Only 12 percent of portfolio managers globally are women and even the highest performing among them struggle to raise capital.
Even though they are underrepresented and face distribution challenges, women either lead or are part of the portfolio management teams running some of the best funds available.
Morningstar has identified “some of the investment industry's most exceptional women portfolio managers,” noting that these individuals “have demonstrated their expertise over the long term and deserve investors’ attention.” The lists spotlight highly rated funds where women play pivotal roles on the investment team, as well as U.S. funds led by a single woman manager or entirely by all-women teams. The research, prompted by International Women’s Day, comes when asset managers are rolling back diversity programs designed to recruit, mentor, and promote more women in the industry.
Among the managers that Morningstar singled out include Nataliya Kofman and Loren Moran who head the $2.4 billion Vanguard Global Wellington Fund. Kofman oversees stock picks, while Moran manages its bond holdings. The fund returned an annualized 7.3 percent from its November 2017 inception through February 2025, outperforming the 4.2 percent generated by peers in Morningstar’s global allocation category and the 6 percent return of the index. A $10,000 investment at launch would have grown to about $16,700 by February 2025.
Meanwhile, the data and analytics company also highlighted Elizah McLaughlin, who guided Fidelity's municipal bond funds through market turbulence with a disciplined approach. A $10,000 investment in the $12.2 billion Fidelity Intermediate Municipal Income Fund in September 2018 (when McLaughlin joined the fund’s management team) would have grown to roughly $11,604 by February 2025.
Morningstar also drew attention to Natasha Kuhlkin’s leadership of the $1.6 billion PGIM Jennison Focused Growth Fund. Since joining in April 2017, Kuhlkin has driven the fund to a 17 percent annualized return through February 2025, placing it in the top quartile of its large-growth equity peer group. A $10,000 investment during her tenure would have grown to $34,239 — more than $5,000 above the typical large-growth fund.
“These women have proved themselves over the long term, and investors should keep them on their radars,” wrote Morningstar’s Janet Yang Rohr.
Despite Demonstrated Success, Gender Equality Lags
Recent research consistently shows that diversity in investment teams leads to stronger performance. A WTW study found that teams with higher gender diversity outperformed less diverse teams by 45 basis points. Similarly, the International Finance Corp. reported that funds with gender-balanced leadership generated returns up to 20 percent higher than those without.
Yet despite the success of these and other female PMs, women remain a small minority in the field. Recent global statistics show that only 12.1 percent of portfolio managers in the global Citywire database were female as of September 2023 — essentially unchanged from the year before. The underrepresentation of women in portfolio management reflects broader structural challenges, including biases in hiring and promotion processes, as well as disparities in capital allocation. Research from Forbes indicates that even high-performing female-led investment firms struggle to access capital compared to their male counterparts.
