A 34-year-old, independent series trust pioneer recently added its first full-time chief.

Steven Bryan "Steve" Plump The RBB Fund, Inc. President, CEO

On Monday, Arnie Reichman, chairman of the board of the RBB Fund, Inc. and the RBB Fund Trust, confirmed that Steve Plump has joined RBB as both CEO (a newly created position) and president. Short Hills, New Jersey-based Plump recently left Pimco, as previously reported, where he served as head of national accounts. His move to RBB comes after the series trust's founder stepped back last year.

As president of RBB, Plump succeeds longtime president Sal Faia, who will continue to serve as the series trust's chief compliance officer, Reichman confirms. (Faia also leads two firms that are RBB allies: Red Gate Advisers and Vigilant Compliance.) Reichman notes that, under Faia, RBB has grown to about $19 billion in AUM, more than 40 funds, 11 fund firms, and more than 20 unaffiliated subadvisors. (RBB launched in 1988 and lays claim to being the first series trust in the U.S.)

Faia did not return a call for comment.

"We had a remarkable president ... We couldn't operate without him," Reichman says of Faia. "He's a vital piece of RBB. He's part of our fabric, historically and going forward."

Hiring a full-time president and CEO now, Reichman tells MFWire, is about RBB's commitment to growth.

"In order for us to continue to lower costs for our shareholders, we have a desite to continue to grow ... Through growing assets, we achieve operating efficiencies," Reichman says, noting that all RBB's contracts have "significant breakpoints in fees at larger asset levels." "We created a new job for somebody that can now be full time, focusing solely on the strategic interest of RBB."

"We're in a dynamic space competing with vibrant competitors," Reichman adds. "We realized that at this scale, we really need a full-time executive who could support all of the board members and focus on the growth of the fund, in order to compete."

And that is where Plump comes in. Plump worked under Reichman back in the 1990s, when the latter served as senior managing partner of Warburg Pincus Asset Management. Reichman notes that the duo share an "entrepreneurial background."

"I knew Steve had the right combination of managerial skills, business acumen in financial services, and was approaching a point in his life where he might be interested in assuming a new kind of role for himself ... I've followed his career with interest over all these years," Reichman says. "He'll be a great addition."

Plump, for his part, lauds the RBB team as "best-in-class."

"RBB's rapidly expanding ETF platform is highly responsive to current marketplace trends, and I'm honored to lead the oldest and largest multiple series trust that continually adapts to serve its advisors," Plump states.

Plump joined Allianz GI back in 2007, then shifted to Pimco in 2011. Before that, he led Credit Suisse Funds and worked with Warburg Pincus AM (which Credit Suisse bought in 1999) and GNA. He attended Cornell University. 

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