The biggest TAMP is looking for a CEO. Could an outsider satisfy investors?

investmentnews.com:

Starting in April, the biggest turnkey asset management provider in the U.S., Envestnet, will be led for the first time in its nearly 25-year history by someone who wasn’t there in the beginning.

On Monday, CEO Bill Crager announced plans to step back from his role at the end of March, with board chair James Fox taking the job on an interim basis. Crager, who co-founded the fintech in 1999 with the late Jud Bergman, indicated that the time is right for him to make a change. The company has stated that the decision to move to an advisory role was Crager’s alone, and was not influenced by activist investor Impactive Capital, which owns a stake of more than 7% stake in Envestnet.

Analysts have cast some doubt on that, pointing to Envestnet’s CFO change in September following pressure from Impactive, which in March settled a proxy dispute with the company by getting two members added to its corporate board. That included Impactive managing partner Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Lane Holdings chair Wendy Lane.

Leading up to that, Impactive had openly criticized the publicly traded company over its stock performance, which for several years had significantly lagged the S&P 500. While Envestnet skyrocketed to become the biggest TAMP, its financial performance has made it a target for scrutiny, with at least that one big investor demanding a change in course.

Despite the pending change in leadership, analysts haven’t changed their outlook on Envestnet, with many retaining their “buy” ratings on the stock.

“Bill has built a strong and experienced management team that will continue to execute Envestnet’s growth strategy – many of whom are seasoned and tenured leaders holding long-standing relationships with Envestnet’s partners and