As a member of the GlobeFlex portfolio management team, my role is really three-fold. First, I focus on stock-level and concept-based research, enhancing our investment process over time. My second responsibility is client communication, explaining what we're doing from a strategic and portfolio perspective. Third, I contribute to implementation, the actual buying and selling of securities, taking into account client guidelines and constraints. So I'm not an academic island in the middle of nowhere -- I conduct research, apply it, and am the champion of it internally and externally.

I think what I've learned here is the importance of expanding on opportunity. A good part of our long-term return comes from finding the right opportunities not yet discovered by other firms. GlobeFlex has a history of doing this, we have many examples, and it is a clear priority. Our advantage comes from using a lot of technology such that our information is integrated. We also go outside to gather fresh and new information that is being ignored by other money managers. We are successful because we are experienced, we have long-term trust with our research partners, and we put major up-front resources into staying ahead of the curve. Bob Anslow, in driving our research, lets us be creative while maintaining the philosophical tenets of the firm.

I started my career at FactSet, a great company with a lot of great software - so I was one of those outside research vendors. What you don't see from the outside are the close ties GlobeFlex has with its clients and the sophistication in those relationships. What the clients don't see is the granular overload in creating new information. Partnerships with specialist vendors deepen, broaden, and speed the development of new data and tools. Being at this fulcrum of innovation is one the highlights of my day. I love to learn -- pay my dues, share the work, be a team, reap the rewards.