Eight money managers were recognized with Focus Elite awards this month.
The awards — highlighting strong, cohesive workplace cultures — are distributed by Focus Consulting Group.
The winning firms, announced June 1, included AJO, American Beacon Advisors Inc., Disciplined Growth Investors Inc., Forest Investment Associates, Greystone Managed Investments Inc., Kempen Capital Management and Mawer Investment Management Ltd. The eighth winner requested FCG not identify it. AJO, Disciplined, Forest and Greystone also won last year.
More than 150 firms participated.
Jim Ware, founder of FCG, said investment firms are realizing there is a greater need to establish a strong culture of values and behaviors and have good leaders in addition to strong investment professionals.
“You can't build a strong culture without strong leaders,” Mr. Ware said in a telephone interview.
To become a Focus Elite firm, employees of the firms needed to agree or strongly agree 66% of the time that their firm had effective decision-making; 80% had to choose they were “raving fans” or “happy campers” in terms of loyalty to the company; and a minimum of 75% had to agree that the current culture was able to attract top talent. A firm needed 75% of employees to respond and at least 15 full-time employees to qualify. The eight winners had assets under management of $3.1 billion to $50.6 billion.
