ABOUT
Dedicated to finding answers to the questions surrounding skill.
Providing a balanced perspective for active management
MICHAEL A. ERVOLINI, AUTHOR AND ACTIVE MANAGEMENT EXPERT
The ideas expressed on this website are developed and/or curated by Michael Ervolini. Mike has spent his entire 35+ year career leading efforts to improve and strengthen active management. This includes such diverse roles as financial analyst and portfolio manager on through to founder and CEO of two fin-tech companies supporting active management. Mike is now fully engaged in informing industry participants about how newer metrics can help improve how asset owners can make more effective allocation decisions and enable fund managers to learn and improve their results.
Mike is a serial entrepreneur building and selling two fin-tech companies. Mike founded and was CEO of Cabot Investment Technology, Inc. Cabot builds and markets analytics for the institutional active equity industry. The Company helps asset owners/allocators better understand the managers to whom they allocate capital while enabling fund managers to become more self-aware and improve. Cabot is now a fully owned subsidiary of FactSet Research Systems, Inc. who purchased the Company in 2021. Previously Mike founded and was CEO of Charter Research, LLC. Charter developed and marketed high performance analytics for the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market. Charter was purchased by Standard & Poor’s/McGraw Hill. Earlier in his career Mike was with AEW Capital Management, Inc., a global asset management company, focused on private and public real estate assets, where he served in a variety of roles including: Chief Information Officer, portfolio manager (REITS), investor, and asset manager.
Mike is currently writing a book with the purpose of helping asset owners/allocators improve their ability to select active equity funds, with the help of newer analytics. The book is being published by MIT Press and will be out in 2025. His previous book is: “Managing Equity Portfolios – A Behavioral Approach To Improving Skills And Investment Processes”, MIT Press, 2014. Mike has authored dozens of articles appearing in both academic journals and trade outlets, including: The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Journal of Investing, Institutional Investor, Pensions & Investments, Investments & Pensions (Europe), The Financial Times, and Forbes. He also has been interviewed by many leading financial publications, such as: Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, and CIO Magazine. Mike has presented his ideas and research results at numerous industry conferences and asset management company client meetings.
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The multi-trillion dollar active management industry is predicated on the idea that managers have skill – yet little is known about it – Who has skill? How is it measured? This website is dedicated to finding answers to the questions surrounding skill.
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