Steven Miyao - CEO
As founder and CEO of kasina, Steven is one of the industry's thought leaders and an expert on financial services and strategy. He is a trusted advisor to the world's leading financial services companies, and has earned this status by providing forward-looking and pragmatic advice in regards to distribution issues.
Under Steven's leadership, kasina operates with a singular mission: "Innovate distribution in the financial services industry." Since kasina's inception in 1999, its commitment to this mission has made it one of the most influential strategy consulting firms in the financial services sector. kasina works with a wide variety of clients from five continents, including 18 out of the 20 largest U.S. asset management firms.
He frequently appears in the business and trade media, including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, BusinessWeek, and numerous trade publications. Steven frequently lectures and conducts seminars with various industry groups and institutions, such as the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the National Investment Company Service Association (NICSA), Dublin Funds Industry Association (DFIA), and NYU Stern School of Business.
Steven has created methodologies to identify financial services companies' most valuable customers and develop leading strategies for Key Accounts, Wholesaling and Marketing. He continues to establish industry best practices and trends instrumental to the formulation of overall distribution strategies. He frequently speaks to senior management and their teams about these and other topics, most notably including the future of the asset management and insurance industries, as well as new distribution models, changes in profitability, and the state of the global marketplace.
Steven is also actively involved in civic and professional institutions. He is the founder of the kasina Youth Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to innovating and improving the education of our children. Steven serves on a number of boards, including the National Investment Company Service Association (NICSA), Mutual Funds Against Cancer and of vertextList, an artist-run space that supports emerging media artists. He is also an advisor to University Settlement and a New York board member of Peace Games. Other organizations Steven is involved with include NYU Stern School of Business and CentsAbility.
Prior to founding kasina, Steven ran the financial services e-business consulting practice at McGladrey & Pullen, LLP, the nation's seventh largest accounting and consulting firm (now named RSM McGladrey, Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers).
A long time resident of New York's East Village, he was born in Tokyo, Japan, and raised in Munich, Germany. Steven is a graduate of New York University's Stern School of Business. He loves soccer and snowboarding in the winter. He finds stress relief through frequent yoga practice. His five-year-old son Sebastian and his girlfriend Sienna are his main sources of inspiration. To learn about additional things that inspire Steven, visit his blog at: miyao.typepad.com
Connect to Steven via e-mail | 
