MutualFundWire.com: 18. Keith Hartstein

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

18. Keith Hartstein

Keith Hartstein
President and CEO, John Hancock Funds

Under Keith Hartstein's watch, John Hancock Funds chalked up four straight record sales years since he took charge of the sub-advised fund group in July 2005. The 19-year Hancock veteran and his team were also pioneers of the fund adoption strategy. Hancock has completed nine adoption deals since embarking on the strategy in 2002 -- the latest was the adoption of the Robeco Partners Large Cap Value Fund -- and is currently working on its tenth.

Hartstein joined Hancock in 1990 as a wholesaler, rising to become executive vice president of retail sales and marketing. In the summer of 2005, he succeeded Jamie Shepherdson as president and CEO.

Hartstein channelized sales functions and in two years, he grew the ranks of external wholesalers from 30 to 80 and expanded the internal wholesaler team. In the fall of 2006, Hartstein launched a consulting service group whose role is to call on the analysts/gatekeepers and get Hancock onto recommended lists and model porftolios. That group has grown and its mandate has expanded to include calling on larger RIAs. In 2007, Hartstein formed a team devoted to the defined contribution investment-only business.

The fund firm, owned by Canadian insurance titan Manulife, chalked up sales of about $5.2 billion in 2005, $7.5 billion in 2006 and $7.6 billion in 2007. In 2008, Hancock had a record first quarter with $2.6 billion and followed it up with $2.5 billion in the second quarter, its second best quarter in history. It ended 2008 with $8.5 billion of sales.

Sales have also become more diversified. In 2006, one fund accounted for two-thirds of sales. Now, no single fund represents more than 20 percent of sales; the top five funds together account for 65 percent.

Hancock, which currently counts 55 wholesalers, has seen assets rebound to about $25 billion from a bottom of $16.7 billion in early March.

Hartstein, who is also a nationally and internationally-ranked sabre fencer, bagged Fund Action and Fund Directions' Sales Success of the Year Award in 2004 for increasing sales of the John Hancock Classic Value Fund by 648 percent, from $187 million in 2003 to $1.4 billion in 2004. He chaired the Investment Company Institute Sales Force Marketing Committee from 2003 through 2007.

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