SEI Women's Network

27 #HERSTORY We asked Natalie Peters, an SWN board member and Relationship Manager, Family Office Services for SEI Archway to give us her thoughts on what it's like to be part of an acquisition and how she has navigated becoming part of SEI. Natalie, you worked for Archway for four months before the acquisition and have now been part of SEI for almost six years. When you first heard about the SEI/ Archway partnership, be honest, what was the first thing that entered your mind? I honestly thought, "What the heck?!" I had spent most of my career in the hedge fund world, which is privately owned and very entrepreneurial. You are not answering to shareholders, you only answer to the owner, so the decision-making process can be very different from a publicly traded company. Archway had a very similar environment to my previous jobs so I was initially worried about how the acquisition would change the culture. What were your most burning questions about SEI other than, "Where is Oaks, PA?" I was not familiar with SEI at all. I was not only wondering where is Oaks, PA, but also what is SEI. Why did they acquire Archway, and honestly, what does that mean for me and my role, and what will happen to the people I work with (as I really liked them, more than any other job I had thus far!)? As Archway became part of SEI, did your role change and if so, how did you approach managing that change? My title didn't change, but the day to day did over time, as we needed to get familiar with SEI, what they do, how we can help, and how they can help us. In my previous role as the Director of Investor Relations, I spent a lot of time working with other groups in SEI trying to integrate processes. I just tried to do the best I could. Sometimes it felt overwhelming, but I liked the challenge of it for sure. Ultimately, my day to day changed entirely, as I took another opportunity at FOS as a Relationship Manager. While that was not because of the acquisition, had it not been for the acquisition, that role/ opportunity would not have existed at FOS. This takes me back to what I really love to do— interact with clients. What was it like going from a company of approximately 130 Archway employees (at the time of acquisition) to a company of more than 4,000? It was not as big of a transition as you might think, and my point of view is that is because we are based in Indianapolis. In some ways, we still operate as the same 130+ person company, so I think that probably helped ease the transition. The positives I have found are that there are a lot more resources for everything—which is great. I'm not just talking about the everyday work and human resources, training, etc., I'm also talking about all the affinity groups that SEI offers. A small company cannot do those things. Getting involved in SWN was one of the best things I have done, because it allowed me to meet a lot of amazing, ambitious women from across the company who are doing great work. It also allowed me to feel more connected to the Oaks office as I got to build relationships with these women (and men!) as opposed to having more transactional interactions, when we are all just trying to get things done. You mentioned joining the SWN board and you've been a board member for two years now. How do you think that experience has contributed to you feeling like you are truly a part of SEI? As I mentioned above, for me it has been one of the best things I have done both personally and professionally. One final (and hopefully fun) question … what was your first impression of, and what is your favorite thing about the Oaks campus? I actually spent a lot of time in Oaks prior to the pandemic—a lot—like multiple trips a year. The campus is impressive for sure. Frankly, my favorite thing is the little snack stands everywhere—so it is probably a good thing I am not there every day!

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