Jerome Clark, who founded T. Rowe Price’s target date franchise in 2002 when there were only a handful of target date series in the industry, has been named the “Outstanding Portfolio Manager” in the 2020 U.S. Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence.
The awards recognize portfolio managers, asset management firms, and up-and-coming managers, who demonstrate the industry’s very best attributes, including investment skill and an alignment of interests with the strategies’ investors.
“Jerome Clark helped build the firm’s target date franchise from its beginning in 2002 to today, overseeing its shift from a straightforward mix of U.S. stocks and bonds to a globally diversified portfolio,” said Sarah Bush, Morningstar’s director of manager research, North America. “Clark and his team have generated strong returns for the series’ many investors while taking a thoughtful and research-driven approach to asset allocation. Clark believes the biggest risk retirees face is a savings shortfall, and a high equity weighting helps combat that risk.”
The firm’s target date series, T. Rowe Price Target-Date Retirement Series, holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Silver on its funds’ cheapest share classes. Clark, a portfolio manager in T. Rowe Price’s Multi-Asset Division, co-manages the T. Rowe Price Retirement Funds and Target Funds.
The Outstanding Portfolio Manager award honors managers who, in addition to delivering strong returns for investors over their careers, have demonstrated excellent investment skill, the courage to differ from the consensus to benefit investors, and an alignment of interests with the strategies’ investors.
“It’s a distinct honor to receive Morningstar’s Outstanding Portfolio Manager award. I share it not only with my colleagues in the Multi-Asset Division and the target date team, whose research, passion, and dedication to helping investors solve some of the most complex challenges associated with retirement investing is a true inspiration, but also with the broader organization at T. Rowe Price,” Clark said. “The success of our target date franchise is a collaborative effort that involves the work of fund management and the support of senior management, client and consultant relations, and others.”
Clark will be stepping down as a portfolio manager on the target date strategies at the start of 2021. His transition has been well-telegraphed, and part of his legacy is leaving the target-date series in strong hands. Clark’s successor is Wyatt Lee, a 2020 nominee for the Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence-Rising Talent.
Clark has spent his entire investment career at T. Rowe Price and was the first portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price’s target date funds when the firm’s Retirement Funds launched in 2002. He joined T. Rowe Price in 1992 as a quantitative analyst in the Fixed Income Division and later served as portfolio manager of the U.S. Treasury Long-Term Bond Strategy from 1998 through 2003.
Exemplary Stewardship Award
T. Rowe Price was also honored with Morningstar’s Exemplary Stewardship Award. In a June 22 statement about the award recipients, Morningstar said T. Rowe Price’s strong and consistent investment culture has helped it flourish in a challenging environment for active managers. The firm’s success is rooted in its fundamental approach to active management and its ongoing efforts to maintain an environment where analysts and portfolio managers want to spend their entire careers.
“T. Rowe Price has consistently shown itself to be a careful steward of investors’ capital,” said Bush. “Investors benefit from managers’ generally long tenures at the firm, well-planned manager transitions, the firm’s ability to attract and retain talent, and a thoughtful approach to strategy launches and capacity management.”
Rising Talent Award
Morningstar’s 2020 award for “Rising Talent” went to Mohit Mittal, a co-manager on both Silver-rated PIMCO Investment Grade Credit Bond and more recently, PIMCO Total Return, whose shares receive Gold or Silver ratings.
In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Mittal oversees the firm’s U.S. investment-grade, high-yield, and emerging-markets corporate credit portfolio managers. This group runs more than $200 billion in dedicated credit accounts and also makes corporate trades on behalf of the firm’s more broadly diversified portfolios.
“Mohit Mittal’s impressive analytical, quantitative, and leadership skills have helped him ascend the ranks of PIMCO’s investment organization,” Bush said. “He has had a tremendous impact on the team’s ability to get down into the details of dedicated credit portfolios and to identify investment ideas that can be implemented in diversified strategies. That, combined with his management skills, have helped him to grow quickly at PIMCO.”
Bush added that the 2020 winners stand out for their investing acumen and commitment to helping investors meet their goals. “The managers and firm selected share a focus on deep fundamental research and an ‘investors first’ ethos that has driven strong results.”