Brinker Capital Names New CIO After Hiring Spree

Jeff Raupp was named CIO of Brinker Capital, a Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based firm with $21.9 billion of assets.

Jeff Raupp (Photo via Brinker Capital)

Jeff Raupp

(Photo via Brinker Capital)

Brinker Capital has named Jeff Raupp as chief investment officer after expanding the asset manager’s staff this year to meet growth targets.

Raupp was promoted to CIO at the start of this month following a two-year role as director of investments, according to a Brinker statement Thursday. He will continue to report to Chuck Widger, founder and executive chairman of the Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based firm, which had $21.9 billion of assets at the end of March.

Brinker has been on a hiring tear since January, with additions including a new head of quantitative strategy and several wealth advisory employees.

“Our increase in hiring is to support the company’s overall growth plan, which includes targeting double-digit organic growth from a variety of business segments including broker-dealers, independent and registered investment advisors,” Michele Steinmetz, a spokesperson for Brinker, said via email.

Raupp will continue to serve as the chair of the firm’s investment committee, as well as a member of its asset allocation, manager research and executive committees. He will also co-manage Brinker’s mutual fund program alongside Amy Magnotta, a senior vice president and head of discretionary portfolios at the firm, and investment manager Leigh Lowman.

“Financial markets are constantly changing and advisors and investors need a partner that can help them achieve their goals,” Raupp said in the firm’s statement. “The team we’ve built at Brinker Capital is well-suited to fill that role, and I look forward to continuing our positive momentum.”

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Raupp joined Brinker in 1996, starting his career at the firm as an operations manager. He was promoted to the role of portfolio manager in 2001, overseeing the firm’s flagship mutual-fund program called Destinations. Prior to joining the firm, Raupp worked as an electrical engineer and served in the U.S. Army.

The role of CIO is not new at Brinker, but Raupp will work differently than those who held it previously, according to Steinmetz. The position had been vacant since Bill Miller resigned in 2016.

“For the better half of two years, Jeff has spent time unifying and restructuring our investment team, leading the portfolio management team’s successful conversion of our Destinations program from third-party manager funds to Brinker Capital’s proprietary sub-advised mutual funds, and changing our investment narrative from a product focus to that of an investment process focus,” Steinmetz wrote via email.

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