A thirty-year-old asset manager in the Lone Star State is rebranding.

Michael Kern Crossmark Global Investments CEO

Yesterday Capstone Financial Services [profile] president and CEO Mike Kern confirmed that the Houston, Texas-based shop is changing its name to Crossmark Global Investments. The firm, which advises the Steward Funds series of mutual funds, is pitching the new brand as representing "the intersection of clients' values and their investment choices."

The new brand embodies the firm's "longstanding commitment to responsible investing," Kern states. "Investment portfolios can align with clients' personal values without sacrificing performance."

As of June 30, Capstone had $5 billion in AUM, and 75 percent of that AUM is being screened according to "a variety of responsible investing themes."

"This has really been a six-month journey for us," David Rentfrow, who joined Capstone (now Crossmark) in January, tells MFWire. "We went all in, hired a branding consultant ... [and] we did hire a new design firm and web developer, also an awesome PR firm."

"We're not going at this in a little way," Rentfrow adds.

The Capstone team started by doing "a lot of soul-searching," Rentfrow says. He recalls the old rule that "you've got to own your brand" and notes that there are many other Capstones out there. And he notes that, despite having "a longstanding legacy in responsible investing," Capstone wasn't marketing itself that way.

Capstone teamed up with branding consultant Art Smith, a veteran of supporting big broker-dealers and banks. After some internal and external research, they came up with "Crossmark". Then they brought in Austin-based design agency Glide, revamped their web presence with a "whole new website with a whole new look and feel," and teamed up with Dukas Linden Public Relations.

"There are going to be two survivors in the asset management world: large behemoths and small boutiques with a well-defined marketplace that they can clearly articulate," Rentfrow says. "There are a ton of boutique asset managers out there that are basically lost at sea ... We are confident in the value that we are bringing to the marketplace." 

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