Sergio Leon is a Director of Client Delivery at F2 Strategy with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He has held management roles at large service providers, leading fund accounting and portfolio accounting teams, as well as consultant roles with fund accounting platform providers, where he supported BAU operations and led conversion and migration efforts for new clients.

Sergio’s areas of expertise include fund accounting, fund administration, operational process improvements, platform migrations, functional gap analysis, business requirements documentation, and product development. He is particularly effective acting as a liaison between business and technology teams, helping functional stakeholders identify and document requirements while translating them into scalable development frameworks. His operational background also provides deep subject matter expertise across fixed income and derivative instruments within both fund and portfolio accounting.

Sergio has been involved in several large-scale industry conversions, including the migration of over $500B in assets from an investment manager’s in-house operations to a global service provider, the transition of a major Canadian life insurance firm to a multi-jurisdictional platform, and the conversion of a leading third-party provider in South Africa. He also maintains a strong interest in technology and continues to expand his knowledge across database and platform capabilities.

Sergio is based in Boston, Massachusetts. In his free time, Sergio enjoys taking day trips to Boston’s North Shore with his family, snowboarding in the winter, and following Liverpool Football Club and the McLaren Formula One team

What would you tell someone just starting out in the industry right now? 

Don't just learn the how of doing things, take the time to learn and understand the why's. Always start with why and never settle for 'because that's how we've always done it'. Look to always challenge the status quo.

What has changed the most since you started out in the industry? 

The level of use of technology and automation. When I first started, as comical as it sounds, we used to run a tape to validate the calculations that the system made. A lot of things were still manual and not many people were actively looking for ways to automate things. Now, its expected that its something you do. We try to minimize manual touch of information.

What are three words that describe how you do your job? 

1) Optimize - Always be on the lookout for ways to make work more efficient. 2) Recognize - Give credit where credit is due. 3) Develop/Teach - Always be willing to take someone under your wing and teach them/develop them.