CLEARSTEAD ANNUAL FIRM UPDATE – REVIEW OF 2019

CLEARSTEAD CELEBRATES THIRTY YEARS

Since its founding in 1989, Clearstead has grown to become a prominent institutional and private client advisory firm. Today we have 85 employees, 35 of whom are shareholders; an institutional consulting group that advises over $17.0 billion for retirement funds, endowments and foundations, hospitals, and other institutions; and a private client group that serves as a multi-family office for more than 550 clients and almost $4.0 billion in assets. We are based in Cleveland and serve clients in 40 states.

As our list of clients grows and services expand, we must continuously attract quality people. In 2019 we added eleven professionals – in investment research, institutional consulting, private client services, and tax planning and compliance. Talented people join us because we are a growing and collegial firm that offers the opportunity for ownership, professional freedom, and competitive compensation. We hire in advance of need to maintain high client service standards, so seek new talent constantly.

2019 IN REVIEW

Roundtables

We sponsored two Roundtables in 2019: The Cost of Conscience: Charting ESG Roadmaps for Institutional Portfolios; and Investing in the Future: Preparing the Next Generation to Sustain Family Wealth. These Roundtables were conducted by industry experts, with clients, friends, and employees in attendance. As with past Roundtables, we learned more about key industry topics, much of which we incorporated into our client service practices.

Diversity & Inclusion

In 2019, Clearstead launched a Diversity & Inclusion Council to ensure that all voices are heard in our firm’s endeavors. The Diversity & Inclusion Council complements the firm’s EmpowHER initiative, which seeks to promote women at Clearstead and in financial services.

In the past three years, Clearstead has added two new women to its Management Committee, tripled the number of female shareholders, increased employee diversity by 60%, and provided unconscious bias training for all employees. In addition, EmpowHER hosted its fourth annual luncheon, featuring speaker Mary Ann Correnti, Chief Financial Officer of Heinen’s.

Service & Research Initiatives

We introduced ClearAccess in 2019. ClearAccess is a platform for our clients to access private equity and hedge funds. The advantages to ClearAccess include access to top-performing managers, reduced minimum
investment amounts, simplified subscription and tax documents, and potential for enhanced liquidity. Clearstead does not receive compensation for this service.

Our Institutional Consulting Group has continued to hone the Clearstead PRISM OCIO service offered to discretionary institutional clients. Clearstead PRISM OCIO leverages the full resources, intellectual capital, and risk management capabilities of Clearstead to help clients achieve their investment objectives with appropriate risk and low total costs. Both new and existing clients increasingly are asking Clearstead to take discretion in the oversight of investment portfolios; Clearstead PRISM OCIO is our offering for these institutions.

Our family office, tax, and financial planning teams continued to expand with more than six new professionals hired to support the growing complexity of services offered. The Private Client Group enhanced its administration and reporting services, especially its capability to report on private investments.

We introduced a sixth factor to our Research Principles – the principles that guide our research efforts – that evaluates a strategy’s allocation to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors. Clients often seek guidance on integrating responsible investing factors in their investment portfolios.

Other initiatives included expanding our bill-paying capabilities, developing a relationship with a healthcare benefits firm, and implementing electronic signature processing to help clients complete transactions more efficiently.

GRATEFUL

We are grateful to our clients, friends, and colleagues for their support over the years. We also remain committed to objectivity in investment research and client advice, and to continuous improvement in our service to clients.