The firm continues to earn an Average Parent rating.
The firm is still relatively new; it was founded in 2018 and in short order acquired nearly all of institutional fixed-income manager CS McKee as well as a clutch of funds from other firms (often taking minority stakes in those firms and retaining them as subadvisors). Thus, the firm’s lineup was in significant flux at first. But the dust has settled: Since 2021, the firm hasn’t invested in any other asset managers or launched new funds, though it has repurposed several struggling funds. The management team has morphed somewhat, with McKee’s COO and CFO now also serving in the same roles at North Square. CEO Mark Goodwin and distribution head Phil Callahan, who left Oak Ridge (now partly owned by North Square) to found this firm, remain on board.
The firm’s lineup holds modest appeal. It’s dominated by active strategies that invest in areas where passive managers have made fewer inroads, such as U.S. small-cap stocks, fixed income, and allocation portfolios. The eight funds with Morningstar ratings average 3.75 stars for risk-adjusted performance while the separate account lineup (all run by McKee) has posted average returns. The firm does not use research analysts to vet potential managers and strategies; instead, Goodwin leads such decisions.