Morgan Stanley India | Global Stewardship Team, Vice President, Investment Management

Key responsibilities

• This senior leadership role combines end-to-end oversight of MSIM's global proxy voting operations with responsibility for helping to build a scalable in-house proxy research capability.
• The role will lead operational delivery, controls, data quality, vendor and platform management, and continuous improvement across the voting lifecycle, while partnering closely with stewardship, investment, legal, compliance, risk, operations and technology teams.
• The role requires a hands-on individual who can manage day-to-day delivery, lead, coach and develop team members, exercise sound judgement on complex issues and help design the people, processes, data and technology capabilities required for the future.
• Manage relationships with custodians, sub-custodians, voting agents and data providers; oversee service reviews, platform configurations, testing, issue remediation, contractual obligations and vendor performance.
• Lead process improvement and automation initiatives, translating business requirements into scalable workflows and partnering with technology and data teams through design, testing, implementation and post-launch review.
• Develop factual, policy-based analytical frameworks and research outputs that support independent voting decisions and consistent application of MSIM's proxy voting policies across markets.
• Assess, select and integrate relevant governance data, issuer disclosures, voting history, analytics and technology tools, including appropriately controlled use of automation, natural-language processing and generative AI.
• Maintain a robust voting history and rationale repository to support institutional memory, consistency, management information, client reporting and future analytics.
• Lead the end-to-end global proxy voting operating model, ensuring timely, accurate and controlled ballot receipt, meeting and agenda processing, vote instruction, transmission, confirmation, reconciliation, record-keeping and reporting.
• Direct day-to-day delivery across the proxy operations team, including peak-season capacity planning, workload allocation, quality assurance, issue resolution, training and performance support.
• Act as the senior escalation point for operational exceptions, including missing or rejected ballots, record-date and position breaks, split-vote requirements, share-blocking and power-of-attorney markets, late instructions and platform outages.
• Partner with portfolio managers, stewardship colleagues, legal, compliance and risk teams to manage conflicts, sensitive or complex votes and market-specific requirements, ensuring decisions and escalations are appropriately documented.
• Own the operational control framework, including procedures, service-level standards, key risk and performance indicators, reconciliations, exception reporting, audit trails, business continuity and support for internal or external reviews.
• Help define the target research operating model, including market coverage, analyst responsibilities, research standards, policy mapping, quality-review processes, decision documentation and knowledge management.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading a complex operational function or material change programme, with accountability for delivery, controls, risk management and senior stakeholder engagement.
• Deep understanding of the institutional proxy voting lifecycle, global custody chain, market practices and leading voting platforms such as ProxyExchange, ProxyEdge or equivalent systems.
• Strong knowledge of operational controls, data governance, data quality, exception management and the translation of complex business requirements into scalable processes and technology solutions.
• Sound understanding of corporate governance and the ability to interpret and apply voting policies across different markets, ownership structures and agenda types.
• Proven people leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, make decisions under tight deadlines and explain complex issues clearly.
• Undergraduate degree in Finance, Economics, Law, Business, Accounting or a related discipline from a recognised institution.
• Direct experience of governance and proxy voting in India and broader Asia-Pacific markets, together with exposure to the US, UK or Continental Europe.
• Experience building an in-house research capability, transitioning between voting or research providers, or implementing a new stewardship operating model.
• Familiarity with governance and market-data platforms, research databases, workflow tools and analytics or visualisation technologies.
• Knowledge of proxy solicitation, activist campaigns, contested director elections, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation or shareholder proposals.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm founded in New York in 1935, known for investment banking, sales and trading, wealth management and investment management.

Its teams in India support the firm's global businesses. For chartered accountants this means corporate controllers, external reporting, regulatory reporting, tax and risk roles.

• Industry: Investment banking, wealth and investment management
• Headquarters: New York, USA
• In India: Teams in Mumbai and Bengaluru supporting global businesses