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Biography Mr. B. Clark Stamper, our Chief Investment Officer and President, has a very broad base of experience in the fixed-income markets. He has been an institutional portfolio manager of several different fixed-income asset classes since 1984. He learned the business while restructuring distressed portfolios that he helped bring back to life. It is because he has seen "what can go wrong" that he has a profound respect for downside protection. His reputation over the last ten years is for managing fixed-income portfolios that have (in the past) achieved the highest levels of risk-adjusted performance (please see our Performance Link and our Awards Link for up-to-date information; also, please see our Disclaimer Link, bottom left, for information about risks and returns.). He has been an institutional portfolio manager in several fixed-income categories: U.S. Treasuries, mortgaged-backed securities, high yield taxable corporate bonds, and high yield and high grade tax-free municipal bonds. For just over twenty years (June 14th, 1990 to July 11, 2010), Mr. Stamper was the Portfolio Manager of Evergreen Strategic Municipal Bond fund, one of the few "at large" mutual funds in the municipal bond market. The Fund (which was previously named Venture Muni Plus (+), Davis High Income Muni, Evergreen High Yield Muni, etc.) has had the highest risk-adjusted performance ratings from Morningstar, the well known independent mutual fund rater - please see our Performance Link and our Awards Link for up-to-date information. Mr. Stamper is now concentrating his efforts specifically as the portfolio manager of several private accounts that he has been managing since 1995. Mr. Stamper has a profound respect for downside protection and a distaste for overheated financial markets. He began his portfolio management career in 1985 as the manager of the liquidity portfolio (U.S. Treasuries of five years and less) and mortgaged-backed securities portfolio of Far West Savings & Loan in Newport Beach, California. It was in this capacity that he was first exposed to "what can go wrong." He saw "risk-controlled arbitrage" (mortgage-backed securities hedged with futures) blow up and bankrupt many savings and loans in early 1987. He recounts that the most knowledgeable and well known "rocket scientists" from the major investment bankers explained that their "hedge ratios" did not work as planned because prepayments of mortgages came in faster than anytime in history and than anyone on Wall Street had expected. Next, in
early 1987 he became a high yield, junk bond credit analyst. He helped
restructure the Far West's junk bond portfolio that had been built during the
early days of the junk bond market. Following through on that experience, he
helped restructure a similar junk bond portfolio owned by ABQ Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In mid-1990, he also became portfolio manager of Venture Muni (+) Plus (which has since been renamed several times and was named Evergreen Strategic Municipal Fund and then Wells Fargo Strategic Municipal Bond Fund), and a U.S. Treasury/Mortgaged-Backed Securities Fund, which he managed for over five years. In the mortgage-backed area he was again able to view swift downside loss, this time it was mortgage derivative securities that dropped precipitously in price from 1993 to 1994. In addition to managing mortgaged backed securities, corporate and junk bonds, and municipal bonds, Clark has achieved an admirable record managing equities, aptly applying his "upside potential/downside protection" systems and methodology. Please see our Portfolio Manager's interview: "Interview with Portfolio Manager, Clark Stamper: How did the Stamper Strategic Long/Short/Fixed Equity Composite achieve a total return of 98% for year 2008?" Mr. Stamper founded Stamper Capital & Investments in October 1995 to maximize the risk-adjusted performance of fixed-income accounts for mutual funds, institutions, and high net worth individuals. Mr. Stamper earned his M.B.A. and B.S. in Finance at San Diego State University. |
