MutualFundWire.com: A Connecticut Asset Manager Expands Into Chitown

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

A Connecticut Asset Manager Expands Into Chitown

O’Shaughnessy Asset Management [profile] (OSAM) is expanding into Chicago. The Stamford, Connecticut-based mutual fund shop hired David Baeckelandt to serve as managing director, institutional sales and client service, and to lead the new office.

According to OSAM, Chicago-based Baeckelandt will be responsible for institutional sales and client service for large domestic and foreign plan sponsors – and for managing consultant relationships.

"What we were looking for is somebody who had experience in the institutional channel, who understood consultants and plan sponsors-- whether a public plan or corporate plan," Chris Loveless, O'Shaughnessy's president and chief operating officer told MFWire. " As we looked across all of the candidates from all across the country, he really stood out from an experience perspective. We love that he worked with Mercer, and his experience with plan sponsor."

The fact that Baeckelandt is based in Chicago is also important for OSAM's institutional push, according to Loveless.

"Chicago is really a critical market. This is a hotbed for consulting firms and many of the plan sponsors. We were really hoping our candidate would come from Chicago," he said.

The Chicago office will be focused on sales and client service. No investment professionals will be based there. It is expected to open in January, initially with just Baeckelandt but ultimately growing to possibly as many as four sales people, Loveless said.

Company Press Release
O’Shaughnessy Asset Management Hires Institutional Sales Veteran
David W. Baeckelandt Joins Quantitative Money Management Firm; Will Head OSAM’s New Chicago Office

STAMFORD, Conn.--O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM), a quantitative money management firm with approximately $4.8 billion in assets under management, today announced the appointment of David W. Baeckelandt as Managing Director, Institutional Sales and Client Service. Baeckelandt will be based in Chicago, where OSAM is opening a new office.

“With an extraordinary research team using highly sophisticated technology, OSAM offers the science and products that clients want and need, particularly in today’s environment.”

Baeckelandt will be responsible for institutional sales and client service for large domestic and foreign plan sponsors – and for managing consultant relationships. He also will head the firm’s new Chicago office, expanding OSAM’s U.S. footprint and further enhancing the firm’s institutional sales and client service capabilities in the Midwest.

“David brings nearly 30 years of experience and institutional relationships to O’Shaughnessy Asset Management,” says Chris Loveless, President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Institutional Sales and Client Service, OSAM. “He comes to this role with a unique combination of proven success, experience, contacts and motivation. This combination will help drive institutional sales while ensuring that we continue to meet our clients’ investment objectives and provide superior client service.”

Prior to joining OSAM, Baeckelandt was Director of Sales and Marketing at Segall Bryant & Hamill, a Chicago-based investment management firm, where he focused on large corporate and public plan sponsors in the United States and Canada. Before that, he served as Principal and Director of the Analytics and Research Group at Mercer Investment Consulting. Previously, Baeckelandt set up and ran the Japanese subsidiary of William Blair & Co. He holds an M.A. and a B.A. in History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He sits on two non-profit boards: Belgian Publishing Inc. and Japan-America Society of Chicago.

“I’m thrilled to join O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, where I will have the exciting opportunity to help build a firm that consistently relies on long-term, empirical evidence over short-term market movements,” says Baeckelandt, Managing Director, Institutional Sales and Client Service, OSAM. “With an extraordinary research team using highly sophisticated technology, OSAM offers the science and products that clients want and need, particularly in today’s environment.”

About O’Shaughnessy Asset Management

Based in Stamford, Conn., O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM) is a quantitative money management firm that provides a broad range of equity portfolios to institutional investors and the high-net-worth clients of financial advisory firms and independent financial advisors. The firm also manages mutual funds in the United States and serves as a sub-advisor to a family of Canadian mutual funds through the Royal Bank of Canada.

OSAM’s investment strategies are based on years of research by Chairman, CEO and CIO Jim O’Shaughnessy, a known pioneer in quantitative equity analysis. OSAM’s exhaustive research reveals the historical characteristics that have led to successful investing over the last 80-plus years. This research forms the basis of OSAM’s common-sense investment strategy: buying quality companies with superior valuation, momentum and yield. For more information, visit www.osam.com.