Founded by Bernard Horn in 1995, this Boston-based firm manages around $12 billion in assets in global- and international-equity strategies. Horn once held many business duties but is shedding them. For years, he has relied on CFO Roberto Ramirez and business manager Kathy Jacobs to handle finances and business operations, respectively. At the end of 2023, Jason Crawshaw became executive vice president; he will lead the firm after Horn's departure and will gradually assume Horn's duties.
In research, Sumanta Biswas, Bin Xiao, and Crawshaw serve with Horn as full comanagers with support from a 10-member team that is stable and includes seasoned contributors. The firm's product lineup, including subadvised funds (four offered by long-term partner Pear Tree Advisors) and its flagship Polaris Global Value PGVFX, have compelling records.
Although Crawshaw's promotion is clearly a positive, succession remains an issue. In 2007, Horn began allowing key employees to purchase stock from him (he then owned 100% of it); he accelerated those sales so 12 of 20 Polaris employees now own stock. But as of January 2024, Horn still owned the vast majority of the firm with no plan to retire. Plus, the departure of founders tends to present uncertainty; clients could pull assets.