Meet the team: Connor Mullis, Product Management Principal, S&P Global KY3P

Tell us a bit about yourself and your career at KY3P:

Well, I'm originally from Atlanta, Georgia. I went to school in Washington, DC at George Washington University. After my senior year of college, I decided to take a job with KY3P, which, at the time, was a part of the newly formed IHS Markit. I moved to their office in Dallas, Texas and I've been with the firm ever since.

I started with client services and have changed role several times since then. I worked with the client engagement team when it was first created and now I'm on the product team. I moved here after the regional bank implementation and I'll be moving up to the New York office sometime this year.

Outside of work, I would say I'm pretty, "Go-with-the-flow". I have pretty lowkey hobbies, including reading, watching tv, traveling, and trying new restaurants. With the pandemic, that's pretty much turned to ordering takeout. I like to try new things, and I think that has led to the multitude of roles and responsibilities I have held while at KY3P!

Favorite KY3P memory:

It's not really one specific thing although a really great learning experience that was also fun was the regional bank roadshow and follow-up travel and touchpoints. I was collaborating with Sales and Account managers from around the country to get regional banks integrated and involved with KY3P. I met some of my closest coworkers through that experience- as well as got to be client facing. I learned a lot from seeing my coworkers conduct face-to-face client interactions. So it was not only enjoyable but also provided formative career growth by giving me newfound perspectives at to how we hit market with our tool.

Could you explain a bit about what you do at S&P Global KY3P? How does your role fall into the world of third party risk?

Basically, what I do within product is to collect feedback and input from clients and the other teams within KY3P, and effectively leverage it to improve the tool. We can compile the external and internal insights in order to write and design requirements for platform features and functionality moving forward. Occasionally, I host workshops to look at ideas that no one has previously considered and priorities for our future roadmap.

This not only requires technical acumen, but also an acute understanding of what clients are looking for, their strategic initiatives and how we get there. This could range from feedback discussions with preexisting clients looking to build new capabilities within the tool, or building innovatons from industry trends. We need solutions that work for everyone and are looking to expand from being financial services-focused to all working across industry sectors. We also need something that brings value for vendors; they don't pay but are active participants in our process, we want to get them involved as well.

What do you think is the future of third party risk/vendor risk management? What is one area that you see the field expanding into?

I think there's two key trends that we see from our customer base on a regular basis. First, I would say assessments, specifically shared assessments. Anything we can get reused and standardized streamlines

the process on the client side, so as not to take up unnecessary time. Clients are looking for a certain degree of configurability while still in being line with both their peers and regulatory mandates. This standardization also provides clear expectations for vendors. This is something we see in both of our IRQ and DDQ functionalities.

The second thing I find a lot of clients are fixated on is having a score or quantifiable value for each risk domain. In our current platform we have an amalgamation- whether it be geospatial, or cyber. My question is- where can we move next? As we expand our consumer base to firms outside of financial services, I think we will see different risk category needs emerge. One area would be turning news into scores; how can we leverage social media and widespread news coverage and quantify it into a risk score?

IHS Markit was recently acquired by S&P Global. What has that absorption looked like for your role/workload? How has S&P Global KY3P changed since the merge?

The key in any merger or acquisition is finding synergy. Going into 2023 as a part of S&P Global, KY3P's more forefront integration is with ESG ratings product, Sustainable1. S&P has this plethora of data sources that we, in product, are excited about plugging into our product and making digestible for clients and prospective users.

The merge also provided new resources for projects that we have maybe looked at before and previously abandoned for lack of data or support. For instance, there is a machine learning venture that I am optimistic could be picked back up again in the coming years. I think it's more exciting than anything- innovation builds on innovation. What do you think sets KY3P apart from competitors?

We've always leveraged our position as being the end-to-end platform. We provide a true third-party risk solution from the start to the end of any given problem a company may have. I think that any technology that relies on multiple systems that must subsequently communicate their respective functions takes away from productivity, and ultimately, profit. We take away that middle man, or need to play leapfrog from platform to platform. And, besides, who wants to deal with 3-4 different systems when you have 1 that's end to end?

Throughout our slew of offerings, we have top tier offerings, unique ventures, and even some capabilities that I don't think have hit their potential just yet. That is where someone like Trusight, our most recent acquisition, comes in. Their focus on one component of the TPRM workflow can fit effectively into our full lifecycle flow and, in combination, brings in a value that's pretty hard to compete with.

What is one fun fact about yourself?

I really like music; I play the bass- both standup and electric. I played in an orchestra and then throughout college with a group of guys at different parties and holiday functions. I'm not in a band anymore, though I will pick it up from time to time. Guitar, harmonica, whatever it might be- I really enjoy playing new instruments and experiencing new things.

S&P Global provides industry-leading data, software and technology platforms and managed services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in financial markets. We help our customers better understand complicated markets, reduce risk, operate more efficiently and comply with financial regulation.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.