Contact:
Chip Bergstrom
Buttonwood Communications Group
617-784-6145
Active Managers Council Announces New Committee Members and Leadership for 2019-2020
Washington, D.C. – August 22, 2019 – The Investment Adviser Association’s Active Managers Council announced today new Committee and Task Force leadership and growing membership for the Council which already includes some of the largest, most recognizable brands in the investment industry.
The 2019-2020 Steering Committee is composed of:
- AMG
- Ariel Investments
- Fidelity Management and Research Company
- Franklin Templeton Investments
- Harding Loevner
- Invesco
- P. Morgan Asset Management
- MFS Investment Management
- Natixis Investment Managers
The Council’s efforts are organized around three initiatives: the Policy Task Force, which engages with regulators, policy makers and influencers; the Research Task Force, which develops or underwrites research to educate the marketplace on the value of active management, and the Communications Task Force, which is charged with promoting the Council’s efforts to balance the narrative on active and passive management. All three Task Force committees, as well as the Steering Committee, will have new leadership for 2019-2020:
- Dave Lafferty, Chief Market Strategist, Natixis Investment Managers, will serve as Chair of the Steering Committee
- Chris Carsman, Senior Policy Advisor, AMG, will continue serving as Policy Task Force Chair
- David McSpadden, EVP-Global Marketing, Franklin Templeton Investments, will serve as Chair of the Communications Task Force
- Darby Nielson, Managing Director of Research, Fidelity Investments, will serve as Chair of the Research Task Force
In addition, the Council is pleased to announce continued growth with the addition of MFS Investment Management as a Steering Committee member. Ravi Venkataraman, Senior Managing Director of Investment Solutions, will participate on the Steering Committee. MFS executives Heidi Hardin, General Counsel, will serve on the Policy Task Force, Jonathan Hubbard, Managing Director of Investment Solutions Group, will serve on the Research Task Force, and Andy Washburn, Chief Marketing Officer, will serve on the Communications Task Force.
“Our members’ commitment to volunteering their time underscores the importance for the active managers to have a stronger voice in the industry,” said Karen Barr, President & CEO of the Investment Adviser Association. “We are looking forward to building on a productive first year by underwriting new research projects, engaging on policy initiatives and expanding the breadth of our educational resources.”
Since forming in 2018, the Council has underwritten academic research on active management including “Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Active Management: A Review of the Past 20 Years of Academic Literature on Actively Managed Mutual Funds,” authored by professors Martijn Cremers, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame; Jon A. Fulkerson, University of Dayton, and Timothy B. Riley, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, and “Active Management and Market Efficiency,” Professor Russ Wermers of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. These papers as well as other research, commentary and educational content on active management are available at www.activemanagers.com
About the IAA
The Investment Adviser Association (IAA) is the leading trade association representing the interests of SEC-registered investment adviser firms. The IAA’s more than 640 member firms collectively manage assets in excess of $25 trillion for a wide variety of institutional and individual investors. For more information, visit exchange.investmentadviser.org or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
About the AMC
The IAA formed the Active Managers Council to support education and research on the value of active management for investors and the capital markets and to engage on relevant public policy issues. For more information, visit ActiveManagers.com.