The Milwaukee-based firm is preparing for the future in its usual prudent manner. Although no retirement plans are imminent, CIO Pat English and COO John Brandser announced their intentions to begin transitioning responsibilities to the next generation at the end of 2022. Each has anointed a successor to lead the investment and operations teams. Over recent years, firm co-founder Ted Kellner, who retired from the board in 2017, has continued to distribute his ownership stake amongst other staff. This, along with industry-leading portfolio-manager investment in the firm’s strategies, help align the team’s interests with clients'. FMI holds no debt and runs its business conservatively. Altogether, FMI’s approach sets the firm up to endure as an employee-owned, independent boutique.
Its long-term, deliberate business management reflects the same kind of discipline the firm employs in its investment approach. Although outflows have accompanied its equity lineup’s mixed fortunes in recent years, bringing assets under management to USD 12.7 billion as of September 2022 from USD 26 billion at year-end 2017, the investment team sticks to a low-turnover, value-oriented process. The firm has also cut fees to keep them in line with active peers’ and closed strategies to preserve capacity.