After his most likely successor departed the company, SEI Investments Chairman and CEO Al West, of Paoli, has acknowledged the Oaks-based company is searching for his replacement, writes Jeff Blumenthal for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

“We’re looking for a strong CEO,” said West during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

Before he left in December, Steve Meyer, head of SEI’s global wealth management services who had been with the company for nearly three decades, was viewed as the company’s future CEO.

West has been SEI’s only CEO since the company’s founding in 1968. He grew it into a publicly-traded fintech with $1.9 billion in annual revenue and $547 million in annual profit as well as over $1 trillion in assets under administration or management in 2021.

Christopher Donat, an analyst at Piper Sandler, believes the new CEO will be an outside hire.

“Based on Mr. West’s comments on the earnings call, we think that the most likely scenario is that SEIC hires an outside CEO,” said Sandler. “While we think that an internal hire is possible, we believe the financial performance of SEIC’s segments reduces the likelihood of an internal hire.”

Read more about Al West, SEI and the CEO search in the Philadelphia Business Journal.