The Market for Socially Responsible Investments
A Corporate Culture of Respect
Shared Ownership - Expand Distribution
Key People
John Craig CFP is Chief Executive Officer of Northern Investments, LLC. He has served on the board of directors of the Social Investment Forum since 1993 and has produced and hosted the annual SRI in Portland conference since 1990. He was the recipient of the industry's 1997 "SRI Service Award."
John joined the company that was to become Northern Investments as a financial planner in November 1986. He assumed the position of Chief Operating Officer of Northern Investments in 1989 and managed the sale of Northern Investments to Plum Tree Securities, Inc., in 1995. John served as President of the Northern Investments division of Plum Tree Advisors and as Vice President of Plum Tree Advisors from May 1, 1995 through June 30, 1999.
Born January 5, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio, John is a 1975 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served on active duty for nine years in various command, staff and faculty assignments as an Armor officer. His final assignment on active duty, and for three more years as a civilian, was in the Resource Management Division, Directorate of Personnel and Community Activities at Fort Carson, Oregon. As chief of this division, John was responsible for the financial management of most business operations on the installation, ranging from the Golf Course and Bowling Center, to the Club Systems and Child Care operations. Upon his departure, John received the Department of the Army "Commander's Award for Civilian Service."
John earned his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation in June 1984, and in short order completed a range of securities examinations covering both the practice and supervision of the securities business.
Walter Smith is President and Chief Marketing Officer of Northern Investments, LLC. For over a decade he has been a nationally recognized authority, consultant and resource to the social investment industry. He serves as Chair and President of the Social Investment Forum, the industry's national trade association, as a director of the Colloquium on Socially Responsible investing, and as Co-Chair of the Oregon Network of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). He received the industry's "SRI Service Award" in 1998.
Prior to starting his own consulting practice in 1997, Walter worked for nearly eight years as a senior executive of Calvert Group. He specialized in promoting the concept and practice of social investing with the public and the press. His efforts significantly enhanced Calvert's reputation as a leader in the field, while the firm's assets under management in socially screened mutual funds more than tripled. He led a small product development group which created the first global socially screened mutual fund in the U.S., and was involved in launching four other new Calvert funds designed for socially aware investors.
Walter managed Calvert's national sales organization from 1994 to 1997. As President of Calvert Distributions, Inc., he was responsible for the company's relationship with over 2,000 broker/dealer firms and growing the assets of Calvert's 35 money market, bond and equity mutual funds. He directed a staff of 30 and recorded NAV fund sales of over $500 million annually during this time period. His accomplishments were complemented by his team-oriented management style and a path-breaking initiative which reoriented the sales group into customer-focused teams working with a values-based selling process.
Previously, Walter served for three years as a major gifts officer and Director of Development at the Billings School, University of Montana. He also spent five years as Vice President of Prescott Realty Services, a real estate securities firm, and was responsible for all due diligence, marketing, and sales of real estate related investments sold through Prescott Ball & Turben, Inc. (now part of Everen Securities).
Born July 16, 1953 and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, his father owned a hardware store where Walter worked meeting the needs of retail customers from the age of ten. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in Journalism/Communications, and holds NASD Series 24 (Registered Principal) and Series 7 (Registered Representative), and Series 63 licenses.
Jennifer Frame is Vice President and Director of Operations of Northern Investments Network, LLC. She obtained her NASD Series 7 license (Registered Representative) and her NASD Series 24 license (Registered Principal) in 1989 while associated with Portland brokerage firm, First Eagle, Inc., where she worked from 1987 through 1990.
Jennifer joined Northern Investments in 1990 as an administrative assistant to the main office and two of its Portland-based representatives. Combining administrative skills and knowledge of the business, she quickly assumed a much larger role and broader responsibilities, first becoming Operations Manager, and then Assistant Branch Manager of the Plum Tree Securities, Inc. branch office. Jennifer managed the conversion of accounts from Northern Investments, to the Northern Investments division of Plum Tree Advisors, Inc. following the sale of Northern Investments to Plum Tree Securities, Inc. in 1995. As Assistant Branch Manager, Jennifer has assumed a majority of the compliance supervision responsibilities for the Northern Investments field force of 52 representatives around the country.
Born February 4, 1960 in Detroit, Michigan, her father is a retired United Methodist Minister and her mother is a psychologist. Jennifer graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature.
Wendell Letterman CFP is Primary Manager of the Efficiencies program and serves on Northern Investments's Investment Committee. He holds NASD Series 7, Series 63, and Series 65 licenses, and is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association.
Wendell has been a registered representative with Plum Tree Securities and investment advisor representative with Northern since 1991. In 1997, he joined Reber/Russell Company, an investment advisory firm affiliated with Frank Russell Investment Management Company, well known in the institutional investment world, and highly regarded for their expertise in asset allocation, rigorous manager evaluation, and consulting services to some of the world's largest pools of capital. Wendell's two years with Reber/Russell taught him how institutions construct and manage portfolios of mutual funds. He was responsible for servicing several dozen clients whose aggregate assets exceeded $100 million. He also taught inexperienced investors how to become good consumers of financial services, and developed a multimedia CD-ROM designed to walk a novice investor through the entire process.
While at Reber/Russell Company, he continued his relationship with Northern and continued to service his Northern clients. Upon leaving Reber/Russell Company in early 1999, Wendell expanded his role at Northern Investments. In collaboration with John Craig, he developed a strategic asset allocation program based on the investment management principles used by Russell, and designed to meet the needs of the SRI market. He named his program Efficiencies, in recognition of its fundamental strengths: efficient use of risk in pursuit of investment returns, cost efficiency, and tax efficiency.
Wendell was born October 3, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Bowling Green University in 1977 with a degree in Psychology, and went on to complete his master's degree in Counseling Psychology there in 1979. He worked for EF Hutton specializing in retirement planning throughout the 1980s.
Robert Sloan is the Director of Research and Primary Manager of the Fair Ways program for Northern Investments, LLC. He also serves on the Northern Investments Investment Committee. He is an affiliate member of both the Denver Society of Security Analysts and the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), and is currently at CFA level II candidate (Chartered Financial Analyst program).
Robert earned an MBA in Finance and Accounting with honors from the University of Arizona in 1995 while working for American Century Mutual Funds. Robert earned his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri in 1986. He went on to earn his Professional Engineering designation while working for the Texas Department of Transportation in Dallas. There he designed highways, bridges, and drainage systems that resulted in minimal environmental impact to the surroundings, but yet provided safe, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing structures. Later he worked as an Environmental Engineer for the Texas Water Commission where he reviewed plans for hazardous waste facilities to ensure they complied with complex state and federal hazardous waste regulations. After moving to Oregon, Robert headed the Pollution Prevention Program at Space Command Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force.
Robert has volunteered his time with active environmental groups such as the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and the Volunteers for Outdoor Oregon.
Susan Williams is Director of Nonprofit Support Services for Northern Investments, LLC. For over 15 years she has been regarded as an invaluable asset to the nonprofit community. Her service has run the full spectrum of participation, from hands-on volunteering on projects, to leadership positions such as board presidencies and executive directorships.
Her most recent service, prior to Northern, was the Executive Director of the Environmental Fund of Illinois and the Chair of the National Coalition of Environmental Federations where, through her leadership, donations, and gifts more than doubled during her two-year tenure. She currently serves as Chair of the Portland Chapter of Community Shares of Oregon and received their 1999 Volunteer of the Year award.
Susan was born June 3, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1982 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Actuarial Science. She holds Society of Actuary exams 100, 110, 120, 130, 135, and 140, and NASD Series 7 and 63 licenses.
