SEI Founder Alfred West Sold Roughly $26M in 2025 Before Handing Off the Chair on January 1

Alfred P. West Jr., founder of SEI Investments, sold roughly $26.0 million of stock across 2025, including a December 3 exercise-and-sale event worth about $2.0 million. Two weeks later, SEI announced that West would step down from the board and Executive Chairman role effective January 1, 2026 and become Chairman Emeritus. By late January, the company reported fourth-quarter results with EPS up 16% and revenue up 9% year over year. That combination makes the tape notable: founder selling into an orderly leadership transition rather than into operational weakness.

The 2025 Selling Pattern

Date	Action	Shares	Estimated Value
2025-03-03 to 2025-03-05	Open-market sales	154,214	~$12.0M
2025-05-28 to 2025-05-29	Open-market sales	141,126	~$12.0M
2025-12-03	Exercise and sale	24,770 sold	~$2.0M
Total 2025 sales highlighted	Open-market sales	320,110+	~$26.0M

Why the December Context Changes the Read

On December 17, 2025, SEI said West would retire from the Executive Chairman role effective January 1, 2026, with Carl Guarino becoming Chairman and West shifting to Chairman Emeritus. The same corporate event trail also included a $0.52 dividend declaration. That matters because it frames the December 3 transaction as part of a planned succession window, not a surprise vote of no confidence.

Then, on January 28, 2026, SEI reported Q4 2025 results showing diluted EPS up 16%, revenue up 9%, and operating income up 11% from the prior year, with operating margin expanding to 27%. In other words, the company entered the leadership handoff from a position of operational strength.

What Investors Should Actually Take From This

Founder selling is always worth noticing, but not all founder selling means the same thing. West had already built and owned an enormous long-term stake in SEI, and his late-career transactions happened while the company was transitioning governance and still posting strong results. That is a very different setup from a younger founder selling heavily into deteriorating fundamentals.

For investors comparing financial-platform names, the more useful question is whether post-transition SEI keeps executing as well as peers such as Ameriprise, BlackRock, and Franklin Resources. The insider tape is interesting, but the operating handoff is the real story.

Key Facts

Metric	Value
Insider	Alfred P. West Jr.
Company	SEI Investments (SEIC)
Leadership transition date	January 1, 2026
Role after transition	Chairman Emeritus
Q4 2025 EPS growth	+16% year over year
Q4 2025 revenue growth	+9% year over year

What To Watch

• Post-founder governance: The market will watch whether SEI's board transition stays low-drama and execution-focused.
• Operating consistency: Q4 was strong. Investors should test whether that continues through 2026.
• Peer framing: Compare SEIC with AMP, BLK, and BEN to keep the signal in context.
• Signal interpretation: If you want the framework behind this, read our insider-trading guide, our position-change explainer, and our comparison guide.