Rob Arnott: Founder of Research Affiliates –  

Rob Arnott is the founder of Research Affiliates. His pivotal role in the firm’s research, portfolio management, product innovation, business strategy, and client-facing activities has been revolutionary in the financial industry. Rob is a 8 time Graham & Dodd award winner, a global leader in innovative investing and asset allocation strategies.

Over his career, Rob has endeavored to bridge the worlds of academic theorists and financial markets, challenging conventional wisdom and searching for solutions that add value for investors. He has pioneered several unconventional portfolio strategies that are now widely applied, including tactical asset allocation, global tactical asset allocation, tax-advantaged equity management, and the Fundamental Index™ approach to investing. His success in doing so has resulted in a reputation as one of the world’s most provocative practitioners and respected financial analysts.

In 2002, Rob founded Research Affiliates as a research-intensive asset management firm intent on delivering innovative and impactful products and insights.

Prior to establishing Research Affiliates, Rob was chair of First Quadrant, LP, which he built up from the former internal money manager for Crum & Forster into a highly regarded quantitative asset management firm.  He also was global equity strategist at Salomon Brothers (now part of Citigroup), the founding president and CEO of TSA Capital Management (now part of Analytic Investors, LLC), and a vice president at The Boston Company.

Rob has published more than 130 articles in such publications as the Journal of Portfolio Management, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Analysts Journal, for whom he served as editor in chief from 2002 through 2006. Rob has received eight Graham and Dodd Scrolls, which are awarded annually by CFA Institute to the top Financial Analysts Journal articles of the year. He also has received four Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy awards from the Journal of Portfolio Management. He is co-author of The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest (Wiley 2008).

Rob received a BS summa cum laude in economics, applied mathematics, and computer science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Awards & Recognitions

CFA Institute Graham and Dodd Award or Scroll

2012 “Demographic Changes, Financial Markets, and the Economy” in the Financial Analysts Journal
2003 “Surprise! Higher Dividends = Higher Earnings Growth” in the Financial Analysts Journal
2002 “What Risk Premium Is ‘Normal’?” in the Financial Analysts Journal
1989 “A Disciplined Approach to Global Asset Allocation” in the Financial Analysts Journal
1989 “A Total Differential Approach to Equity Duration” in the Financial Analysts Journal
1985 “The Business Cycle and Security Selection” in the Financial Analysts Journal
1983 “Systematic Asset Allocation” in the Financial Analysts Journal

William F. Sharpe Indexing Achievement Award

2013 Lifetime Achievement Award
2012 Institutional Investor Journals Paper of the Year for “Rebalancing and the Value Effect”
2005 Best Index-Related Research Paper for “Fundamental Indexation”

Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award

2013 Outstanding Article for “The Surprising Alpha from Malkiel’s Monkey and Upside-Down Strategies” in the ​Journal of Portfolio Management
2001 “The Death of the Risk Premium” in the Journal of Portfolio Management
1997 “Bull Market, Bear Market: Should You Really Care?” in the Journal of Portfolio Management.