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2022 Asset Manager of the Year



                     Large Cap Equity Manager of the Year

                 Wakefield Asset Management
                 Wakefield Large Cap Equity



                   ts concentrated, quantitative strategy
                 Iled Wakefield Asset Management’s
                 top-flight large-cap equity team to a
                 strong 2021, when the portfolio returned
                 roughly 35% and beat the Russell 1000
                 Index by about 9% and winning in the
                 Large Cap Equity category.
                   As Envestnet analysts noted, the firm
                 uses a disciplined approach to take advan-
                 tage of earnings surprises and mispric-
                 ings, identifying companies most likely to
                 exceed consensus earnings estimates. The
                 strategy has achieved an approximately
                 10% earnings beat rate over the market
                 over 20 years, according to Envestnet,
                 which noted the portfolio rebounded last
                 year following a difficult 2020 marked by
                 mega-tech stock dominance.
                   “We’re a little different than most Wall
                 Street or investment firms. We are struc-
                 tured in a way where we actually are not
                 saying we’re necessarily the smartest
                 people out there, but we think we have   G. Todd Gervasini
                 the most rigid discipline, best process. So                           The industry can be very humbling,
                 rather than calling up, talking to CEOs or   Title: Manager         he noted. “You can be all the way on top
                 CFOs about how their company is doing,   Years with firm: 19        and all the way on the bottom within a
                 we look under the hood at hard underly-                             year. Figuring out what your philosophy
                 ing data,” Managing Partner and CIO G.   Years in financial services: 28  is, what your process is and having a
                 Todd Gervasini told Investment Advisor.                             high conviction to that process is really,
                   “We  then  rank  those  stocks  based   Investment/asset class (for   really the key, whether you are a stock-
                 on that. [Next] we overlay that with a   winning category): Large Cap Equity  broker, a financial advisor, a planner or
                 model … that predicts institutional and                             an asset manager.”
                 retail investor behavior in terms of how   Asset management firm:     A good idea or concept doesn’t always
                 supportive they will be of those stocks   Wakefield Asset Management   work in your favor, he said, but it  can
                 or not. Lastly, we couple that with a   Year firm founded: 2003     hurt  you when  it is  changed  in “the
                 very disciplined portfolio construction   Number of employees: 10   middle of the game,” he said. “You have
                 process, which sounds boring, but con-                              to see it all the way through. And that’s
                 trolling  your position  sizes and sector   AUM as of April 30, 2022:   very difficult to do during certain mar-
                 controls leads to a lot of great results for   $864,641,910         ket environments. We’re in one of those
                 us from time to time.”                                              right now [in mid-May]. So I think it’s
                   The discipline has worked well for the 25-year-old portfolio,   staying with your core philosophy and maintaining that North
                 which has outperformed the S&P 500, Gervasini said. It helps   Star, whatever that is for you,” Gervasini added.
                 put Wakefield in a position where they “avoid the irrational   Gervasini’s portfolio has now won Asset Manager of the
                 exuberance on the upside and avoid the irrational pessimism   Year in the Large Cap Equity category twice — previously
                 on the downside,” he added. “So it really helps us in both the   in 2018. ”It means a great deal to us,” Gervasini said. “It’s an
                 bull and the bear markets. And so far last year, and this year,   affirmation of the work that our team is doing and kind of
                 it’s been great.”                                  motivates us to do well.” — Dinah Wisenberg Brin



              26 INVESTMENT ADVISOR JULY/AUGUST 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com
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