American Century – KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Former Envestnet, Inc. executive Jay Hummel has joined global asset management firm American Century Investments as senior vice president, direct sales and service. In his new role, Hummel oversees the business strategy and execution for American Century’s retail direct business, which serves more than 600,000 clients with combined assets of $36 billion*. The direct channel provides services to individual investors, employer retirement plans, education saving accounts and clients using the firm’s self-directed brokerage platform.

“We chose Jay for his extensive industry knowledge, including his experience in the advisory space and as a strategic thought leader,” Chief Client Officer – Americas Peter Cieszko said. “He will play a critical role in helping lead our direct business into the future by enhancing processes and serving clients in an ever-evolving business and regulatory environment.”

Hummel, who started at American Century on Sept. 12, plans to relocate to Kansas City, home to the firm’s client call center and corporate headquarters. According to Hummel, American Century’s industry stature, client focus and culture are among the attributes that attracted him to the company.

“American Century’s direct business is substantial in size, yet nimble enough to quickly adapt to the changing industry landscape,” Hummel said. “The combination of the firm’s client-centric culture, quality investment options and compelling ownership model distinguish American Century from competitors in the retail marketplace. I love the idea of working for a company that strives to help clients succeed while also distributing a significant level of its corporate dividends to medical research.”

Hummel joins American Century from Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of unified wealth management technology and services to investment advisors. He served as a managing director responsible for strategic initiatives and thought leadership. In his most recent role, he led the firm’s advisor training, consulting and content development activities. Hummel also focused on expanding relationships with existing clients, streamlining Envestnet’s service delivery and enhancing the company’s reputation through frequent speaking engagements and written pieces on industry issues. His published books include “Success and Succession” (Sept. 2015) and “The Essential Advisor: Building Value in the Investor – Advisor Relationship” (May 2016). Prior to Envestnet, Hummel served as president and chief operating officer at Lenox Wealth Management, a fee-only financial advisory firm.

Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at Ward Financial Group and Deloitte & Touche. Hummel has a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and a master’s in accounting from the Carl H. Lindner Honors PLUS Program at the University of Cincinnati.

American Century Investments is a leading privately held investment management firm, committed to delivering superior investment performance and building long-term client relationships since its founding in 1958. Serving investment professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors, American Century Investments offers a variety of actively managed investment disciplines through an array of products including mutual funds, institutional separate accounts, commingled trusts and sub-advisory accounts.

The company’s 1,300 employees serve clients from offices in New York; London; Hong Kong; Mountain View, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan S. Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang and David MacEwen serve as co-chief investment officers. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments totaling over $1.2 billion since 2000.  For more information about American Century Investments, visit americancentury.com.