Ziegler Announces Cuts

The Ziegler Companies, Inc. today announced a 10% reduction in staff across its businesses. The Milwaukee, Wis.-based firm operates a capital markets group and an investment services group, including the North Track mutual fund family.

"The positions affected are mostly in the areas of accounting, finance, services, technology, and human resources," said Ziegler spokeswomen, Cynthia Johnson.

As of Sept. 1, Ziegler employed 371 people. Since, 35 positions have been cut. Approximately half of those positions are full-time while the other half are part-time. Johnson said some of the cuts were related to attrition.

North Track Funds cut its roster of wholesalers, who focused on the broker/dealer community, from six to four.

"They were in areas that we could effectively cover in the areas that we had left. It really had been transparent not only to the broker-dealers we work with but with the investors," said Bob Tuszynski, CEO of North Track.

Tuszynski pointed out that mature relationships with broker-dealers do not require the same sort of hand-holding that necessitates a bigger wholesaling staff.

The fund family employs 20 people and performs its own fund accounting. North Track will keep those functions in-house, Tuszynski said.

"We currently do it internally because we run it very efficiently. Unlike many of our competitors, we’ve always run a very tight ship and run on the leaner side," he said. "That’s why, when you look across what we’ve done, we’ve tried to position ourselves so that, when we do get growth, we can add to the Ziegler Companies’ profitability."

The company says the cuts are not a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the economic turmoil that has ensued, but Johnson said, "I certainly don’t think that helped anything."

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