In the course of a normal month we’ll highlight 60-70 manager changes in equity and allocation funds. We mostly skip bond funds because, frankly, it’s a danged rare fixed income team that’s materially affected by the departure of a single individual. In a really quiet month, 40 funds and ETFs saw partial or complete team changes.
By far the most consequential was the announced departure of Zeke Ashton from Centaur Total Return (TILDX), a fund that he’s managed with discipline, style and success since its inception. The folks at Intrepid Capital continue thinning their management team. We reported Jayme Wiggins departure from Intrepid Endurance and Select last month, Jason Lazarus departs Capital and Income this month. Intrepid remains among the few firms maintaining an absolute value discipline in both equity and fixed-income investing; if the opportunities are not compelling, they will not invest just for the sake of investing. That helps their long-term investors a lot, even as it hurts their business. By way of disclosure, Intrepid Endurance remains as a valued part of my personal portfolio.
| Ticker | Fund | Out with the old | In with the new | Dt |
| ALNNX | AC Alternatives Income Fund | No one, but . . . | Marathon Asset Management, L.P. has been added as an underlying subadvisor. | 11/18 |
| GNXAX | AlphaCentric Global Innovations Fund | No one, but . . . | Contego Capital Group has been added as a subadvisor to the fund. | 11/18 |
| TILDX | Centaur Total Return | Zeke Ashton will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Dr. Vijay Chopra and Gregory Serbe will now manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| DFBAX | Delaware Foundation Moderate Allocation Fund, to be renamed as Delaware Strategic Allocation Fund, effective January 25, 2019. | No one, but . . . | Macquarie Investment Management Austria Kapitalanlage AG will become a subadvisor to the fund. | 11/18 |
| DBOAX | Dreyfus Balanced Opportunity Fund | Keith Stransky is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Torrey Zaches and Vassilis join James Lydotes, Andrew Leger, Mark Bogar, George DeFina, John Bailer, David Bowser, and Brian Ferguson on the management team. | 11/18 |
| FBTAX | Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology Fund | Rajiv Kaul no longer serves as lead portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology Fund. | Eirene Kontopoulos, who joined the team in July, will now manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| FCLAX | Fidelity Advisor Industrials Fund | Tobias Welo is expected to leave the fund on December 31, 2018. | Janet Glazer joins Tobias Welo and will continue to manage the fund upon his departure. | 11/18 |
| FHIFX | Fidelity Focused High Income Fund | Matthew Conti is retiring at the end of December. | Alexandre Karam has joined the management team. He and Michael Weaver will continue to manage the fund after Mr. Conti’s retirement. | 11/18 |
| SPHIX | Fidelity High Income Fund | No one, but . . . | Alexandre Karam joins Michael Weaver in managing the fund. | 11/18 |
| FCYIX | Fidelity Select Industrials Sector | Tobias Welo is expected to leave the fund on December 31, 2018. | Janet Glazer joins Tobias Welo and will continue to manage the fund upon his departure. | 11/18 |
| FIUSX | First Investors Opportunity Fund | No one, but . . . | Tom Alonso joins Steven Hill in managing the fund. | 11/18 |
| ICMBX | Intrepid Capital Fund | Jason Lazarus no longer serves as part of the investment team of the fund. | Mark Travis will continue to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| ICMUX | Intrepid Income Fund | Jason Lazarus no longer serves as the portfolio manager of the fund. | Mark Travis and Ben Franklin have assumed co-lead responsibility for the day-to-day management of the fund. | 11/18 |
| TGRAX | Invesco Pacific Growth Fund | Effective December 28, 2018, Paul Chan will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | William Yuen joined Daiji Ozawa on the management team in October 2018. | 11/18 |
| JHAAX | John Hancock Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund | Guy Stern intends to retire from the fund in 2019. | His successor has not yet been named. | 11/18 |
| MGGAX | Mirova Global Green Bond Fund | Christopher Wigley will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Marc Briand and Charles Portier will remain as co-portfolio managers of the fund. | 11/18 |
| NWHVX | Nationwide Geneva Mid Cap Growth Fund | Amy Croen will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | William A. Priebe, William Scott Priebe, and José Muñoz will continue to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| NWHZX | Nationwide Geneva Small Cap Growth Fund | Amy Croen will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | William A. Priebe, William Scott Priebe, and José Muñoz will continue to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| NWGYX | Nationwide Ziegler Equity Income Fund | Mikhail Alkhazov will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Gary Hurlbut joins Donald Nexbitt in managing the fund. | 11/18 |
| Various | Natixis Sustainable Future Target Date Funds | Suzanne Senellart is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Amber Fairbanks joins the other dozen managers of the fund. | 11/18 |
| QFFOX | Pear Tree Panagora Emerging Markets Fund | Panagora Asset Management will no longer subadvise the fund. | Axiom International Investors, LLC. will now subadvise the fund. | 11/18 |
| TCLCX | TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Fund | Athanasios (Tom) Kolefas will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Charles Carr joins Richard Cutler on the management team. | 11/18 |
| TCMVX | TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value Fund | Athanasios (Tom) Kolefas will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Richard Cutler will continue to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| FFSAX | Touchstone Flexible Income Fund | ClearArc Capital Inc. will no longer subadvise the fund. Therefore, Peter Kwiatkowski, Mitchell Stapley, David Withrow and John Cassidy are out. | Bramshill Investments, LLC will subadvise the fund, with Art DeGaetano, Derek Pines, Michael Hirschfield, and Paul van Lingen on the management team. | 11/18 |
| VMVFX | Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund | Fei Xu and Anatoly Shtekhman are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFLQ | Vanguard U.S. Liquidity Factor ETF | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFMV | Vanguard U.S. Minimum Volatility ETF | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFMO | Vanguard U.S. Momentum Factor ETF | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFMF | Vanguard U.S. Multifactor ETF Shares | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFQY | Vanguard U.S. Quality Factor ETF | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| VFVA | Vanguard U.S. Value Factor ETF | Liqian Ren is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Antonio Picca now manages the fund. | 11/18 |
| IAGEX | Voya Global Equity Dividend Fund | Moudy El Khodr and Nicolas Simar are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Pieter Schop joins Bruno Springael in managing the fund. | 11/18 |
| IIRFX | Voya Russia Fund | Ivo Luiten will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Renat Nadyukov continues to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
| WCGNX | William Blair Mid Cap Growth Fund | David Ricci is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Robert Lanphier and Daniel Crowe will continue to manage the fund. | 11/18 |
