As Mark Zinkula sorts through his new remit, his firm retains its Average Parent rating.
Zinkula took over Thornburg's top post in October 2023, a few months after previous CEO Jason Brady announced his intention to step down by year-end. Zinkula had previously led London-based Legal & General Investment Management from 2011 to 2019, and his experience in leading growth initiatives across varied geographies could be welcome at Thornburg, which is based in Sante Fe, New Mexico. The firm has expanded into a variety of asset classes and has launched UCITS versions of its several strategies in the decades following its start as a municipal-bond fund shop under founder Garrett Thornburg in the early 1980s. Yet the firm's assets under management remain heavily concentrated in the United States, and most of the firm's recent fund launches have yet to collect significant assets.
Brady's departure accentuates Thornburg's succession challenges. Though turnover has slowed recently under co-heads of investments Jeff Klingelhofer and Ben Kirby, the firm's analyst and portfolio manager roster had seen a bevy of departures and retirements from 2018 through early 2023. Garrett Thornburg, moreover, remains the firm's most significant shareholder directly or through family trusts despite programs to increase employee ownership.