Each month we track changes to the management teams of actively managed, equity-oriented funds and ETFs. That excludes index funds and most fixed income funds. The index fund exclusion is pretty straightforward: in a passive fund, the managers are interchangeable cogs whose presence or absence is almost always inconsequential to the fund’s performance.
Similarly, most bond fund managers have a very limited ability to add value. Over the past 10 years, for instance, the top performing Core Bond fund in the Lipper universe outperformed its peers by just 1% per year with a virtually identical Sharpe ratio (0.98 for the top returning fund, 0.97 for the average fund). The best global income and flexible income managers outperformed by 3.5 and 2.4%, respectively, which is comparable to the margin between the best large-core equity fund managers and the pack.
This month, over 60 funds saw changes in their management teams … though the departure of Lukas J. Smart accounts for 23 of those changes.
| Ticker | Fund | Out with the old | In with the new | Dt |
| BTLKX | Baillie Gifford International Concentrated Growth Equities Fund | James Anderson is expected to retire on or about April 30, 2022. | Lawrence Burns and Paulina Sliwinska will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| BGEUX | Baillie Gifford International Growth Fund | James Anderson is expected to retire on or about April 30, 2022. | Thomas Coutts, Lawrence Burns, Brian Lum, and Julia Angeles will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| BICIX | Baillie Gifford International Smaller Companies | No one, but… | Charlie Broughton, holder of an MA (Hons) in Medieval History and Archaeology from University of St Andrews joins Praveen Kumar, Brian Lum, Milena Mileva and Steve Vaughan. | 3/21 |
| BXMDX | Blackstone Alternative Multi-Strategy | Effective March 10, 2021, Shelter Growth Capital Partners LLC no longer serves as a sub-adviser to the fund and Gideon Berger no longer serves as a portfolio manager of the fund. | The other existing portfolio managers, Raymond Chan, Min Htoo, Robert Jordan, Ian Morris, Stephen Sullens, and Alberto Santulin, will continue to serve as portfolio managers of the fund. | 3/21 |
| WSBFX | Boston Trust Walden Balanced | William H. Apfel has announced his retirement. Effective after the close of business on June 30, 2021, Mr. Apfel will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Stephen J. Amyouny, Tchintcia S. Barros and Sean A. Cameron remain onboard | 3/21 |
| WSEFX | Boston Trust Walden Equity | William H. Apfel has announced his retirement. Effective after the close of business on June 30, 2021, Mr. Apfel will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Stephen J. Amyouny, Tchintcia S. Barros and Sean A. Cameron remain onboard | 3/21 |
| WIEFX | Boston Trust Walden International Equity | William H. Apfel has announced his retirement. Effective after the close of business on June 30, 2021, Mr. Apfel will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Messrs. Riley and Sandell will remain Co-Portfolio Managers | 3/21 |
| CAVAX | Catholic Values Equity Fund | No one, but… | R Todd Vingers has joined the managing team. | 3/21 |
| SFVCX | Clearbridge All Cap Value Fund | No one, but… | Reed Cassady, sporting a BA in Music as well as his MBA, is added. | 3/21 |
| CEMRX | Columbia Emerging Markets Fund | Young Kim will no longer serve as portfolio manager for the fund. | Darren Powell joins the existing team: Dara White, Robert Cameron Perry Vickery, Derek Lin, CFA. | 3/21 |
| CSEYX | Columbia Select Global Equity Fund | Darren Powell has left the fund. | David Dudding and Alex Lee remain. | 3/21 |
| CRSOX | Credit Suisse Commodity Return Strategy Fund | Effective immediately, Bryant Lie will no longer be a portfolio manager of the fund. | Christopher Burton will continue to manage the fund. | 3/21 |
| DFMVX | DFA Tax-Managed U.S. Marketwide Value Portfolio II | In a Smart move, Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall and Joel Schneider will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| DFUVX | DFA U.S. Large Cap Value Portfolio III | Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall and Joel Schneider will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| DFUSX | DFA U.S. Large Company Portfolio | Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall, Joseph Hohn, and Joel Schneider will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| DFQTX | Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF | Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall and Joel Schneider remain | 3/21 |
| DFEOX | Dimensional U.S. Core Equity ETF | Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall and Joel Schneider remain | 3/21 |
| DFAU | Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF | Lukas J. Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Jed Fogdall and Joseph Hohn will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| SFAFX | Goldman Sachs Strategic Factor Allocation | Effective immediately, Nishank Modi no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the fund. | James Park has been added as a portfolio manager for the fund. Federico Gilly and Patrick Hartnett will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| GGIUX | Goldman Sachs U.S. Mortgages Fund | Effective March 31, 2021, Christopher J. Creed will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Christopher J. Hogan and Matthew T. Kaiser will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| HHCAX | Highland Healthcare Opportunities | Effective immediately, Nate Burns will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | James Dondero continues to serve as portfolio manager for the fund and is primarily responsible for the fund’s investments. | 3/21 |
| JNVYX | Jensen Quality Value | No one but… | Tyra Pratt and Jorge Rivas join Eric Schoenstein, Kurt Havnaer, and Adam Calamar as portfolio manager for the fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMC | John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Discretionary ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMS | John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Staples ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMD | John Hancock Multifactor Developed International ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHEM | John Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHME | John Hancock Multifactor Energy ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMF | John Hancock Multifactor Financials ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMH | John Hancock Multifactor Healthcare ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMI | John Hancock Multifactor Industrials ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHML | John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMS | John Hancock Multifactor Materials ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHCS | John Hancock Multifactor Media and Communications ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMM | John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHSC | John Hancock Multifactor Small Cap ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMT | John Hancock Multifactor Technology ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JHMU | John Hancock Multifactor Utilities ETF | Lukas Smart no longer serves as a portfolio manager for the Funds. | Effective immediately, Andres Torres is added as a portfolio manager for each Fund. Joseph Hohn and Joel Schneider will continue as portfolio managers of each Fund. | 3/21 |
| JPMOX | JPMorgan Macro Opportunities Fund | No one, but . . . | Virginia Martin Heriz joins Shrenick Shah, Benoit Lanctot, and Josh Berelowitz on the management team. | 3/21 |
| JMNAX | JPMorgan Research Market Neutral Fund | Effective immediately, Laura Huang is on primary caregiver leave and will not be involved in the day-to-day management of the fund. | During the time Ms. Huang is on leave, Steven Lee and Raffaele Zingone will continue to manage the fund. | 3/21 |
| JPDEX | JPMorgan Tax Aware Equity Fund | Effective immediately, Laura Huang is on primary caregiver leave and will not be involved in the day-to-day management of the fund. | During the time Ms. Huang is on leave, Susan Boa will continue to manage the fund. | 3/21 |
| MEMQX | Mercer Emerging Markets Equity | Dimensional Fund Advisors LP and Mondrian Investment Partners Limited have been terminated as subadvisors for the fund. | Grantham, Mayo & Van Otterloo (GMO) and BennBridge US LLC have been selected to replace them. | 3/21 |
| MAKAX | Morgan Stanley China Equity | No one, but . . . | Leon Sun joins Amay Hattangadi in managing the fund. | 3/21 |
| PEMCX | Principal Edge Midcap Fund | No one, but … | Lauren Choi joins Daniel Coleman and Theodore Jayne of Principal Global Investors, LLC as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 3/21 |
| RCIRX | Regan Total Return Income | Effective immediately, Mr. Arup Saha no longer serves as portfolio manager to the Regan Total Return Income Fund. | Messrs. Skyler Weinand and Chris Hall will remain as portfolio managers for the Fund. | 3/21 |
| RNWIX | Rondure New World | No one but… | Blake Clayton and Jennifer Dunne join Laura Geritz and Lydia So as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| ROSOX | Rondure Overseas | No one but… | Jennifer Dunne joins Blake Clayton, Laura Geritz and Lydia So as a portfolio manager for the fund. | 3/21 |
| CRDOX | Six Circles Credit Opportunities | No one but… | On March 3, 2021, the Board approved BlueBay Asset Management and Muzinich & Co. Inc. as additional sub-advisers to the Fund effective March 12, 2021. They join BlackRock Investment, PGIM, Federated and Lord Abbett on the management team of the $24 million fund. | 3/21 |
| SULR | SmartETFs Sustainable Energy II ETF | Effective immediately, Edward Guinness no longer serves as a portfolio manager. | Jonathan Waghorn and Will Riley, of Guinness Atkinson Asset Management, the Fund’s investment adviser, continue to serve as portfolio managers of the Fund. | 3/21 |
| SCJIX | Steward Covered Call Income Fund | No one, but… | Ryan Caylor joins Paul Townsen to serve as co-portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| SGIFX | Steward Global Equity Income Fund | No one, but… | Ryan Caylor and Brent Lium join John Wolf as co-portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| SPGEX | Symmetry Panoramic Global Equity | Lukas J. Smart is no longer a portfolio manager for the fund. | The portion of the fund’s portfolio managed by DFA is managed by a team that includes Jed S. Fogdall and Joel P. Schneider. | 3/21 |
| SPUSX | Symmetry Panoramic US Equity | Lukas J. Smart is no longer a portfolio manager for the fund. | The portion of the fund’s portfolio managed by DFA is managed by a team that includes Jed S. Fogdall and Joel P. Schneider. | 3/21 |
| USIFX | USAA International Fund | Effective March 1, 2021, Lazard Asset Management LLC is no longer a subadviser for the fund. | Effective immediately, THB Asset Management, an investment franchise of Victory Capital Management Inc., has been added as a portfolio management team responsible for managing all or a portion of the fund. | 3/21 |
| USCAX | USAA Small Cap Stock Fund | Effective March 19, 2021, Wellington Management Company LLP is no longer a subadviser for the fund. | Effective immediately, Integrity Asset Management and THB Asset Management, investment franchises of Victory Capital Management Inc., have been added to the fund’s portfolio management team responsible for managing all or a portion of the fund. | 3/21 |
| VWELX | Vanguard Wellington Fund | Effective at the close of business on June 30, 2021, Michael E. Stack will retire from Wellington Management Company LLP and will no longer serve as a portfolio manager for the fund. | Loren Moran and Daniel Pozen, who currently serve as portfolio managers with Mr. Stack, will remain as portfolio managers of the fund upon Mr. Stack’s retirement. | 3/21 |
| VWUSX | Vanguard U.S. Growth | Jackson Square Partners, LLC has been removed as a sub-advisor to the fund. | Cesar Orosco, James Stetler, Binbin Guo, Tom Slater, Gary Robinson, Kathleen McCarragher, Blair Boyer, and Andrew Shilling will continue to manage for the fund. | 3/21 |
| VSL | Volshares Large Cap ETF | Austin Wen and Rafael Zayas are the old team. | Effective immediately, Rosenblatt Global Advisors, LLC has become the sub-adviser to the Fund, and Scott R. Burrill, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer of RGA, will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. | 3/21 |
| WEGRX | Wells Fargo Emerging Growth Fund | Joseph M. Eberhardy, CFA, CPA has announced his intention to retire from Wells Capital Management Incorporated on June 30, 2021. He will continue to serve as a portfolio manager of the fund until June 30, 2021. | Thomas Ognar, Robert Gruendyke, and David Nazaret will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| SGRHX | Wells Fargo Growth Fund | Joseph M. Eberhardy, CFA, CPA has announced his intention to retire from Wells Capital Management Incorporated on June 30, 2021. He will continue to serve as a portfolio manager of the fund until June 30, 2021. | Thomas Ognar and Robert Gruendyke will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| SLGRX | Wells Fargo Large Cap Growth Fund | Joseph M. Eberhardy, CFA, CPA has announced his intention to retire from Wells Capital Management Incorporated on June 30, 2021. He will continue to serve as a portfolio manager of the fund until June 30, 2021. | Thomas Ognar and Robert Gruendyke will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
| EKJFX | Wells Fargo Premier Large Company Growth Fund | Joseph M. Eberhardy, CFA, CPA has announced his intention to retire from Wells Capital Management Incorporated on June 30, 2021. He will continue to serve as a portfolio manager of the fund until June 30, 2021. | Thomas Ognar and Robert Gruendyke will continue to serve as portfolio managers for the fund. | 3/21 |
