Arshad Azim is the Managing Principal of Crescentem, and has 25 years of experience as an investment manager. Over his long career, he has managed billions of dollars in AUM and has delivered consistent results for institutional clients in various sectors.
While one of the most rewarding parts of the job is delivering a solid return on investment, Arshad Azim says he’s also profoundly motivated by the social impact of his work, and working with clients that do good things for people and communities.
“One of the most gratifying experiences was working with a healthcare foundation that invests in initiatives, programs and policies that promote health and prevent disease in disadvantaged communities,” says Azim.
“Before our involvement , the healthcare foundation was fleeced by a prominent investment management entity acting as its consultant.”
“Within one year of our consulting engagement, we reduced the foundation’s investment management expenses by 50 percent while concurrently increasing its asset base by $100 million to $390 million. This resulted in numerous additional grants amounting to millions of dollars annually,” says Azim.
Arshad Azim says that’s his mission as the Managing Principal of Crescentem. Not only does he help institutions align their investments with their mission and the greater impact they wish to have on their communities, but Crescentem is also exclusive in who they align with.
“While we do bring our long-standing investment relationships to bear in opening doors, we do so selectively for promising institutions committed to making a positive impact in their communities ,” says Azim.
Regarding Crescentem’s healthcare foundation client, Arshad Azim says that the gratitude earned from the client and the satisfaction it gave him was truly fulfilling.
“This past positive experience is a daily reminder that one can do well in business by doing good for people,” says Azim.
“We infallibly represent the best interests of investors at all times, and Crescentem exists to uncompromisingly place the highest premium on integrity.”
Azim says Crescentem is proud of their willingness to take a stand on the greater purpose of investing. He says it’s the fundamental recognition that – more than making money – investing requires a broad worldview and a profound appreciation of the various points of intersection with society.
He says investing is an opportunity to do good things in the world, and his journey at Crescentem as Managing Principal has been about maximizing positive impact and making the world a better place.
Goodwill, however, is not enough to create a promising investment management firm that consistently delivers results. That’s why the investment managers at Crescentem employ rigor, discipline and common sense, outlined in the thesis section of their website.
Their thesis goes on to state that Crescentem neither believes in the magic of high frequency trading or market timing nor speculative financial engineering. They believe in the power and prowess of sound investment allocation practices that are the lifeblood of any thriving investment program.
At Crescentem, it’s all about alignment with the right cause, and deploying capital in a way that guards the principal investment and insulates it against all possible downward market conditions.
With a profound impact on the community, and with a cultural philosophy and process unparalleled by any other investment consulting firm, Arshad Azim is confident that Crescentem will help the next generation of institutional investors onto a path of success and greater impact within a changing global dynamic.