What’s in a Name? | Media Mentions | Contact Us
Who’s behind Mutual Fund Observer?
There’s one person and a motley crew and twenty-five thousand.
The “one person” is David Snowball
Since 1984, David has served Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. Augustana is a nationally recognized college of the liberal arts and sciences, founded in 1860, and one of the most international colleges – one-quarter of its students come from other countries and hundreds travel abroad for study each year – in the country. His positions have included Director of Debate, Director of the Austin E. Knowlton Honors Program, Director of the Institute for Leadership and Service, Dean of the College, chair of the division of Fine and Performing Arts, chair of Communication Studies (for about 25 years), and Wendy’s friend (for about 35).
For those interested, David’s teaching portfolio at the college includes:
- Introduction to the Liberal Arts
- Advertising and Consumer Culture
- Propaganda in the 20th Century and Beyond
- Communication and Emerging Technologies
For a quarter century, David competed in academic debate and coached college debate teams to over 1500 individual victories and 50 tournament championships. When he retired from that research-intensive endeavor, his interest turned to researching fund investing and fund communication strategies.
David served as the closing moderator of Brill’s Mutual Funds Interactive (a Forbes “Best of the Web” site). From 2006-2011, he was the Senior Fund Analyst at FundAlarm and author of over 120 fund profiles. His monthly column was read by around 5000 people. His work has been cited in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Business Week, and on the web, at Motley Fool, MSN Money, CBS Marketwatch, and elsewhere.
David lives in Davenport, Iowa, with Chip, who he finally had the sense to marry in 2024 after a long partnership.
The motley crew
And the real brains behind the brains of the operation are . . .
Chip, aka Cheryl Snowball, the Observer’s technical director, handles all of our monthly site updates and most of the programming unrelated to the discussion board. Chip serves as the chief information officer and chief information security officer for the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, after a stint as their dean of curriculum. Chip’s currently in search of a new hobby or two, ones which won’t frighten either her adult son or her staff too badly. If you’ve got a lead, drop a note to her.
Charles Boccadoro is an associate editor of the Observer and the creator / proprietor / major domo of MFO Premium. MFO Premium is home to an incredible fund screener that simultaneously, and in real-time, allows you to compare and analyze traditional funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and insurance products, side-by-side. He’s also done a series of splendid, data-rich analyses for us, which are permanently enshrined in Charles Balcony. By way of background, Charles describes himself as
Strictly amateur investor. Recently retired aerospace engineer. Graduated MIT in 1981. Investing actively in mutual funds since 2002. Was heavy FAIRX when market headed south in 2008, but fortunately held tight through to recovery. Started reading FundAlarm in 2007 and have followed MFO since inception in May 2011. Tries to hold fewest funds in portfolio, but many good recommendations by MFO community make in nearly impossible (e.g., bought MAINX after recent teleconference). Live in Central Coast California.
Geez, the dude’s an actual rocket scientist.
Barb Bradac is the Observer’s graphic designer and Mistress of the Owl. She spent years crafting Augustana’s visual identity and designing its publications. She has a remarkable aesthetic sense, which is manifested both in her designs and in the decision of Room, Iowa City’s equivalent of House Beautiful, to feature her condo in a recent issue.
Charles Lynn Bolin is one of MFO’s most active and most widely followed writers. Lynn is a retired engineer and MBA who shifted his focus to sharing investment insights and giving back to his community. He spends a lot of time with family, studying the economy and investing, at the gym, exploring the parks, and tasting the culinary pleasures at the local restaurants and Farmer’s Markets. After retiring in June 2022, he began writing monthly for the Mutual Fund Observer, where he specializes in ranking and analyzing more than 750 mutual funds using advanced tools and a rules-based approach to portfolio management. As a contributor to Seeking Alpha, he donates all earnings to charity. Deeply committed to service, Charles volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, building homes for families in need, and supports Neighbor to Neighbor, helping individuals facing financial hardship and homelessness. His work emphasizes medium-term macro and portfolio strategy, ETF investing, and disciplined decision-making.
The Shadow is a long-time member of the MFO community. He’s started over 2300 discussion threads, most focusing on developments in the fund industry. He works in the financial industry, regulating the consumer finance industry in his home state. Shadow’s specialty is sharing word of developments in the finance industry – the comings and goings, launches and liquidations, the fun and the follies – with readers.
The twenty-five thousand people are the Observer community
The Observer exists as a public service, as a place for individuals to interact, grow, learn, and gain confidence. Those of us behind the scenes will do whatever we can to support and encourage you, and to provide you, within the limits of our resources, with the most useful, friendly, and supportive home on the web that we possibly can.
Please take this as your invitation to join in. If you’ve got questions, contact me! If you find the Observer useful, please support us! There are several painless options available.
And if you’re wondering about names, check out What’s in a Name.
