Jeff is co-head of portfolio management at Breckinridge. He sits on the firm’s Investment Committee where he is jointly responsible for setting the firm’s investment outlook and the translation into portfolio strategy. He is also a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. In his role, Jeff oversees the management of Breckinridge’s Government Credit bond portfolios. In 2012, Jeff joined the firm as a trader and transitioned to portfolio management in 2015. He has over 26 years of investment industry experience. Prior to Breckinridge, Jeff was an associate portfolio manager/analyst at Brandes Investment Partners where he researched and traded corporate bonds from a wide range of sectors. Before Brandes, Jeff was an associate director at Banc One Capital Markets Inc. where he analyzed investment-grade utilities. Jeff began his career at Old Republic Asset Management as an investment analyst. He holds a B.A. from Union College and is a CFA® charterholder.
On his role…
“I am co-head of portfolio management and focus on our multi-sector strategies. I am also a member of our Investment Committee. As a part of this Committee, I play an integral role in setting investment strategy via duration targets, yield curve positioning and sector weightings. Within portfolio management, I oversee and take part in the deployment of Investment Committee strategy.
On a typical day…
“Every day is different, but I usually spend my mornings catching up on market movements and headlines. We spend significant time as a team assessing individual portfolios and making sure they are in line with Investment Committee targets and individual portfolio-level guidelines. I usually spend the latter part of my day reading through industry research and our internal credit write-ups to stay up-to-date on our holdings and potential investment opportunities.
On technology in Portfolio Management…
“Breckinridge’s commitment to technology has been a key differentiator. One of the ways technology really comes into play in portfolio management is in our ability to customize portfolios. Increasingly, we’re accommodating values-based customizations, such as faith-based or fossil-fuel-free customizations. Our systems help ensure compliance with such customizations by restricting certain sectors or ticker lists. It is a sophisticated system that continues to evolve with the customization requests we receive.
On what clients value about Breckinridge…
“When clients think of Breckinridge, I think they value that we have stayed true to our investment philosophy—to deliver returns when they matter most to investors—since our founding 20 plus years ago. I think they also value the individual attention we give our clients. As we’ve grown as a firm, we have not gotten too big to overlook clients. And lastly, I think they value how open and transparent we are as a firm.
On Breckinridge’s culture…
“Everyone has a sense of contributing to the firm's success here. Given our size, I think we have been able to maintain a more entrepreneurial environment than some of our larger peers. We’re also very collaborative and take a team-based approach across the firm. And, I appreciate that the firm is employee-owned. It enables what I think is a unique culture to continue to grow with the organization.