Nicholas Kaiser, co-founder, director, chairman, chief investment officer and equity portfolio manager of Saturna Capital Corporation, will speak at Shenandoah University’s Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business at 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 19, in Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium on the campus of Shenandoah University.
Kaiser will present “Faith-based and sustainable investing: 30 years of Amana Income Fund.” A question and answer session will follow. The event is free and open to the public, and is part of the ongoing Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the school of business.
“Nick Kaiser has been the equity portfolio manager for the Amana Mutual Funds Trust since 1986. Since that time, the Amana Income Fund has averaged returns more than 8 percent.” said Dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Miles Davis, Ph.D. “Such returns are noteworthy within themselves, but when coupled with the fact that the Amana Income Funds Trust operates within the strict confines of Islamic law, the returns are remarkable. It shows that principles and financial performance can go hand and hand.”
For more than 40 years, Kaiser and his firms have provided investment management, administration, accounting, servicing, marketing, and other services to mutual funds and private accounts. Kaiser purchased control of Unified Management Corporation in 1974, and built it into a mid-sized investment management and brokerage firm. After selling Unified to a major insurance company, he founded Saturna Capital in 1989. From 1989 through 2009, Kaiser was Saturna Capital’s president. Since 2009, he has been Saturna’s chairman.
Kaiser is the president and a trustee of Saturna Capital’s affiliated U.S. public investment trusts: Amana Mutual Funds Trust and Saturna Investment Trust. He is a director of the parent operating company, Saturna Capital, and its subsidiaries Saturna Trust Company, Saturna Environmental Corporation, and Saturna Sdn Bhd.
A Chartered Financial Analyst, Kaiser is Saturna’s chief investment officer. He is also a registered representative of Saturna Brokerage Services, another subsidiary of Saturna Capital and Saturna’s affiliated mutual funds distributor. Saturna does not compensate its employees in any manner for brokerage account activity.
Kaiser also has indirect interests in several real estate properties and is the trustee of Shuksan Properties Trust, which owns Bellingham, Washington commercial real estate for his children.
His industry activities include service with the Investment Company Institute (past governor), CFA Institute (past chapter president), Financial Planning Association (past chapter president), and No-Load Mutual Fund Association (past national president).
Kaiser earned a degree in economics from Yale College in 1967 and obtained a master of business administration degree from the University of Chicago in 1968, with dual majors in international economics and finance.
He currently serves on the volunteer boards of St. Paul’s Academy, Mt. Baker Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Mt. Baker Foundation, and Shawnigan Lake School. He supports a range of non-profit activities, such as the Kaiser Professorship in International Business at Western Washington University. A commercial pilot (retired), ocean sailor, and avid skier, he reads and travels extensively.
For more information about this event, contact Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Administrative Assistant Donna Fazio at 540/665-4572 or dfazio@su.edu.
