Tom Putnam Discusses Succession Planning with the Albany Business Review
Tom Putnam shared his insights and changes to his role in the Albany Business Review article, “The next step in Fenimore’s succession plan, decades in the making.”
As the next step in Fenimore’s succession plan, Tom mentioned that he is stepping back from his role as Portfolio Manager in Fenimore’s three mutual funds at the end of 2021. He will continue to serve as Executive Chairman and help manage the firm’s mission, vision, and culture.
Tom began to create the firm’s succession plan in 1993.”Our outside board urged me to think of succession,” Mr. Putnam said. “It’s been going on for a long period of time, our senior management teams and board have been discussing that, and it’s gone smoothly.”
Both the long tenure of the other Portfolio Managers and their consistent investment approach play integral roles in the succession plan. “I always had a philosophy that the way to be successful is to find talented people who are curious and have intellectual honesty and can grow,” Tom said. “If you find those people and they have those qualities, you give them responsibilities and let them run with it.”
Things change, but Tom wanted to reiterate what will remain the same – the continued goal of investing for long-term success.
“I get letters all the time, ‘We’ve been with you for 20 years and if you weren’t fostering our assets the way you have, we wouldn’t be able to have the second home, or send our kids to college, or generate funds for our grandchildren,'” he added. “That’s the rewarding part of our businesses and why we do it.”