Boston asset manager likens SMA veteran Gesing to baseball great Nolan Nyan. Emerson Investment Management has selected sales and marketing veteran Steve Gesing to lead its business-development efforts. The 20-year-old Boston-based asset management firm says it was looking for a “seasoned senior executive who knows the [separately managed account (SMA)] business” and has “an excellent reputation in the field” to lead an aggressive marketing campaign.

Emerson’s president Brad Gardner says Gesing’s new role as a managing director of the firm enhances an already impressive lineup that includes Jack Lemery, head of Emerson’s investment-strategy committee. “I feel like the general manager of the [Boston Red Sox]: we have a great team, and [we’ve] just acquired a ‘Nolan Ryan,’ a proven hall-of-fame player.”

Gesing had been running his own SMA consultancy, Gesing & Company, when Emerson came knocking a few months ago. Larry Sinsimer, head of Eaton Vance’s SMA business, had recommended Gesing to Gardner as someone with the experience and leadership skills to boost Emerson’s sales and marketing efforts.

Two dreams

“I had just returned from an all-day training program that my partner and I conducted for [Smith Barney “Consulting Group” professionals] when I received a call from Larry [Sinsimer] suggesting that I meet with Brad Gardner,” says Gesing. “I was conflicted. My new business was one of the things that I always dreamed of doing in life.” But he adds that another of his dreams was to “have ownership, be a significant contributor, and an impact player with a firm, resulting in taking that firm to the next level.” His new position with Emerson fulfills that dream, he says. “The opportunity at Emerson was just too good not to accept.”

Gesing has been a player in the investment-consulting industry for 25 years. He began his career at E.F. Hutton, ultimately assuming responsibility for national sales strategy and consultant training at Smith Barney’s “Consulting Group,” the successor business to Hutton. In that role he was also liaison between the “Consulting Group” and the independent asset managers featured in its investment programs.

Gesing then moved to the manufacturing side of the SMA business, in turn representing Boston Safe Advisors, the Boston Company, Mellon Institutional Asset Management and MFS Investment Management. At MFS he was part of a team that helped raise more than $5 billion in assets in just over three years.

When he was with Boston Safe Advisors, Gesing reported to Bob Potvin, now a senior v.p. with Mellon. “[Gesing] will be an invaluable asset for Emerson,” says Potvin. “Everyone thinks extremely highly of him as a person and he is one of the true pioneers of this business.”

Gesing’s former MFS colleague Jim Davison, now with Barclays Global Investors, describes Gesing as an “Energizer Bunny” who makes “things happen.”

Gardner notes that Gesing’s legendary gusto is an important adjunct to his relationships with consultants and his platform skills – and a big part of the reason Emerson wanted him aboard. “[His] renowned, energizing enthusiasm, his knowledge and passion about the investment consulting process has earned him the recognition, respect and success he has achieved,” says Gardner. “Having [Gesing] as our partner is a significant benefit to the entire Emerson organization.”

Boomer-centric

For his part Gesing says he’s excited to join forces with “the bright and enterprising people at Emerson.” He’s also keen on the firm’s investment products, particularly its “Diversified, Multi-Sector Fixed Income Account” and its “Diversified, Multi-Style Balanced Account.” The multi-sector account, which seeks total returns from above-average yields along with appreciation through a wide variety of fixed-income sectors and instruments, “does not correlate with any traditional fixed-income benchmarks and yet it is not a hedge product,” says Gesing. He describes the multi-style balanced account, which incorporates all of Emerson’s investment disciplines, equity and fixed income alike, as “an excellent ‘foundation’ portfolio” that can produce income, offer growth potential and mitigate risk.

“I trust that these portfolios will help meet the needs of the retiring [baby-boom] age wave,” he says. “I view Emerson to be the illustrative ‘tipping point’ for how wealth management shall be conducted over the next two decades.”

Emerson’s clients include individuals, families and trusts as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations and endowments. It has over $700 million in assets under management, according to its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. –FWR

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