American Century Investments Adds Three Senior Portfolio Managers To The Avantis Investors Team

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Aug 07, 2019, 11:12 ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Century Investments today announced the hiring of three senior portfolio managers for the investment team supporting Avantis Investors, a new suite of broadly diversified, tax-efficient and low-cost investment solutions slated to launch later this year. Ted Randall, Mitchell Firestein and Daniel Ong bring 45 years of combined investment management experience to their new roles.

Senior Portfolio Manager Mitchell Firestein

Working with the firm's Chief Investment Officer Eduardo Repetto Ph.D., Randall, Firestein and Ong will manage a range of investment solutions across market capitalizations and geographies. In late June, the firm filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer five new equity strategies. Available in exchange traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund vehicles, the new strategies are expected to rely on a proprietary investment approach based on market prices and designed to capture higher expected returns. Learn more at avantisinvestors.com.

"Ted, Mitch and Daniel bring substantial expertise to the Avantis Investors team," said Repetto. "I worked with them all for over a decade and know they have critical skills that will help us bring reliable, cost-effective and well-diversified investment solutions to our clients. This is an exciting time, and I'm pleased to welcome them to the team."

Randall has prior experience as a portfolio manager and vice president at Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA), where he managed U.S., international developed and emerging market portfolios.

During his 17-year tenure at DFA, Randall also led the research group's trading support efforts and its management of security data. In this role, he designed portfolio management and trading applications to optimize the rebalancing and management of portfolios. Randall earned his master's degree in business administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Southern California.

Prior to joining Avantis Investors, Firestein was a senior portfolio manager and vice president at DFA, where he led a team of investment professionals that managed approximately $40 billion in emerging market equity portfolios. He was responsible for strategy and portfolio oversight, implementation, and performance analysis. Firestein started his investment career at DFA in 2005 as a trading assistant supporting the international equity desk after graduating from Tulane University with a bachelor's degree of science in management and finance.

Ong also served as a senior portfolio manager and vice president at DFA for 14 years. Ong's responsibilities spanned across managing international developed and emerging markets equity strategies, leading the emerging markets desk, and engaging with clients. Prior to that, he was an account manager at Metropolitan West Asset Management and a structure analyst at Pacific Investment Management Company. Ong is a CFA charterholder and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California and earned his master's degree in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

American Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,300 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; Los Angeles; London; Hong Kong; Frankfurt; Sydney; Mountain View, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.5 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit www.americancentury.com.

A registration statement relating to the funds has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The funds may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the funds in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

The proposed strategies may not meet intended objectives and could result in loss.