By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Grand Rapids investment advisor Norris, Perné & French LLP has not grown by leaps and bounds. Instead, it’s experienced slow, measured growth for the past 75 years. And that’s in spite of recently weathering the second worst stock market since the Great Depression.
“In 2000 the S&P 500 Index was down 9 percent, in 2001 it was down 12 percent, and in 2002 it dropped 22 percent, but Norris, Perné & French almost doubled our assets under management during that period,” says Bob Boylen, company spokesperson.
“In 1996 we managed assets of $259 million, and today we manage assets of nearly $700 million and have nearly 400 clients in 25 states.”
Last year the firm, located at 40 Pearl St. NW, added three knowledge jobs to West Michigan’s economic landscape: a director of marketing, a certified investment management consultant and an in-house research analyst—a veritable hiring blitz for the conservative firm. Now, in April 2008, the company added a portfolio manager bringing the number of staff to 19.
“We are fee based, not commission based,” Boylen says. “We’ve been growing the last couple of years because people are becoming much more educated and aware of investment management cost structures. A lot of fees in the past with banks and brokerage firms were hidden.”
Boylen adds that if the current increase in the firm’s client base continues, the company could add at least one new position in the coming year.
Source: Bob Boylen, Norris, Perné & French, LLP
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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