Office address: 1 Congress Street, Suite 1, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Website: ssga.com
Year established: 1978
Company type: financial services
Employees: 2,500+ (SSGA)
Expertise: asset management, ETFs, index funds, active strategies, retirement solutions, fixed income, equity, multi-asset, sustainable investing, risk management
Parent company: State Street Corporation
Key people: Yie-Hsin Hung (CEO), Lori Heinel (EVP), Jennifer Bender (global chief investment strategist), Olivia Engel (department head), Daniel Farley, Michael Solecki, and Matthew Steinaway (chief investment officers)
Financing status: corporation
State Street is an asset manager based in Boston, with about $5.5 trillion in assets. The firm offers ETFs, mutual funds, cash solutions, and investment strategies for institutional, professional, and individual investors. It is known for creating the first US ETF in 1993 and serves clients worldwide through its global scale and experience.
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is now called State Street Investment Management, which this profile will explore in detail.
State Street began in 1978 as the investment arm of State Street Bank. The firm first focused on equity index and cash solutions for institutional clients, including financial institutions and corporate pensions. Over time, it expanded its expertise and client base, which built a reputation for reliability and scale.
The 1980s brought new opportunities as the company attracted non-profits, insurance providers, and official institutions. The company soon added active quantitative strategies to better serve its growing list of clients. By the end of the decade, it had:
A turning point came in 1993 with the launch of the first US exchange-traded fund, in partnership with the American Stock Exchange. This new product made investing more accessible for many people and set the stage for more innovation.
The firm later introduced the first US mid-cap ETF, sector ETFs, and Asia ex-Japan’s first ETF. This showed a commitment to expanding investment options.
The 2000s and 2010s saw the company list ETFs in Europe and Australia and partner with the World Gold Council to launch the first US gold-backed ETF. In 2017, State Street commissioned the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street, which became a symbol of women’s leadership and sparked global attention.
In recent years, it has formed partnerships with firms like Nuveen and Bridgewater to open new markets and increase access. In 2025, it rebranded from State Street Global Advisors to State Street Investment Management to reflect its growth and strategic goal.
That same year, State Street took a minority stake in Apex Fintech Solutions. The partnership will help develop a digital, globally scalable custody and clearing solution for advisors and clients.
State Street Investment Management offers a wide range of investment products and services for institutional, professional, and individual investors:
State Street Investment Management also offers tailored strategies, risk management tools, and global investment access. Its scale and experience help clients find solutions for a range of investment goals.
State Street says that its culture centers on collaboration and supporting employee growth through training and resources. The firm states that it aims to provide a forward-looking, employee-focused environment where people can build their skills and explore new paths.
State Street also highlights a range of benefits for staff and their families:
State Street values the unique perspectives of over 50,000 colleagues worldwide and promotes a culture of belonging. The company states that talent decisions are based on skills and experience, supporting equal opportunities in all global roles.
Yie-Hsin Hung is the president and CEO of State Street Investment Management. Before joining the firm, Hung was CEO at New York Life Investment Management, a global investment company. She holds an MBA from Harvard and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University.
The global investment team leads State Street Investment Management with deep experience and specialized roles:
The leadership team brings global perspective and local insight into every decision. Their expertise helps drive the firm’s investment approach and client outcomes.
State Street Corporation appointed Joerg Ambrosius as president of Investment Services in 2024 to sharpen its client focus. The company expects his leadership to improve operations and strategy for clients in its largest business. The company sees this step as key to future growth and client value.
In 2025, SSGA launched the SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF (PRIV), giving retail investors new access to private credit markets. The fund uses a partnership with Apollo Global Management to address liquidity concerns and blends public and private investment-grade credit. This innovation may shape future ETF offerings and shows State Street’s focus on expanding investment options for clients.
The bill to block a Labor Department rule making it easier for retirement plans to weigh ESG issues in investment decisions passed 50-46, with two Democrats voting with Republicans to pass the measure.
The month's highlights include Elements adding $5 million more in funding, TradingFront shutting down and Zoe Financial launching a TAMP for advisers in its lead generation network.
AI can give you a deeper breadth of opportunities and broaden your scope of companies that may be considered innovative, according to State Street’s Matt Bartolini.
BlackRock, Schwab, Vanguard and State Street could be inviting a political backlash with proxy voting campaigns aimed at avoiding a political backlash.
Republicans have criticized the big asset managers over their proxy-voting practices.
Despite all that’s gone wrong in the industry, the world’s largest custodian bank and other financial giants are hoping to expand in crypto.
The AI tool explains that the market is too unpredictable to design such a fund, while warning about the need to pick investments that align with goals and risk tolerance.
This month’s highlights include Envestnet’s entering the RIA custodial business and Docupace’s launch of an RIA Productivity Toolkit.
The bank says costs will be a top priority this year; it also says it's still committed to its digital assets strategy despite the turmoil in crypto markets.
Last month's decision to exit the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative puts Vanguard in a spotlight it was likely trying to avoid.
She earned the nickname 'SPDR Woman' for her work on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which State Street Corp. introduced in 1993.
From asset flows out of mutual funds and into ETFs, to mutual fund-to-ETF conversions and the emergence of single-stock ETFs, the liquid, low-cost, tax-efficient ETF wrapper has notched a lot of wins this year.
Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street still command about 79% of all U.S. exchange-traded fund assets, but that's down from 91% in 2006.
That decision follows recent moves by Vanguard and BlackRock to extend voting choices to individual investors.
Report says the asset managers are using their stakes in public companies to cast proxy votes that favor a ‘liberal political agenda.’
