Global Value Team
Portfolio Managers
Matthew McLennan, CFA
Portfolio Manager - Global, Overseas and U.S. Value Funds
Head of the Global Value Team
Born in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, Matthew McLennan grew up in Queensland, Australia, received his Bachelor of Commerce with first-class honors from the University of Queensland and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He started his career with Queensland Investment Corporation in 1991, where he subsequently managed over one billion dollars in international equity portfolios. In 1994 Mr. McLennan joined Goldman Sachs in Sydney, where he worked for a year before moving to New York to join Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s (GSAM) U.S. Value Team as a Small Cap Research Analyst. In 1997 he was appointed Portfolio Manager and at the end of 1998, Senior Portfolio Manager and Co-Portfolio Manager of the U.S. Small Cap and U.S. Mid Cap Value strategies. In 2001 Mr. McLennan co-founded and was named Equity Chief Investment Officer of an investment strategy group for Goldman’s private client business and in 2002 became a Managing Director of the firm. In 2003 he moved to London to become Co-Founder of GSAM’s Global Equity Partners and Senior Portfolio Manager of a focused global equity portfolio for the firm’s private wealth management clients. The portfolio used a value-driven approach with an absolute return focus that emphasized low turnover, downside protection and risk aversion.
Abhay Deshpande, CFA
Portfolio Manager - Global, Overseas, U.S. Value and Gold Funds
Mr. Deshpande joined First Eagle Investment Management, LLC in 2000 and has been a member of the Portfolio Management Team since 2007.
Mr. Deshpande, a graduate of the University of Louisville, holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He spent three years as a research analyst with Harris Associates, advisers to the Oakmark International Fund and other international and global products, and was also an analyst for Morningstar. Mr. Deshpande was a senior research analyst of the First Eagle Global Value Team and covered the energy, base metals, retail, media and technology industries during his tenure.
Kimball Brooker, Jr.
Associate Portfolio Manager - Overseas and U.S. Value Funds
Senior Analyst
Mr. Brooker is a graduate of the Yale University and was awarded his MBA from Harvard University in 1998. He began his career in 1992 as a financial analyst at the Lazard Freres & Co. and went on to join J.P. Morgan as an associate in the Investment Banking Department, specifically the billion dollar private equity fund Corsair. Following the completion of his MBA, Mr. Brooker returned to JPM and was named Chief Investment Officer of Corsair Funds and Managing Director in 2003. By 2006 he completed Corsair’s spin-off from JPM and successfully managed nearly $3 billion. Mr. Brooker covers banks, commercial services, financial services and holding companies.
Rachel Benepe
Portfolio Manager - Gold Fund
Analyst
Ms. Benepe is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2003. Before attending business school, she worked for Prudential Securities as an Investment Banking Analyst and at Lehman Brothers as an Equity Research Associate focusing in basic industry, metals and mining. After completing her MBA, Ms. Benepe researched beverages for three years at both Gabelli and Company and Citigroup and was also an investment analyst at Artemis Advisers, focusing on consumer, retail, media and industrials. Ms. Benepe is responsible for covering retail, gold, metals and mining industries, steel and coal, automobiles and beverages.
Senior Adviser
Jean-Marie Eveillard
Senior Adviser
Portfolio Management
Born in Poitiers, France in 1940, Mr. Eveillard is a graduate of Ecoles des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, an esteemed French graduate school for economic studies. He started his career in 1962 with Societe Generale until relocating to the United States in 1968. Two years later, Mr. Eveillard began as an analyst with the SoGen International Fund. In 1979, he was appointed as the portfolio manager of the Fund, later named the First Eagle Global Fund. He then went on to manage the First Eagle Overseas and First Eagle Gold Funds at their inception in 1993 as well as the First Eagle U.S. Value Fund in September 2001. After managing the Funds for over 30 years, Mr. Eveillard now serves as Senior Adviser and member of the Board Trustees to First Eagle Funds and as a Senior Vice President of First Eagle Investment Management, LLC.
Mr. Eveillard was named Morningstar's International Manager of the Year in 2001, and in 2003 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Morningstar for building one of the most successful long-term records in the investment business.
Director of Research
Bruce C. Greenwald
Director of Research
Mr. Greenwald is a 1967 graduate of MIT, holds both an M.S. and M.P.A. from Princeton University (1969) and obtained his PhD at MIT in 1978. Prior to joining First Eagle Funds, he was the Academic Director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School and was the recipient of numerous awards for his teaching excellence. Described by the New York Times as, “a guru to Wall Street’s gurus,” Mr. Greenwald is a well-known authority on value investing, along with additional expertise in productivity and the economics of information. He is also the author of five books, "Value Investing", "Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics", "Competition Demystified", "globalization" and "The Curse of the Mogul".
Analysts
Alan Barr, CFA
A 1985 graduate of Temple University, Mr. Barr holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He spent seven years at Rittenhouse Financial Services and four years at PNC Bank as an equity research analyst. Mr. Barr covers non-food consumer products, forest products, paper and chemicals.
Giorgio Caputo
Mr. Caputo is a graduate of Princeton University and was awarded his MBA from Columbia Business School. He began his career in 1996 as a quantitative analyst in the Equity Derivatives Trading/Analytics Group at Lehman Brothers and later went on to become a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions group at Credit Suisse, focusing on industrial and services business and M&A Takeover Defense. Most recently, Mr. Caputo was a Managing Director at JANA Partners, LLC, where he pursued value-oriented, equity and credit investments across industrial, services and technology sectors. He is fluent in both the German and Italian languages. Mr. Caputo is responsible for covering distributors, integrated oils and other special situations.
Manish Gupta
Mr. Gupta is a graduate of the Institute of Technology BHU in Varanasi, India and was awarded his MBA from Columbia Business School. He began his career in the technology sector as an intern at Microsoft Corporation, and spent the following six years as a software engineer at Cisco Systems. Most recently, Mr. Gupta was an equity research analyst at Cantillon Capital Management, covering technology, professional and commercial services, transportation and select industrials. Prior to this, he interned as a financial services sector analyst at Fidelity Management and Research. Mr. Gupta will cover technology, focusing on hardware and equipment, and commodity chemicals.
Robert Hordon, CFA
Mr. Hordon is a graduate of Princeton University, received his MBA from Columbia Business School and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. At Columbia University, he studied Value Investing and Economics under Bruce Greenwald. Prior to attending business school, Mr. Hordon spent three years as an Equity Research Associate at Credit Suisse First Boston. In 2001, he joined First Eagle Investment Management, LLC as a Risk Arbitrage Analyst, where he worked as a generalist supporting two co-portfolio managers on a wide range of merger arbitrage and event-driven investments. In January of 2008, Mr. Hordon joined the First Eagle Funds Global Value Team and currently covers real estate, Europe and Asia retail, infrastructure and construction materials.
Matt Lamphier, CFA
Mr. Lamphier is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, received his MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. After serving two years as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, he began his career at Merrill Lynch in Private Client Services. He continued on as an equity analyst at Security Capital Group, Northern Trust and, most recently, Trilogy Global Advisors. Mr. Lamphier is responsible for industrials, energy, gaming and leisure, transportation and medical devices.
Omar Musa
Mr. Musa received his B.A. with high honors in Economics from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he focused on accounting, behavioral finance and econometrics, among others. He speaks Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese. Mr. Musa previously worked as an equity analyst for Wasatch Funds and was a managing partner of the Charles River Growth Fund, Harvard’s student-run fund. In addition, he is the co-founder of two major websites: TheWorldBlog.org, a nonprofit, renowned chronicle of Harvard students serving communities globally in an effort to raise awareness about world issues, and SoccerFansNetwork.com, which is visited by more than 2 million people a year. Mr. Musa joined the First Eagle Funds Global Value Team in July 2008 and covers technology, focusing on software and services, utilities and commercial paper.
Oanh Nguyen
Ms. Nguyen is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a Masters degree in International Business and Economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. At the Fletcher School, she was a Woodrow Wilson Scholar, one of 20 students nationwide awarded this distinction for academic and student leadership. Prior to joining First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, Ms. Nguyen worked at the U.S. Treasury Department as a research assistant for the International Affairs Group and spent two years as a Research Analyst and Trader for Wyser-Pratte Management Co., an activist hedge fund focused on undervalued European equities. Ms. Nguyen is responsible for media and telecommunications.
Elizabeth Tobin
Ms. Tobin is a senior research analyst covering pharmaceuticals and agricultural commodity stocks. She began her career in 1986 when she joined the First Eagle Global Fund (formerly SoGen International Fund) at Société Générale to work with Jean-Marie Eveillard as a Research Analyst. In 1998, Ms. Tobin became an Associate Portfolio Manager on First Eagle Global and Overseas Funds working alongside Jean-Marie Eveillard. While at First Eagle Ms. Tobin primarily covered the health care, consumer products, forest products, real estate, industrials, media, technology and holding companies sectors. In 2001 she left the Firm, and from 2002–2008 managed assets for select European private clients following the same value approach she had employed for 15 years at First Eagle. Ms. Tobin holds an undergraduate degree in comparative literature from the University of Paris and an MBA in International Finance from Fordham University.
Mark Wright, CFA
Mr. Wright is a graduate of the University of Chicago and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. In 2007, he earned his MBA from Sloan School of Management at MIT. Prior to joining First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, Mr. Wright was with Dresner Capital Resources as a senior analyst for Investment Banking. He also spent 11 years with Morningstar including four years as a senior analyst conducting fixed income research, two years as a finance consultant and five years as Director of Tools & Portfolio Content. Mr. Wright is responsible for banks, bankruptcy, food and homebuilders.
The First Eagle Funds are offered by FEF Distributors, LLC, member SIPC, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10105. Investors should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully, which are detailed in our prospectus. Please read our prospectus carefully before investing. For further information about the First Eagle Funds please call 800.334.2143. Investments are not FDIC insured or bank guaranteed, and may lose value.
For further information, please contact us at info@firsteaglefunds.com or visit the Contact Us page.
Certain links may direct you away from firsteaglefunds.com to a site that is unaffiliated with First Eagle Funds. First Eagle has not been involved in the preparation of the content supplied at the unaffiliated site and does not guarantee or assume any responsibility for its content.