MutualFundWire.com: Flaig and Carter Celebrate Their $135MM-AUM Flagship

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Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Flaig and Carter Celebrate Their $135MM-AUM Flagship

The team at a boutique asset manager near Washington, D.C. are celebrating the wood anniversary of their politically-focused flagship fund.

Last week, Bill Flaig, co-founder and CEO of Ridgeline Research LLC, and Tom Carter, co-founder and president, highlighted the recent fifth birthday of the American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). Darnestown, Maryland-based Ridgeline serves as ACVF's investment advisor, while Alpharetta, Georgia-based Vident Asset Management serves as trading subadvisor.

This anniversary could be a key marketing and distribution milestone for ACVF, as many consultants, advisors, and screening tools often automatically exclude from consideration funds with shorter track records.

ACVF launched on October 29, 2020 and comes with an expense ratio of 75 basis points. The ETF now has about $135 million in AUM*, up from about $59 million two years ago.

The same three-person PM team has powered ACVF since inception. That team includes:

Austin Wen, senior portfolio manager at Vident;

Rafael Zayas, head of portfolio management and trading at Vident; and

Carter himself.

Flaig describes ACVF as offering "institutional and retail investors a professional, values-aligned option while targeting competitive returns."

"We are very pleased with our first five years," Carter states. "ACVF has moved from proof of concept to a demonstrated strategy that balances performance with principled boycotts."

ACVF is an actively managed series of ETF Opportunities Trust. The ETF's other service providers include:

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. as dividend disbursing agent, fund accountant, and transfer agent;

Citibank, N.A. as custodian;

Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm;

Commonwealth Fund Services, Inc. as adminnistrator;

ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; and

Practus, LLP as counsel.