Founder Nick Kaiser stepped down from portfolio management duties in May 2020 while remaining the firm's global strategist, the latest step in a well-considered succession plan dating back more than a decade. This included the appointment of Scott Klimo as chief investment officer in 2016 and a transfer of firm control in 2018 to Kaiser's daughter Jane Carten, who has been Saturna's president since 2009. The firm has also added steadily to the investment team over time, but it still has the feel of an investment boutique, with$ 6 billion in assets under management and a dozen portfolio managers and analysts as of early 2023.
The Amana funds are managed in accordance with Islamic principles, which include treating everyone equally and avoiding excessive risks. Although aimed at Muslim investors, the funds' strong long-term performance has attracted plenty of non-Muslims as well. Saturna is based in Bellingham, Washington, but its office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gives it access to a center of Islamic finance, and it has launched both additional Islamic-oriented strategies and newer sustainability-focused strategies over the past decade as it has grown. Higher-than-average expenses are the funds' main weakness, but those expenses have come down over the past few years.