2009 Rising Stars of Foundations and Endowments: Kim Arthur

09-30-2009

Kim Arthur

CEO & Portfolio Manager

Main Management, LLC, San Francisco, CA

Age: 47    

Education: BA, economics, UC Davis

Mentors: Jim Concidine, CIO, family office; Jon Skeen, personal investor; Richard Fredericks, Former United States Ambassador

Kim Arthur believes exchange traded fund (ETF) strategies present the greatest investment opportunities for the foundation and endowment community over the next five years and with his firm, Main Management, LLC, he is working to further develop the nonprofit footprint in this arena.

Founded in 2002 with Jim Concidine, Stephen Doyle and Richard Fredericks, Main Management has grown from $25 million to $315 million in assets under management. Current client base is a mix of high-net-worth individuals and foundations, and Main Management are expanding further into the nonprofit world. “[We have] a very scalable market due to the liquidity and depth of the ETF market,” says Arthur.

The strategy of Main Management consists of four main components; asset allocation, sector exposure analysis, exclusive use of ETFs and non-correlated option overlays. “We have institutional-grade board members advising on asset allocation. The transparency, liquidity, diversification and low cost of ETFs make them a cheap alternative to the traditional endowment model” says Arthur.

Arthur admits that securing new investors can be a challenge. “[Foundations] are often run by non-paid board members, it becomes difficult to have them adopt a new way of doing things” he says. To tackle this fear of the unknown, Main Management has actively partnered with existing ETF providers, hosting dinners and open discussions. “It’s a longer sales cycle than we first though, but it’s going to get easier as it gets more widely adopted” says Arthur.

Prior to forming Main Management, Arthur was the head of equity product marking for Banc of America Securities.

Following are links to the profiles of each of this year’s Stars:

Frank Ahimaz

Kim Arthur

Michael Barry

Michael Casel

Jeremy Crigler

Sonali Dalal

Joshua Kaplan

Jason Klein

Joseph Matthews

Kent Muckel

Tim Nguyen

Edward O’Donnell

Patrick O’Connor

Gina Sanchez

Caleb Sevian

Brent Wright