Why Cubs, Incapital Chairman Tom Ricketts Really Likes ‘Sustainable Investing’

What’s more fun—bonds or professional baseball? When asked about the amount of time spent running the day-to-day operations of his Chicago-based investment firm, Incapital, Tom Ricketts doesn’t hesitate.

“I’m actually pretty busy with that baseball team over your shoulder,” Ricketts quips, pointing to a television screen running a highlight reel.

The chairman of both Incapital and the Chicago Cubs (after leading his family’s acquisition in 2009), nonetheless still has a strong hand in the firm, and begins by noting its role as “a pioneer in offering corporate bonds through brokerage firms to investors.”

“We’ve now moved on to distribute additional products such as brokered deposits and UITs,” he adds.

Today, Incapital underwrites and distributes fixed income securities and structured notes through more than 700 broker-dealers, institutions, advisors and wealth managers.

When asked about the firm’s legacy of innovation and how it’s sidestepped the regulatory issues so many other firms have experienced when introducing “great, new products” to the market, only to subsequently go bust, Ricketts simply claims that “Each and every product we’ve offered has been thoroughly thought through from the standpoint of the investor at every level.”

That simplicity translates to everything the firm does.

“We’re very consistent in our messaging; we tell investors not to time the market or put all their eggs in one basket, rather, follow a roadmap and don’t overact to market events.”

Sounds basic enough, but coming from a major league baseball owner seems to give it added heft.