June 2020 IssueLong scroll reading

Manager Changes, May 2020

By Chip

Fund managers matter, sometimes more than others. As more teams adopt the mantra “we’re a team,” if only as window-dressing, more and more manager changes are reduced to “one cog out, one cog in.” Nonetheless, we know that losing funds with new managers tend to outperform losing funds that hold onto their teams, while the opposite is true for winning funds. Strong funds with stable teams and stable assets outperform strong funds facing instability (Bessler, et al, 2010). Because of the great volatility of their asset class, equity managers matter rather more than fixed-income investors. (Sorry guys.)

And so each month we track the changes in teams, primarily at active, equity-oriented funds and ETFs. With the kind assistance of the folks from Morningstar who share a record of changes they’ve recorded, we’ve tracked down 44 manager changes recorded in the past month or two, down dramatically from the 101 we reported last month.

The most consequential of the changes is at AMG GW&K Global Allocation Fund, formerly Chicago Equity Partners Balanced, where the change of team represents an entirely new regime and investment strategy that moves the fund toward global allocation. Greg Carlson, the Morningstar analyst covering the fund, warns that “a complete makeover doesn’t render this fund attractive.” We offered the same wait-and-see advice in May, as Chip moved to liquidate her position in the fund.

Ticker Fund Out with the old In with the new Dt
MBESX AMG GW&K Global Allocation Fund Michael Budd, Curt Mitchell, Michael Lawrence, Keith Gustafson are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. Aaron Clark, Mary Kane, Thomas Masi, Daniel Miller, Bill Sterling will now manage the fund. 5/20
AAIIX Ancora Income Richard Barone will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. James Bernard and Kevin Gale will now manage the fund. 5/20
ANSCX Ancora Special Opportunity Fund Richard Barone will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. James Bernard and Kevin Gale will now manage the fund. 5/20
BGASX Baillie Gifford Global Alpha Equities Fund No one, at the moment, but … Charles Plowden is expected to retire and cease to serve as portfolio manager for the fund effective on or about April 30, 2021. 5/20
BGLTX Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Fund James Anderson will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Tom Slater and Mark Urquhart will continue to manage the fund. 5/20
BGGSX Baillie Gifford U.S. Equity Growth Fund Helen Xiong will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Dave Bujnowski will join Kirsty Gibson, Gary Robinson, and Tom Slater in managing the fund. 5/20
BUFTX Buffalo Discovery Fund Clay Brethour will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Ken Laudan and Jamie Cuellar join Dave Carlsen in managing the fund. 5/20
BUFGX Buffalo Growth Fund Clay Brethour will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Josh West joins Dave Carlsen in managing the fund. 5/20
AACOX Cavanal Hill Opportunistic Thomas Mitchell is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Brandon Barnes joins Matt Stephani in managing the fund. 5/20
ECPAX Eaton Vance PA Municipal Income Adam Weigold is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Christopher Eustance will now manage the fund. 5/20
FADMX Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund Rosie McMellin is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Rick Patel joins the other nine managers on the team. 5/20
GTCMX Glenmede Municipal Intermediate Michael Crow will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. J. Douglas Wilson and Robert Daly will now manage the fund. 5/20
GTAWX Glenmede Short Term Tax Aware Fixed Inc Michael Crow will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. J. Douglas Wilson and Robert Daly will now manage the fund. 5/20
NITEX Idaho Tax-Exempt Patrick Drum and Phelps McIlvaine are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. Elizabeth Alm and Christopher Lang will now manage the fund. 5/20
GNDCX Invesco Global Low Volatility Equity Yield Michael Abata is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Tarun Gupta, Glen Murphy, and Sergey Protchenko join Robert Nakouzi and Nils Huter on the management team. 5/20
MKNCX Invesco Global Market Neutral Michael Abata is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Tarun Gupta, Glen Murphy, and Jerry Sun join Robert Nakouzi and Nils Huter on the management team. 5/20
VSQCX Invesco Global Responsibility Equity Michael Abata is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Tarun Gupta and Glen Murphy join Robert Nakouzi, Manuela von Ditfurth, and Nils Huter on the management team. 5/20
LTNYX Invesco Oppenheimer Rochester Limited Term New York Municipal Fund No one, but . . . Troy Willis, Julius Williams, Tim O’Reilly, Scott Cottier, and Michael Camarella join Mark DeMitry and Mark Paris in managing the fund. 5/20
OCCIX Invesco Select Risk: Conservative Investor Fund No one, but . . . Jacob Borbidge and Duy Nguyen join Jeffrey Bennett in managing the fund. 5/20
OCAIX Invesco Select Risk: High Growth Investor Fund No one, but . . . Jacob Borbidge and Duy Nguyen join Jeffrey Bennett in managing the fund. 5/20
OCMIX Invesco Select Risk: Moderate Investor Fund No one, but . . . Jacob Borbidge and Duy Nguyen join Jeffrey Bennett in managing the fund. 5/20
OAACX Inveso Active Allocation No one, but . . . Jacob Borbidge and Duy Nguyen join Jeffrey Bennett in managing the fund. 5/20
JAWGX Janus Henderson VIT Global Research Portfolio Carmel Wellso will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Matthew Peron will now manage the fund. 5/20
JAGRX Janus Henderson VIT Research Portfolio Carmel Wellso will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Matthew Peron will now manage the fund. 5/20
JIAGX John Hancock II Multi-Asset High Income No one, but . . . Caryn Rothman, Geoffrey Kelley, and John Addeo join Christopher Walsh and Nathan Thooft on the management team. 5/20
JIGDX John Hancock II Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund Andrew Balls, Sachin Gupta, and Lorenzo Pagani are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. Brian Garvey and Brij Khuran will now manage the fund. 5/20
UGLSX John Hancock U.S. Global Leaders Growth Fund George Fraise is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Kishore Rao joins Gordon Marchand and Robert Rohn on the management team. 5/20
OMICX JPMorgan Municipal Income Fund Jennifer Tabak is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Wayne Godlin and Kevin Ellis join David Sivinski in managing the fund. 5/20
LBCCX Lord Abbett Corporate Bond No one, but . . . Yoana Koleva and Eric Kang join Andrew O’Brien and Kewjin Yuoh in managing the fund. 5/20
MMLRX MassMutual Select T. Rowe Price Large Cap Blend Fund No one, but . . . Jeffrey Rottinghaus joins Mark Finn and Joseph Fath on the management team. 5/20
MIPIX Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Vivek Tanneeru will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. S. Joyce Li joins Sherwood Zhang, Robert Horrocks, and Yu Zhang on the management team. 5/20
OARBX Oakmark Equity and Income Fund Edward Wojciechowski is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Adam Abbas joins Clyde McGregor and M. Colin Hudson on the management team. 5/20
OWCAX Old Westbury California Municipal Bond Fund Bruce Whiteford will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Kevin Akinskas joins David Rossmiller in managing the fund. 5/20
OWMBX Old Westbury Municipal Bond Bruce Whiteford will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Kevin Akinskas joins David Rossmiller in managing the fund. 5/20
OWNYX Old Westbury New York Municipal Bond Bruce Whiteford will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Kevin Akinskas joins David Rossmiller in managing the fund. 5/20
PBMPX Principal Core Plus Bond Fund Timothy Warrick and Tina Paris are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. Randy Woodbury joins William Armstrong in managing the fund. 5/20
RGHYX RBC BlueBay High Yield Bond Fund Thomas Kreuzer is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. Andrzej Skiba joins Tim Leary and Justin Jewell on the management team. 5/20
TGIGX TCW Relative Value Dividend Appreciation Fund No one, but . . . Bo Fifer joins Diane Jaffee in managing the fund. 5/20
TGVNX TCW Relative Value Mid Cap Fund No one, but . . . Mona Eraiba joins Diane Jaffee in managing the fund. 5/20
VCGAX VALIC Company I Systematic Core Fund Tim Snyder and Raffaele Zingone are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. Stephen Platt, Ronan Heaney, and Khalid Ghayur will now manage the fund. 5/20
VMMSX Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund Richard Sneller has retired from Baillie Gifford and will no longer serve as a co-portfolio manager for the portion of the fund managed by Baillie Gifford. Ewan Markson-Brown is added as a co-portfolio manager for the portion of the fund managed by Baillie Gifford, joining the existing management team. 5/20
VMATX Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund Mathew Kiselak will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Stephen McFee will now manage the fund. 5/20
VOHIX Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund James D’Arcy will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Stephen McFee will now manage the fund. 5/20
RSHCX Victory High Income Municipal Bond Fund Douglas Gaylor will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. Regina Conklin, John Bonnell, and Andrew Hattman will now manage the fund. 5/20

 

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About Chip

Cheryl Welsch, MBA (Western Governors). Cofounder, technical director. Chip is the dean of curriculum and accreditation at Eastern Iowa Community Colleges. Chip is responsible for making the Observer actually happen; in cooperation with our graphic designer, she also controls how the Observer looks and acts. She also writes our monthly Manager Changes feature and whittles away at the typofest in our drafts.