Co-CEOs John Rogers and Mellody Hobson are capable leaders. Rogers founded the firm in 1983 as the first black-owned mutual fund company and is still involved as the firm's U.S.-equity chief investment officer and as a portfolio manager on four strategies. Hobson, who started at Ariel in 1991, handles the firm's operations and became its largest shareholder after Rogers sold a sizable stake of his firm equity in 2019 to address succession concerns. Rogers and Hobson work well together, and they have long championed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the asset-management industry, including pushing for investments in minority-owned businesses.
Despite some commendable traits, Ariel has encountered some bumps in the road. In August 2023, Ariel's CIO of global equities and portfolio manager Rupal Bhansali abruptly left the firm, which was a significant loss given she ran more than 40% of the firm's assets as of June 2023. Ariel quickly reassigned the fund to Henry Mallari-D'Auria, but his most recent experience has been focused on emerging markets and he joined the firm only in April 2023. Meanwhile, the firm's U.S.-equity strategies have lagged over the past decade because of struggling stock picks. To its credit, the firm has stuck to its long-term value philosophy, and its managers are well-aligned with investors' interests, but these recent hurdles give pause.