengineered client lifecycle and onboarding processes supporting private equity real estate operations.

Franklin Templeton Investments | California & Florida, USA | 2011 – 2013

Director of Marketing Operations (Global)

Led a 35-person team across seven countries ($12M budget) for accuracy and distribution of financial marketing collateral across a $900B investment management firm. • Reduced time-to-market from 5 days to 1 day for 90% of deliverables; achieved 20% cost savings while growing headcount 50% through reorganisation into low-cost centres of excellence.

BlackRock, Inc. | San Francisco, California, USA | 2009 – 2011

Director of Finance, iShares ETF Platform

Oversaw financial reporting, fund accounting, fund operations, and regulatory compliance for $80B AUM across 215 investment products; managed a $6M budget and team of 25. • Delivered $1.4M in annual savings through vendor renegotiation and process optimisation. • Led SOX disclosure controls assessments with zero audit findings; produced SEC filings (N-CSR, N-Q) with 100% on-time compliance.

Aegon Transamerica Asset Management | Luxembourg & USA | 1992 – 2002

Managing Director, Transamerica International (Luxembourg) / VP, Global Business Development | 2000 – 2002

Expatriate executive assignment establishing the group’s Luxembourg investment management presence.

• Established a Luxembourg SICAV (UCITS) and management company (ManCo) serving high-net-worth investors and family offices ($2B in multigenerational assets); secured CSSF regulatory approval and delivered a 12-month launch.

• Negotiated service agreements with 15+ European counterparties generating $8M annual revenue; authored a 5-year European expansion plan supporting €50M capital investment.

• Managed CSSF, ALFI, legal counsel, and tax advisor relationships on behalf of the U.S. parent; served on the Investment Company Institute’s Global Development Committee.

Director of Finance | 1992 – 1999

Led fund administration, fund accounting, compliance, expense management, and tax operations.

• Scaled fund accounting operations from $5B to $35B AUM over seven years (IDEX Mutual Funds, later Transamerica Funds).

• Redesigned the financial reporting platform (spreadsheets to database), achieving a Morningstar “A” rating, 50% efficiency gain, 95% accuracy improvement, and $500K first-year savings; reduced annual fund expenses $1M through budget controls and vendor optimisation.

• Managed audits and SEC examinations with consecutive clean opinions.

EARLIER CAREER The Vanguard Group — Senior Fund Accountant, 1987 – 1992.

Management Consulting — Senior Manager, 2003 – 2009.

EDUCATION

• MBA, Global Management, University of Phoenix

• BSc, Finance, Saint Joseph’s University

TECHNICAL SKILLS

ERP & Financial Systems: Dynamics 365, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Hyperion, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Fund Accounting Platforms: Investran, Multifonds, FIS InvestOne, Advent Geneva FP&A & Reporting: Fathom, Datarails, Reach Reporting, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Advanced Excel Additional Applications: Salesforce, HubSpot, MS Project, MS Visio, Python (collaborative exposure)

PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS & MEMBERSHIPS

FINRA Licenses (previous): Series 7, Series 63; Series 14 (candidate) • Investment Company Institute (ICI) – Former Committee Member • Association of Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) – Industry participant