Niall O'Neill

Niall O'Neill has recently moved from a Consultant I role with Investment Operations to a Consultant II role within Financial Planning and Analysis ("FP&A").

In his former role he worked to support the back-office operations which underpin Allstate's c. $100bn investment portfolio, on:

• Process improvements and automation
• Daily and monthly reconciliations
• Monthly reporting

The role involved analysis across a range of investment and accounting systems, including Aladdin, the custodian bank's Workbench / Nexen platforms, e-Front and SAP, as well as Maximis, Allstate's internal investment accounting database (via either SQL or Microsoft Access). Use of Excel and VBA were also key to improving the efficiency of processes.

In his new role within FP&A, Niall hopes to build further on automation and process improvement projects while supporting the Reporting Team's regular deliverables, which involve providing key data and analysis to senior leaders on a wide range of investment portfolio metrics. The role presents the opportunity to inform how Allstate's investments are viewed, contributing analysis which may impact decision making, while at the same time providing a unique understanding of how Allstate's investment team works relative to the wider industry.

"It's a credit to the ANI and US teams that opportunities to broaden our experience and provide continued challenge are not just available, but we're also encouraged to pursue them. Likewise, it's great that there's plenty of chance to get involved with improving things, whether it's on a small scale as an individual or on a broader level as part of a team. I'm a big fan of efficiency and engaging work, so it's been really satisfying to contribute to making processes better.

Often in large companies the key strategies can seem too high level or theoretical to maintain relevance all the way through the business, but Transformative Growth feels like one that we can get to grips with and contribute to individually. That down-to-earth, sensible approach also seems to apply to Allstate's people globally, and I'm yet to encounter a team that hasn't been a pleasure to work with."