The board of State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR Series Trust has been devoting more time at its quarterly meetings recently to educational sessions with management as SSgA prepares to enter the actively managed exchange-traded fund business. Frank Nesvet, independent chairman, told FDI that SSgA’s plans prompted an expansion of the board—both in terms of number of independent trustees and expertise—and kicked off a series of fact-finding missions and tutorials.
“Clearly it’s a departure from a strict index ETF; the way we dealt with that was to expand the board and add new ....