Fund managers matter, sometimes more than others. As more teams adopt the mantra “we’re a team,” if only as window-dressing, more and more manager changes are reduced to “one cog out, one cog in.” Nonetheless, we know that losing funds with new managers tend to outperform losing funds that hold onto their teams, while the opposite is true for winning funds. Strong funds with stable teams and stable assets outperform strong funds facing instability (Bessler, et al, 2010). Because of the great volatility of their asset class, equity managers matter rather more than fixed-income investors. (Sorry guys.)

And so each month we track the changes in teams, primarily at active, equity-oriented funds and ETFs. With the kind assistance of the folks from Morningstar who share a record of changes they’ve recorded, we’ve tracked down 44 manager changes recorded in the past month or two, down dramatically from the 101 we reported last month.

The most consequential of the changes is at AMG GW&K Global Allocation Fund, formerly Chicago Equity Partners Balanced, where the change of team represents an entirely new regime and investment strategy that moves the fund toward global allocation. Greg Carlson, the Morningstar analyst covering the fund, warns that “a complete makeover doesn’t render this fund attractive.” We offered the same wait-and-see advice in May, as Chip moved to liquidate her position in the fund.