Jack Thompson has joined The Berger Funds of Denver, Colorado as executive vice president. Thompson was last with Janus Capital Corporation where he was executive vice president, chief operating officer and director. During his tenure, from 1983 through 1995, Janus grew from $250 million to $26 billion in assets. Berger currently has $4 billion in assets.
Berger has also promoted Mark Sunderhuse from senior vice president, institutional marketing to portfolio manager of the $165 million Berger New Generation Fund. Sunderhuse has been with Berger since 1998, and was previously with Norwest/Crestone Capital Management as co-founder and senior vice president. Dave Martens will assume Sunderhuse's old position at Berger. Martens has been with Berger for the past four years as national sales manager.
New England Funds has hired Roger Barnard as regional vice president, sales, in charge of the mid-America region of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Barnard was previously a regional vice president with New England Securities, in charge of 40 sales offices and the introduction of several new products across the U.S. Before that, Barnard was with New England Life as a marketing and sales consultant on variable life products.
Two equity portfolio managers from MFS Investment Management, Chris Felipe and John Brennan, have left the firm to start their own hedge firm. MFS has replaced Felipe with two managers -- Stephen Pesek, who will manage the Massachusetts Investors Growth Stock Fund, and Irfan Ali, who along with Pesek will manage the MFS Strategic Growth Fund. Maura Shaughnessy replaces Brennan on both the Capital Opportunities Fund and the Special Value Trust.
First Funds of Memphis, Tenn. has hired three new salespeople for its ALPS Mutual Funds Services, consisting of nine portfolios with $1.89 billion in assets. Mary Frances Fox is now a regional vice president with First Funds, David Rydzeski is regional vice president and Chad Harwood is a regional sales representative. Fox was previously an investment broker with Morgan Keegan, Rydzeski was a regional sales manager with ON Equity Sales and Harwood was director of marketing with Life Care Centers of America.
