After he graduated from George Washington University, Flannery sold and managed fixed income investments with several different financial firms for approximately sixteen years. In September 1996, he joined State Street Global Advisors, where he started as a product engineer He eventually became the Executive Vice President of State Street Corporation and Chief Investment Officer for the Americas. Between developed and emerging markets, Flannery managed almost US$2 trillion in assets under management across several markets. He was also responsible for fundamental and quantitative investment disciplines, and all other research functions at the firm. As an Executive Management Group member he was responsible for business strategy and firm management. Flannery was chair of the Technical Committee, which supervised investment strategies generated by quantitative models. He also served on the Proxy Committee and the Investment Committee. Flannery played a key role in developing the Pan Asian Investment Fund, sponsored by the Executive Meeting of East Asian Principals, and has worked comprehensively with more than thirty central banks. Outside of his investment and management portfolios, Flannery has taught at universities and industry conferences on topics related to investment and economics.
SEC
In September 2010, Flannery and James D. Hopkins, former head of SSgA North American Product Engineering, were charged with misleading investors about the risks and concentration of subprime investments in State Street bonds funds. Flannery and Hopkins opted not to settle and were cleared of all charges in October 2011 by Brenda Murray, the chief administrative law judge of the SEC. She determined that the SEC did not show how Flannery and Hopkins' interactions with investors had broken any securities laws. In her decision, Judge Murray noted that “Flannery has had an unblemished record in the industry and those who have worked with him believe him to be unusually honest, capable, and ethical.”
Boards and honors
Flannery is Vice-Chairman of Corporate Knights Capital. He is a Director of the Ujenzi Trust, which addresses health challenges using sustainable solutions in sub-Saharan Africa and other low-resource locations. The organization is associated with the Massachusetts General Hospital, where Flannery serves as Senior Economic Advisor to the Division of Global Health and Human Rights. He also founded and is a Director of the African Institute for Innovation and Technology, located in Kisumu, Kenya. Flannery is a member of the Panel of Advisors of the Climate Bond Initiative, the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets, and the BostonCommittee on Foreign Relations.
