Blake Goldring is a true success story and he has worked hard to get where he is. Never one to rest on his laurels, Blake Goldring AGF tries to find ways to give back to the community and make a difference.
Heading AGF
Even though the company was established by his father in 1957, Blake has worked hard to transform the company from just a retail mutual fund investment company into a leading global asset management firm. He did this by reorganizing the company and radically changing the corporate culture. Accountability has become very important and managers are held responsible for performance in every area. The focus has shifted slightly to managing risk better and also growing beyond mutual funds and it has been worth it.
Blake was named AGF’s CEO in 2000. His interests are quite diverse and he was bestowed an honorary Colonel title by the Canadian Army. He also established a military charity to help veterans and their families transition easily into civilian life. Goldring’s leadership role hasn’t been an easy one either – despite his hard work and AGF’s phenomenal growth, the financial crisis of 2008 led to a crash.
Blake and his team of managers are now focused on growing the company beyond its traditional portfolio by working with high net worth clients and selling to institutions. AGF, under Blake’s able stewardship is working in alternative markets such as real estate, infrastructure projects and hedge funds as well. AGF is collaborating with veteran companies in all of these areas to launch new funds. The goal is to focus on medium term growth. This is very obvious in the fact that all of AGF’s new ventures have expanded the asset base to $33.7 billion as of end May 2016.
Given that mutual funds are doing badly globally, AGF has managed to stem the tide in this area as well as managing their talent pool better. Even though the company lost a number of great managers in the last few years, AGF is investing in new talent and hopes to ensure consistent growth. The company’s managed assets are not at 2007 levels of $56 billion but Blake Goldring AGF is confident that it can be done with bold leadership, moves and managing in an ever-changing market.
To counter naysayers, Goldring does admit that the company has been slow to make structural changes. He is sure that his team and the company as a whole, will pursue aggressive growth and turn into a solid global asset manager again. The company is doing better compared to last year and the stock prices may not reflect it. Goldring and his management team have faith in themselves and their strategy. It is just a matter of time before the results will be evident for all to see. He is among one of the alumni leaders for who there is a great respect. He is the executive for Boundless campaign. Along with these mentioned above there are many other contributions from him to the society.
