Fund managers matter, sometimes more than others. As more teams adopt the mantra, “we’re a team,” if only as window-dressing, more than 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.
This month saw changes that affected about 90 funds, which is a bit high. Of those, more than a third were simple additions to existing teams without any offsetting departures. Three of the changes stand out:
- The legendary Dan Fuss is retiring in March, which this month appears as a change at Guidestone Global Bond Fund (GGBEX) but has a far larger impact on the Loomis Sayles fixed-income funds that he’s been leading for 45 years.
- Justin Thompson is leaving Rowe Price International Discovery (PRIDX). He has been leading the fund (and improving my portfolio) since 1998. Price is remarkably adept at managing such handoffs, even for their few certifiably star managers.
- Lydia So, a distinguished former manager Matthews Asia manager, is joining Laura Geritz at Rondure New World (RNWOX), an emerging markets fund. We detailed the move in “Rondure Global upguns” (12/2020).
| Ticker | Fund | Out with the old | In with the new | Dt |
| BJBIX | Aberdeen International Sustainable Leaders Fund | Dominic Byrne, Tony Hood, Donal Reynolds, and Euan Sanderson will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Jamie Cumming and Victoria MacLean will join Joanna McIntyre in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| SASAX | AIG Small-Cap Quality Fund | Elizabeth Mauro, Timothy Campion, and Robert Fitzpatrick are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Jane Algieri, Timothy Pettee, and Andrew Sheridan will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| RMDAX | AllianzGI Mid-Cap Fund | Timothy McCarthy will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Raymond Cunha will join Jeffrey Parker in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| AZAO | AllianzIM U.S. Large Cap | No one, but . . . | Josiah Highmark will join Thomas Paustian in managing the fund | 12/20 |
| GAFAX | Alphasimplex Global Alternatives Fund | David Kuenzi will no longer serve as a portfolio manager of the Fund. | Kathryn Kaminski and Timothy Kang will join the portfolio management team of the fund. Alexander Healy, Peter Lee, Philippe Lüdi, and Robert Rickard will remain as co-portfolio managers. | 12/20 |
| ARHVX | American Century Investments One Choice 2065 Portfolio | No one, but . . . | John Donner will join Scott Wilson, Richard Weiss, Vidya Rajappa, and Radu Gabudean in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| MBGVX | AMG GW&K Core Bond ESG Fund | No one but… | Stephen Repoff joins Mary Kane as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| MFDAX | AMG GW&K Enhanced Core Bond ESG Fund | No one but… | Stephen Repoff joins Mary Kane as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| MGGBX | AMG GW&K High Income Fund | Scott Service, Lynda Schweitzer, and David Rolley will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Stephen Repoff joins Mary Kane as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| SKSIX | AMG GW&K Small Cap Value Fund | William Fiedler, Michael Maloney, and Mark Odegard will no longer manage the fund. | Daniel Miller and Jeffrey Whitney will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| LDPAX | AXS Thomson Reuters Private Equity Return Tracker Fund | David Armstrong, Yash Patel, and Neil Peplinski will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Greg Bassuk and Mark Lacuesta will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| LDVAX | AXS Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Return Tracker Fund | David Armstrong, Yash Patel, and Neil Peplinski will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Greg Bassuk and Mark Lacuesta will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| BSCVX | Bernzott US Small Cap Value Fund | Ryan Ross, Thomas Derse, and Scott Larson will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Sean Greely will join Kevin Bernzott in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| BXMIX | Blackstone Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund | No one. The adviser was pretty sure that 19 subadvisers weren’t enough, so … | Jasper Capital Hong Kong Limited and Seiga Asset Management Limited will serve as new discretionary sub-advisers to the fund. In addition, Blackstone has allocated a portion of the fund’s assets to an existing sub-adviser, Nephila Capital Ltd. | 12/20 |
| DNLAX | BNY Mellon Natural Resources Fund | Robin Wehbe will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | David Intoppa will join Albert Chu in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| CAMLX | Congress Large Cap Growth Fund | Alexander Thorndike will longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Daniel Lagan will continue to serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| CSMVX | Congress Small Cap Growth Fund | Alexander Thorndike will longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Gregg O’Keefe will continue to serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| FSTAX | Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund | Jonathan Kelly will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Nader Nazmi joins the other nine managers of the fund. | 12/20 |
| FNARX | Fidelity Select Natural Resources Portfolio | Nathan Strik will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Ashley Fernandes will now serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TESIX | Franklin Mutual Shares Fund | F. David Segal will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Christian Correa and Grace Hoefig will join Deborah Turner and Peter Langerman as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| GEQIX | Glenmede Equity Income Fund | Wade Wescott will no longer manage the fund. | John Kichula and Mark Livingston will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| GTMEX | Glenmede Large Cap Value Fund | Wade Wescott will no longer manage the fund. | John Kichula and Mark Livingston will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| GGBZX | GuideStone Funds Aggressive Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, and Thomas Seto will join Matt Peden, Tim Bray, and Brandon Pizzurro in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| GGIZX | GuideStone Funds Balanced Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, and Thomas Seto will join Matt Peden, Tim Bray, and Brandon Pizzurro in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| GFIZX | GuideStone Funds Conservative Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, and Thomas Seto will join Matt Peden, Tim Bray, and Brandon Pizzurro in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| GCOZX | GuideStone Funds Growth Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, and Thomas Seto will join Matt Peden, Tim Bray, and Brandon Pizzurro in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| Various | GuideStone Funds MyDestination Funds, 2015 to 2055 | No one, but . . . | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, and Thomas Seto will join Matt Peden, Tim Bray, and Brandon Pizzurro in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| GFSZX | GuideStone Funds Strategic Alternatives Fund | David Baker will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Paul Bouchey, Ricky Fong, Justin Henne, Warren Naphtal, Thomas Seto, and David Souza will join the team in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| GGBEX | Guidestone Global Bond Fund | Effective as of March 1, 2021, Daniel Fuss will no longer serve as a portfolio manager. | Effective March 1, 2021, Matthew Eagan, Brian Kennedy, and Elaine Stokes will remain as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| GFSYX | Guidestone Strategic Alternatives Fund | Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC will no longer serve as sub-adviser to the fund, and David Baker will no longer manage the fund. | The other 18 or so managers remain. | 12/20 |
| OPTFX | Invesco Capital Appreciation Fund | Ido Cohen and Erik Voss are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Ash Shah and Ronald Zibelli now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| JIREX | JHancock Real Estate Securities Fund | John Vojticek, David Zonavetch, and Robert Thomas will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Bradford Stoesser will now serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| VHIAX | JPMorgan Growth Advantage Fund | No one, but . . . | Felise Agranoff will join Timothy Parton in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| OLGAX | JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund | No one, but . . . | Holly Fleiss, Larry Lee, and Joseph Wilson will join Giri Devulapally as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| JCMAX | JPMorgan Mid Cap Equity Fund | No one, but . . . | Felise Agranoff and Lawrence Playford will join Timothy Parton and Jonathan Simon in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| PECAX | JPMorgan SMID Cap Equity Fund | Wonseok Choi, Akash Gupta, Jonathan Tse, Lindsey Houghton, and Phillip Hart will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Daniel Percella and Don San Jose will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| EMBOX | Lazard Emerging Markets Strategic Equity Portfolio | James Donald, Jai Jacob, Stephen Marra, Erianna Khusainova, and Kim Tilley are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Rohit Chopra, Ganesh Ramachandran, and John Reinsberg will begin managing the fund in February 2021. | 12/20 |
| LABAX | Loomis Sayles Strategic Alpha Fund | Effective January 8, 2021, Kevin Kearns will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Brian Kennedy and Elaine Stokes will join the fund’s portfolio management team. | 12/20 |
| MGRIX | Marsico Growth Fund | No one but… | Effective December 21, 2020, James Marsico joins Thomas Marsico, Brandon Geisler, and Peter Marsico as a co-manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| MMBDX | MassMutual Premier Balanced Fund | Stephen Ehrenberg, Scott Simler, Douglas Trevallion, Chris Cao, Michael Farrell, and David Nagle will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Jacob Borbidge, Matthew Brill, Pratik Doshi, Peter Hubbard, Michael Hyman, Michael Jeanette, Duy Nguyen, Todd Schomberg, and Tony Seisser will now be managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| MPGAX | MassMutual Premier Disciplined Growth Fund | Chris Cao and Michael Farrell will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Thomas Simon and Gregg Thomas will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| MEPAX | MassMutual Premier Disciplined Value Fund | Chris Cao and Michael Farrell will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Thomas Simon and Gregg Thomas will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| MCQAX | Morgan Stanley Global Concentrated Real Estate Fund | Theodore Bigman will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Laurel Durkay manages the fund. | 12/20 |
| MUSDX | Morgan Stanley Inst US Real Estate Fund | Theodore Bigman will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Laurel Durkay manages the fund. | 12/20 |
| NWUAX | Nationwide U.S. Small Cap Value Fund | Marc Leblond, Joel Schneider, and Jed Fogdall will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Ryan Cope and Jeff John will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| NGLAX | Neuberger Berman Global Allocation Fund | Brad Tank and Ajay Jain will cease their portfolio management responsibilities on December 31, 2020. | Effective December 31, 2020, Robert Surgent and Tokufumi Kato will join Erik Knutzen, who has managed the Fund since January 2015, in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| PCPAX | PACE Large Co Value Equity Investments | David Cohen, Stephanie McGirr, Andrew McIntosh, Thomas Forsha, Henry Saunders, James Shircliff, David Pyle, Thomas Stevens, Mark Donovan, and Martin MacDonnell will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Matthew Hand, Michael Reckmeyer, Laina Draegar will join the team as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| ROCKX | Rockefeller Equity Allocation Fund | Jimmy Chang has resigned as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Effective immediately, Michael Seo will become a portfolio manager of the fund. | 12/20 |
| RNWOX | Rondure New World Fund | No one but… | Lydia So will join Laura Geritz in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| SCPAX | SEI Institutional Investments Trust Large Cap Disciplined Equity Fund | Haijie Chen, Denis Suvorov, Brian Kramp, and Gregory Rogers will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Ryan Taliaferro, Brendan Bradley, Gregory McIntire, and Nimrit Kang will join the team in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| SLCAX | SEI Institutional Investments Trust Large Cap Fund | Gregory Rogers and Brian Kramp will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Ryan Taliaferro, Brendan Bradley, Gregory McIntire, and Nimrit Kang will join the team in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| SIEMX | Sit Emerging Markets Equity | James Donald, Peter Gillespie, Kevin O’Hare, and John Reinsberg are no longer listed as portfolio managers for the fund, and Lazard will no longer subadvise. | Jaap van der Hart and Fabiana Fedeli, from Robeco, join the other 15 managers on the management team. | 12/20 |
| CRDOX | Six Circles Credit Opportunities Fund | No one, but . . . | Kathryn Glass, Thomas Scherr, Steven Wagner will join the portfolio management team for the fund. | 12/20 |
| CGLBX | Six Circles Global Bond Fund | No one, but . . . | Munish Gupta of Pacific Investment Management Company joins the management team for the fund. | 12/20 |
| CUTAX | Six Circles Tax Aware Ultra Short Duration Fund | No one, but . . . | Andrew Wittkop of Pacific Investment Management Company joins the management team for the fund. | 12/20 |
| CUSDX | Six Circles Ultra Short Duration Fund | No one, but . . . | Andrew Wittkop of Pacific Investment Management Company joins the management team for the fund. | 12/20 |
| XLSR | SPDR SSGA U.S. Sector Rotation | No one but… | Jeremiah Holly joins Michael Martel and Michael Narkiewicz in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| SGDLX | Sprott Gold Equity Fund | No one, but . . . | Shree Kargutkar and Maria Smirnova join Douglas Groh and John Hathaway in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| TRGRX | T. Rowe Price Global Real Estate Fund | Effective April 1, 2021, Nina Jones will transition from her role as a portfolio manager of the fund. | Jai Kapadia will become portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| PRIDX | T. Rowe Price International Discovery Fund | Effective January 1, 2021, Justin Thomson will step down as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Ben Griffiths will continue as the sole portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TFALX | Tactical Conservative Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | David Moenning and Jeff Pietsch have joined the management team of the fund. | 12/20 |
| TFAEX | Tactical Growth Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | David Moenning and Jeff Pietsch have joined the management team of the fund. | 12/20 |
| TFAMX | Tactical Moderate Allocation Fund | No one, but . . . | David Moenning and Jeff Pietsch have joined the management team of the fund. | 12/20 |
| TEMGX | Templeton Global Smaller Companies Fund | No one but… | Heather Waddell will join Harlan Hodes and David Tuttle as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TVAFX | Thornburg Small/Mid Cap Core Fund | Robert MacDonald will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Steven Klopukh will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| THCGX | Thornburg Small/Mid Cap Growth Fund | Greg Dunn will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Steven Klopukh and Timothy McCarthy will now manage the fund. | 12/20 |
| TEQAX | Touchstone Global ESG Equity Fund | Jimmy Chang will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Michael Seo has joined David Harris in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| TPYAX | Touchstone International ESG Equity Fund | Jimmy Chang will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Michael Seo has joined David Harris in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| TNSAX | Touchstone International Growth Fund | No one but… | David McVey and Kenneth Yang join Daniel Strickberger in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| TSAGX | Touchstone Large Company Growth Fund | No one but… | David McVey and Kenneth Yang join Daniel Strickberger in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| TWQAX | Transamerica Large Cap Value Fund | Christopher Susanin and Jack Murphy will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Jeff Agne and Paul Roukis will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TDFAX | Transamerica Sustainable Equity Income | Brad Kinkelaar, Brian Quinn, and Lewis Ropp will no longer be listed as portfolio managers for the fund. | Robin Black, Mark Peden will now serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TTAI | TrimTabs International Free Cash Flow Quality ETF | Janet Johnston is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Bob Shea and Vince Chen will now serve as the portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| TTAC | TrimTabs U.S. Free Cash Flow Quality ETF | Janet Johnston is no longer listed as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Bob Shea and Vince Chen will now serve as the portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| VGWIX | Vanguard Global Wellesley Income Fund | On June 30, 2021, Michael E. Stack will retire from Wellington Management Company and will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Loren Moran and Andre Desautels, who currently serve as portfolio managers with Mr. Stack, will remain as portfolio managers of the fund upon Mr. Stack’s retirement. | 12/20 |
| SGAAX | Virtus SGA Global Growth Fund | George Fraise will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Hrishikesh Gupta has joined Gordon Marchand and Robert Rohn in managing the fund. | 12/20 |
| WMNAX | Westwood Alternative Income Fund | David Clott and Shawn Mato will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Adrian Helfert and Seth Gold will now serve as the portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| WSDAX | Westwood High Income Fund | Brendan Ryan will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Hussein Adatia and Scott Barnard join Adrian Helfert as portfolio managers for the fund. | 12/20 |
| WWIAX | Westwood Income Opportunity Fund | David Clott will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Scott Barnard joins Adrian Helfert as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| WWTAX | Westwood Total Return Fund | David Clott, Adrian Helfert, and Shawn Mato will no longer serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | Adrian Helfert will now serve as the portfolio manager for the fund. | 12/20 |
| WBSIX | William Blair Small Cap Growth Fund | Michael Balkin will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Mark Thompson and Ward Sexton continue to manage the fund. | 12/20 |
