Spotlight on Michael Hunstad, President, Northern Trust Asset Management
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Michael Hunstad, President, Northern Trust Asset Management
Michael is president of Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM), one of the world’s largest investment managers with approximately US$1.3 trillion of assets under management. NTAM has earned the confidence of global investors by providing sophisticated solutions that helps them confidently navigate all market environments, so they can realise their most important goals.
As president, Michael is responsible for developing long-term business strategies, delivering world-class investment solutions and services for its clients, cultivating strategic relationships, and developing talented investment professionals. Michael is also a member of Northern Trust Corporation’s Management Group in Chicago.
How is A.I. reshaping investing?
Four developments stand out. First, A.I. is making previously inaccessible information investable. Traditional financial data represents only a fraction of what companies generate. A.I. can analyse alternative and unstructured data, from transactions and intellectual property to customer, supplier and technology networks, revealing risks and opportunities that conventional models may miss.
Second, competitive advantage is shifting from access to implementation. As A.I. tools become widely available, differentiation will come from proprietary data, investment judgement, technical talent and the ability to convert insight into disciplined portfolios. Asset managers increasingly need to operate like fintechs, embedding technology across research, portfolio construction, product development, risk management and operations.
Third, the future is human insight combined with machine intelligence. A.I. can process vast information sets and identify patterns consistently, while experienced investors provide context, challenge assumptions and determine whether signals have a credible economic rationale. The strongest outcomes will come from this synthesis, not from replacing human accountability with a black box.
Finally, A.I. is reshaping both investment processes and market economics. Its potential to drive productivity and margin expansion may still be underestimated. However, investors must distinguish durable beneficiaries from crowded exposures and excessive valuations.
Our perspective is that A.I. is not simply an investment theme. It is a structural change in how companies create value and how asset managers identify alpha, manage risk and serve clients.
Opportunities for sophisticated investors
Institutional investors should treat A.I. not as a standalone investment theme, but as a structural shift affecting company fundamentals, portfolio construction and the investment process itself.
First, broaden the opportunity set. Investors should look beyond the most visible A.I. infrastructure companies to identify businesses using the technology to improve productivity, strengthen margins and build durable competitive advantages. This can help diversify exposure and reduce reliance on a narrow group of crowded, highly valued beneficiaries.
Second, diversify sources of alpha. Portfolios should incorporate managers capable of combining traditional financial information with alternative and unstructured data, including intellectual property, transactions and company networks. These insights can complement established factors and uncover stock-specific opportunities that conventional analysis may overlook.
Third, prioritise implementation over A.I. labels. Investors should examine whether a manager’s A.I. capabilities are supported by proprietary research, reliable data, clear economic rationale and disciplined portfolio construction. The technology should enhance an established investment philosophy, not substitute for one.
Finally, maintain strong governance and human accountability. A.I. can broaden the information set and improve consistency, but models should not make investment decisions independently. Human judgement remains essential to challenge outputs, distinguish genuine insight from arbitrary correlation and manage risks related to data quality, explainability, valuation and concentration.
The objective is not maximum exposure to A.I. It is disciplined exposure to its long-term beneficiaries, supported by diversified alpha sources, robust risk controls and technology-enabled investment expertise.
Michael will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Equities Investment Forum on Wednesday, 2 September 2026 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Michael Hunstad, President, Northern Trust Asset Management
Michael is President of Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) and is also a member of Northern Trust Corporation’s Management Group in Chicago. Most recently, Michael served as global co-chief investment officer and chief investment officer of global equities for NTAM. In this capacity, he oversaw a broad range of investment capabilities from index, fundamental, quantitative and tax-advantaged strategies to active, multi-asset class solutions and alternative investments. Michael was also responsible for the development of investment vision and philosophy and leads an investment team of more than 300 professionals globally.
Michael also served as deputy chief investment officer and chief investment officer of global equities for NTAM, where he was responsible for all equity portfolio management, research and trading activities and assisted with the development of investment vision and strategy for the firm’s investment platform. Prior to that, he was head of quantitative strategies where he led NTAM’s factor based research, portfolio management and product development programs. Before joining Northern Trust, he was head of research at Breakwater Capital, an algorithmic trading firm and hedge fund. Prior to that role, he was head of quantitative asset allocation at Allstate Investments, LLC and a quantitative analyst with a long-short equity hedge fund.
Michael has also served as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Michael holds a PhD in mathematics, an MBA in finance, an MA in econometrics and a bachelor's degree in economics.
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