Bob Doll Named CIO of Faith-Based Boutique Firm

After a 41-year career, three months of retirement was apparently enough for Bob Doll. The former chief equity strategist at TIAA-owned Nuveen Asset Management, who retired in March, has been tapped by faith-based investment manager Crossmark Global Investments as its new chief investment officer.

Bob Doll

After four decades working at firms such as BlackRock, Merrill Lynch, and OppenheimerFunds Inc., Doll announced his retirement in March, but it didn’t take long for him to be lured back into the workforce. In the newly created CIO position, Doll will lead Crossmark’s investment team, and will be responsible for growing and expanding the firm’s investment product offerings, with a focus on several new actively managed products. He will also provide a weekly investment commentary on Crossmark’s website called “Doll’s Deliberations.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Bob as our new chief investment officer,” Mike Kern, president and CEO of Crossmark Global Investments, said in a statement. “He is a powerhouse and thought leader among the investment community and will bring his outstanding 41-year track record to our investment team here at Crossmark.”

Prior to Nuveen, where he managed the large cap equity series, Doll was chief equity strategist at BlackRock, and before that he was president and CIO of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Prior to Merrill Lynch, he was CIO of OppenheimerFunds Inc.

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Doll is known for his annual list of 10 predictions, which he has put out for three decades. In his predictions, he forecasts themes that will move markets, monetary policy, and the economy. Doll will work out of a new office branch in Princeton, New Jersey, where he lives, and will work closely with Chief Market Strategist Victoria Fernandez, and report directly to Kern.

“I’m pleased to be joining a firm that holds its investment products to a high ethical standard and embeds its values into its overall business model,” Doll said in a statement. “It is a rarity to come across such a unique culture, and I’m excited to continue my journey in this industry in a way that is also significant for the common good.”

Doll graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in accounting and a B.A. in economics, and earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Tags: BlackRock, Bob Doll, Crossmark Global Investments, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Mike Kern, Nuveen, OppenheimerFunds, Victoria Fernandez

Norway’s central bank said it will exclude three more companies from its $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund due to the “unacceptable risk” they contribute to systematic human rights violations.

Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, which manages the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has nixed the idea of the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) investing in Israeli firms Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd., and Mivne Real Estate for “systematic violations of individuals’ rights in war and conflict related to the building of homes and buildings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

The fund is also shunning Japanese retailer Honeys Holdings “due to the unacceptable risk that the company contributes to systematic violations of human rights” related to two garment factories it owns in Myanmar.

The pension fund’s Council on Ethics said it believes the Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been built in violation of international law, and that their existence and constant expansion causes significant harm and disadvantage to Palestinians. It said its recommendation to exclude Shapir Engineering and Industry was based on the fact that the company engages in the construction of homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

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The council said it recommended the exclusion of Mivne Real Estate based on the company’s rental of industrial properties associated with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The council said it believes the rental of buildings that have been erected in violation of international law “contributes to maintaining the unlawful condition that their construction once initiated,” adding that “this form of complicity in violations of international law is the basis for excluding companies from the GPFG.”

Meanwhile Honeys, which designs, produces, and distributes women’s clothes and accessories in Japan and China, was excluded for the poor working conditions at its two Myanmar garment factories. The council said investigations into the factories’ working conditions found numerous labor rights violations, including harassment of workers and serious violations of fire safety, as well as health and safety regulations. The investigations also uncovered that the company had employed underage workers on the same terms as adults, and found that employees were being penalized financially for taking sick leave.

“The council considers that Honeys actively restricts workers’ freedom of association, by dismissing trade union leaders and members due to their participation in union activity,” it said in its recommendation. It also said the company has filed civil and criminal charges against a trade union leader because of trade union activities.

Although Honeys denies many of the alleged violations and said it implemented certain improvements at the factories after the inspections, the council said follow-up investigations have not corroborated the company’s claims that it has made improvements.

“This shows a pattern of behavior indicating that the norm violations are systematic,” said the council, “and that the company, in practice, does not have a system capable of preventing, uncovering, and rectifying labor rights abuses in its operations.”