The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has selected Mark Santero to serve as president and CEO of the association’s investment management subsidiary, RE Advisers. Mark was also voted CEO of Homestead Funds, the mutual fund company created by NRECA, by the Homestead Funds’ board of directors and appointed to serve on that board.

My new role is a truly unique opportunity.

Mark Santero

Mark brings more than 30 years of experience in investment management to RE Advisers. Most recently, he was the CEO at Dreyfus Corporation, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon Investment Management. He also has served as chief operating officer at BNY. Mark joined AIM in 1991 when he joined the Institutional Group working for Abbot Sprague. Initially, Mark worked in North Carolina at the NCNB's offices on behalf of AIM Distributors. Mark helped run the funds for AIM and prospected the New York and Boston areas one week a month.

In 1994, Mark moved his family to Houston to assume the sales manager position. “When we got off the plane Bruce, Kathy and Ann were there waiting for me and my family and welcoming us. The relationships I made at AIM remain strong. We still try to get together, and Neal named our get togethers TGIF – Thank God for Institution Friends. We always mix in golf, as that is a bond that ties us together. We also love telling old stories. For my first meeting with the group, we met for strategic planning at a bungalow in The Woodlands. I had just joined the firm and did not know anyone. I walk in and find out I am sharing a room. That night, I go out to the living room intending to sleep on the couch as my room-mate was snoring. Neal was already on the couch, having found that his roommate also snored. I remember I did not get very much sleep on that trip, and there I was trying to make a good impression,” recalls Mark.

The Institutional Group reunited in 2016: Mark, Bill, Abbott, Bill, Neal, Pat and Bruce

RE Advisers has tremendous potential to help rural electric cooperatives and their employees by providing exceptional money management at an affordable cost.

Mark Santero

Mark credits Ted Bauer and Bob Graham for his successes. “Besides my Dad, the most influential person in my life was Ted,” said Mark. “Just watching and being around Ted influenced my own development. Second was watching Bob’s style. I attribute a lot of my success to emulating those two. Ted wrote the book, People are the Product, and we lived it every day.”

“My new role is a truly unique opportunity,” said Mark. “RE Advisers has tremendous potential to help rural electric cooperatives and their employees by providing exceptional money management at an affordable cost. I’m excited to be a part of that mission.”

 “Mark brings exceptional vision and leadership to this position,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “His extensive experience and understanding of investor needs will help position the business for future growth and success. Providing access to top-quality financial products and trusted money managers is an important part of NRECA’s service to members.”

I credit Ted Bauer and Bob Graham for my successes. Just watching and being around Ted influenced my own development. Second was watching Bob’s style. Ted wrote the book, People are the Product, and we lived it every day.

Mark Santero

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $12 billion annually in their communities.

RE Advisers, a subsidiary of NRECA, directs $10.3 billion in assets as of March 31, 2018. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the company manages stocks, bonds and mutual funds for a wide range of clients, including investors in the Homestead mutual funds, institutions, pension plans and a model portfolio program sponsor. Homestead Funds are distributed by RE Investment Corporation.