Marilyn Miller shares how she ended up at AIM, and how knowing many of the people at AIM factored into her decision to leave a satisfying job.

Marilyn was in New York working for OppenheimerFunds when Mike Cemo contacted her. There were several people at AIM who knew Marilyn and when Mike decided he wanted to build a product management department, Marilyn was suggested as the person for the job. Marilyn was happily employed in New York, but after she and Mike had several conversations and met in person, she was intrigued by the possibilities to build a department from the ground up, working with many individuals she knew and respected. It was 1996 and AIM was uniquely positioned – the company was growing rapidly.

AIM had a good reputation with a management team that was family oriented in how they ran the business.

Marilyn Miller

“I had a lot of contacts at AIM, including several people who had worked for or with me at Transamerica Funds, and I got a lot of information about working at AIM before leaving my position,” recalls Marilyn. “There was so much potential taking on this role and building a product management function at a time when the company was growing from a limited number of products to expanding its product line, as well as building an integrated marketing department. I knew I had the right experience to do both of those jobs. That is how I landed at AIM. It was an entrepreneurial opportunity for me to be given the chance to build a very broad marketing function within the company,” shares Marilyn.

Marilyn initially worked for Gary Littlepage and was able to hire a number of people with whom she had worked, including Glenda Dayton who came in to help start up the product management function. Mary Kay Coleman who had run marketing communications at Transamerica Funds was running the shareholder and corporate communications functions at AIM. “I was looking forward to working with Glenda and Mary Kay again. In addition, Gary Wendler, a former co-worker, was running the marketing research and analysis function. He was one of the best analysts with whom I had ever worked,” said Marilyn.

The management at AIM gave me the latitude and the authority to do a really good job building a very strong marketing organization with great breadth and depth.

Marilyn Miller 

It was a great group of people to work with. I can’t say enough about Mike Cemo as a sales and marketing leader. I was hired to do something and he and Gary, and later on Gene Needles, let me do it. Marketing in this arena is two pronged: financial advisors who are selling our products and individuals and organizations who purchase those products. We were marketing directly to those individuals and building a recognized brand with a positive association. We did advertising to the public to build awareness of the AIM name. It is more difficult for a financial advisor to recommend a product if the individual investor is not familiar with the AIM name,” shares Marilyn. “The other thing you have, of course, is once someone invests in AIM you are communicating with and marketing to them as a shareholder,” explains Marilyn.

Then there was the social aspect. Dawn was a colleague, but also a friend. After she retired from AIM, Dawn worked for the Menil Foundation; I had worked for the de Menils in the 1970s when they had their collection at the Rice University Museum. We shared stories about working in the art world. When Dawn left the Menil, she was looking for something fun and interesting. Dawn and I and another former AIM co-worker, Traci Ayer, came and worked with my husband Bob who was developing culinary apps for the iPad. The three of us worked on business and marketing strategy and my husband was the software developer. You can find Cooking Italian with Giuliano Hazan on the Apple app store. The apps received great reviews from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, PC Magazine, and many culinary publications. Traci and her husband are now working in Denver where Traci does free-lance consulting projects. Prior to that, Traci was in Houston running AIM’s brand and advertising,” said Marilyn.

We so enjoyed working with one another, that after AIM we worked on business and marketing strategy for a culinary iPad app.

Marilyn Miller

Dawn Hawley describes the women she worked with at AIM as trustworthy, smart, supportive, and fun – the best!  

“That was the culture,” recalls Marilyn. “The years I was there, the company was growing based on products, performance and reputation in the business. And the industry was growing. It was not without its challenges. There were regulatory challenges, ….it was a time when marketing was coming into its own in the business and the timing was very opportune,” she said.

“One of the things I liked about working at AIM and the other two investment companies where I worked prior is the complexity of the business. You have a complex regulatory environment, you have the research challenge, you have a lot of communications that can be very complex and which you need to make clear, concise and as simple as possible.

I enjoyed working with a very sophisticated and aggressive sales force who are demanding, knowledgeable and highly educated.

Marilyn Miller

After Marilyn retired from AIM/Invesco in 2005, she began teaching as an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Jesse H Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in a live consulting project course called the Action Learning Project. She was part of the faculty team for six years. It was a full semester course and adjunct professors like Marilyn provided the real life perspective along with academic professors. In the non-profit arena, Mike Cemo nominated her to the Board of Directors at Houston’s Ronald McDonald House, where she succeeded Mike as chair of the Marketing Committee. They worked together on many of the same projects they shared at AIM, including branding, website development, and communications. Marilyn now enjoys consulting on marketing and management for both non-profit and for-profit organizations. She also has a new business of her own in the start-up stage -- creating products from vintage Japanese textiles.

Marilyn and Bob currently spend their time between Houston and the Flying MMM, their ranch property near Mason, Texas. “Bob,” shares Marilyn, “wanted property on the Llano River in the Texas Hill country. He has canoed and kayaked that river for 40 years with friends. We found this property shortly before I retired from AIM. “My husband is a serial entrepreneur. In addition to the Flying MMM ranch, we have a number of business entities with Flying MMM in their names. One of the more adventuresome, for risky start-up ventures, is called Almost Flying MMM,” said Marilyn. Bob also teaches at Rice, advising students on real life projects in Computer Science, working with the chair of the department in a course where students build apps and games.” When not in Houston or Mason, Marilyn and Bob enjoy traveling to many destinations, including their favorites -- Italy and Japan, where Bob co-founded DWANGO Co., Ltd. In 1997. Bob is pictured wearing the Niconico logo on his headband at the 2015 annual Chokaigi live entertainment event in Tokyo. Bob was making fresh pasta for 100 of the 150,000+ attendees. Niconico, part of the DWANGO Company that Bob co-founded in 1997, is a Japanese video sharing site with more than 23 million registered users.

Marilyn is proud of what she accomplished, and grateful for the opportunities she was afforded at AIM, including the great leadership and direction.

The management picked people well and let them develop their talents and skills, and that made for a very satisfying and rewarding career.

Marilyn Miller 

Ted Bauer and Mike Cemo recognized the value of education, and endowed the C.T. Bauer School of Business and Michael J. Cemo Hall within the Bauer School of Business to ensure, as Dawn Hawley puts it, “a pipeline of talent not just for AIM, but for the greater Houston area as well.” In a similar vein, Glenda and Wayne Dayton endowed their alma mater, the University of Texas (UT), to repay the University they love and to help students realize their own American dream.

The Daytons’ endowment to the McCombs School of Business, the Wayne and Glenda Dayton Endowed Presidential Fellowship, is intended to help prepare scholastically gifted students who have limited financial resources. “We believe in the American dream, in American business and that education is the foundation of both,” Glenda says. “Wayne and I have been blessed with health, happiness, and financial security, and we have both enjoyed fulfilling professional careers. We have been able to meet the challenges that came with those choices, thanks in part to our experiences at The University of Texas.” She credits UT for some of the skills she has acquired in her professional life, saying “my UT degree gave me a tool chest of skills that has made it possible for my professional career to evolve along with our lives.” 

My UT degree gave me a tool chest of skills that has made it possible for my professional career to evolve, along with our lives. 

Glenda Dayton

“I was working in the family business, but during the two years at UT, decided I was interested in joining the corporate world,” shares Glenda. “I entered the IDS sales training program for financial planners. While I was learning to sell investment products I kept thinking, 'I want to be the person coming up with ideas about how the product should be positioned and sold.' I didn’t know at the time what that job might be called, or exactly where to find it, but I knew what I wanted to do. Right before graduation, I received a call from the Director of Human Resources at what was then TransAmerica Funds (now John Hancock),” recalls Glenda.

I didn't know at the time what that job might be called, or exactly where to find it, but I knew what I wanted to do. 

Glenda Dayton

Glenda got the job offer of her dreams: the position of product manager for the municipal bond funds in Houston. The only catch: Glenda knew Wayne couldn’t leave their business in Austin, which meant she would have to commute between Houston and Bastrop. Glenda was hired by Marilyn Miller, and they worked together for two years. After Transamerica sold, Marilyn left to go to work at Oppenheimer Funds in New York. When she returned to Houston a few years later to work for AIM, Glenda joined her. For 11 years, Glenda worked and lived in Houston during the week and spent weekends in Bastrop while Wayne ran the Austin businesses.

Glenda was at AIM from 1996 until 2005. AIM was becoming INVESCO, and with the transition she decided it was a good time to exit AIM and her life as a commuter. Glenda’s final position at AIM was Senior VP and Director of Product Development and Management. Her experience at AIM, she recalls, was one of the most fulfilling of her life.

She recalls how things were when she first started out, and how her position grew and evolved. “When Marilyn hired me there were two product managers, myself and Tisha Christopher, sharing an office and to an extent writing the script as we went along. The role of product manager met with success at AIM and it was soon decided to expand the department with me in the role of manager. In the beginning, AIM had a fairly limited product line, but the funds were very successful in terms of performance and attracting assets, so we soon focused on developing and introducing new ones in conjunction with the legal department. We created in excess of 50 mutual funds as well as designing the 529 college savings program for the State of Nebraska. “It was my dream job – a wonderful job at a wonderful company,” Glenda recalls.

The role of product manager met with success at AIM...It was my dream job - a wonderful job at a wonderful company. 

Glenda Dayton

“Sometimes it takes some distance to realize how great the trio (Bauer, Crum, Graham) that made AIM was. My years at AIM were rewarding in so many ways – fulfilling, challenging, financially rewarding, and fun, really fun,” Glenda reflects. She also recalls the important roles that women filled at AIM, saying, “Women were given tremendous responsibility and opportunities by Ted, Gary and Bob. Women filled many key leadership roles: my awesome boss, Marilyn, who was the director of marketing, Carol Relihan, our general counsel, the CFO Dawn Hawley, Dana Sutton, director of fund accounting, and more.”

Glenda currently freelance writes for a few select financial clients, works on a number of community-related projects, gardens, reads, and practices swimming which she finally learned last year. In January, Glenda became a trustee on the board of the Bastrop County Historical Society and serves on the fundraising and gift shop committees. “The Society runs the museum and visitor center in historic downtown Bastrop. Over Memorial Day weekend, the museum opened a new exhibit dedicated to the WWII veterans of Bastrop County. The exhibit also includes a collection of war memorabilia donated by local families that includes everything from ration stamps to a captured Nazi flag. “Our committee stocked the gift shop with WWII items for children. Struggling with local vendors to get t-shirts printed on time and according to specs is miles away from designing mutual funds,” Glenda laughs.

Glenda is also a member of The Ladies Reading Circle which, organized in 1897, is the oldest book club in the state of Texas. Members of the reading circle played key roles in making Bastrop the attractive community that it is today. Established in 1832, Bastrop is one of the oldest towns in Texas and the group is credited with founding the town’s library, they began the first adult reading program, founded the Fairview Cemetery Association, and carved out a park where the Old Spanish Trail Crossed the Colorado. This was named the Old Ferry Park, and in 1951 the Texas Legislature designated it as a Historical Shrine. Originally displeased with how the city was caring for the cemetery, the Circle managed Fairview for 119 years until it was turned back to the city in 2005. The cemetary contains graves of veterans dating back to the War of 1812.  In 1952, ladies of the Circle formed the Bastrop Historical Society to protect and preserve the history of the county, opening the Museum the same year.

Glenda and a small group of other Circle members are now writing a book about those indomitable Texas women. Searching through the Circle’s documents which date back to 1900 and are archived at the Museum’s library, Glenda came across the minutes from 1926. Back then, each meeting began with roll call which involved a question such as ‘who is your favorite short story author?’ The question at this particular meeting was, “How do you plan to get the money for your husband’s Christmas present?”

“It really struck home how these women had no money of their own, no legal rights – yet they created so much of the key social and cultural infrastructure of our town which exists to this day. People drive Highway 71 between Houston and Austin, passing through and over Bastrop with no idea of the history and charm of the town residing along the Colorado River.”

It really struck home how these women had no money of their own, no legal rights – yet they created so much of the key social and cultural infrastructure of our town which exists to this day.” 

Glenda Dayton

Similar to the town of Bastrop, of which Glenda is understandably proud to be a part, Glenda has had a rich history that continues to enrich her own life and the lives of others. Watch this space for information on when the book is released in print!

Michael Underhill, Chief Investment Officer for Capital Innovations, LLC was a Vice President at AIM from 1997 – 2001. In this Q&A, Underhill describes the journey that led him to create Capital Innovations, based in rural Pewaukee, Wisconsin, how the industry has changed, and why he considers himself “commercially unemployable.” 

Q: What inspired you to start your own firm?

A: Something I noticed at the big Wall Street firms was that they were always focused on a style box – small, mid, large, growth, value – always producing widgets. They were creating products, but not necessarily solving problems for clients.

Growing up in a military family, my father used to preach a Latin phrase: “gesta non verba” – “deeds, not words.” I chose Main Street over Wall Street because of all the things that were going on at the time with big cities, and the challenges they pose when raising children. Today I live out in the sticks of Wisconsin in farm country, I wear a Timex instead of a Rolex, and I don't have a private plane.

Growing up in a military family, my father used to preach a Latin phrase: “gesta non verba – deeds, not words.”

Q: How did you get Capital Innovations off the ground?

A: The first thing I did was take time off, spend some time with the family and get my head together. I also spent time with my attorney to focus on the governance model of the company. After 16 years of working with some of the largest asset managers in the world, I was subject to non-compete, non-solicitation and non-circumvent agreements. My attorney, Steve Eckhaus, was my best friend when we got this business started and he’s one of the best guys I know. Steve represents people like Gary Black, former CIO at Goldman Sachs. He is also the attorney for Sally Krawcheck, and is with one of the oldest law firms in the United States (Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft).

 Q: How did your time at AIM shape you personally and professionally?

A: “People are the product” is what they used to say at AIM when I was there from 1998-2001, and it resonated throughout the organization – from portfolio management, to operations, to sales, legal, finance and administration. Objective number one is a cultural fit, followed by competency. I was taught that if you lead with cultural fit, the competency will follow. At Capital Innovations we can train people if they have a first-class temperament. If they have a first class mind, all the better.

One of the phrases that you'll come across in our job descriptions is “low ego,” a phrase that is sort of incongruent with this business nowadays. Low ego means you come in to work and do your job and have a sense of pride about it. You contribute to the team. You may not always get it right, but you strive for excellence every day of the week. That steady strain of discipline, tenacity and focus helps you deliver investment returns for your clients. That comes right out of the AIM playbook!

Q: You mention the value of mentors. Who are yours?

A: My father for character, Steve Jobs for innovations and John Taylor, Stanford University for personal freedom and fiscal/monetary policy.
At AIM my mentors were Abbott Sprague, Mark Santero and Pat Bray. They all knew what it takes to be successful as they not only had first class minds, but more importantly, first class temperaments.

Q: What did the market look like in 2007?

A: We went out in 2007 with the idea of offering managed accounts of publicly traded securities in infrastructure, timber and agriculture, but we did it in an innovative way. We didn’t just say we had experience – we really had the experience. We said, “Real assets is all we do.”

Our first client was the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). They were working with a consulting firm that was using real estate returns and real estate risk numbers as a proxy for infrastructure investments. The first thing we did was help them really understand that real estate and infrastructure are drastically different asset classes.

Q: How would you describe launching your own investment firm?

A: Steady strain. I'm 46 years old, and I've run 26 marathons raising several million dollars for cancer research as a tribute to my father, and I’d have to say that starting an asset management firm in 2007 was more difficult than running a marathon. It's almost like an Ironman challenge. 

Q: What was it like being the first Chairman of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI) Initiative?

A: Uncharted territory working with asset managers, asset owners, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and a wide range of global institutional investors from dozens of countries. Most of the people involved wanted to do the right thing, but several people had different visions as to how to do it. Imagine riding a unicycle downhill while juggling a chainsaw, a burning torch and a machete. Lots of politics, cultural differences and opinions, so having strong management skills was part of the job. My father was 2nd Marine Corps Division in WWII, and he used to say “you need to build a bridge before you burn it.” Leading the drafting of the investment guidelines for the UNPRI Infrastructure initiative was a transcendent experience.

Imagine riding a unicycle downhill while juggling a chainsaw, a burning torch and a machete. 

Michael Underhill, on the challenges of being first Chairman of the UNPRI Initiative

Q: What advice would you offer a portfolio manager just starting out? 

A: Never lose sight of who you are and why you're in this business. It’s all about the clients.  You've got to take care of them – your fiduciary responsibility comes first and foremost. You’ll be offered opportunities to climb the corporate ladder, you'll be offered opportunities to go on fast-moving trains and travel around the world. Be true to yourself. Second, find people who are willing to spend their time as a mentor to you. And when the time is right, turn around and pay it forward.

If you were at the Local Pour April 7 you know what a great time we had. From the marketing and institutional group reunions, to friends’ expressions of delight and lots of hugging and enjoying the outdoor patio, you are sure to enjoy the pictures which are now online.

“It was exciting,” said Patti Hefley. I was calling and texting and saying look, get a babysitter. Fly in. Do what it takes.”

That is exactly what happened. As the evening started, a hotel van pulled up and out came the institutional guys. The group included Pat Bray who is in Austin, Texas; Neal Seidle who lives in Oklahoma; Bruce Simmons who is in Austin and still with the firm; Mark Santero who works for Oppenheimer Funds in Connecticut; and Bill Wendell, with Access Distribution Partners in Delaware.

Andy Beal, Invesco, flew in from Ohio. From the West Coast, Linda Pix who is Managing Partner of Integrated Advisors Network arrived from California. Linda was enroute to Dallas and made a detour. Lanny Sachnowitz and Bret Stanley work together and Lanny was in town to visit family and meet with Bret. Polly Ahrendts made her regular appearance, coming in from New Mexico.

Gene Needles travels from Dallas each year and Kelly Niland, who is also in Dallas working for Garcia Hamilton attended.

Patti wrote a letter asking Joel Dobberpuhl if he might attend. “He and I were very close for a long time and then we both left AIM and we lost track of one another. Time went on. He was one of my boys and he became so successful. I googled him and found an address and said it has been too long,” she said. “After ten minutes saying how I never heard a word from Joel, he walked in and I just about cried,” laughs Patti. With personal outreach from Patti, Dawn, Barrett Sides, Ann Srubar and Margaret Vinson, we were excited to have so many friends from out of town join the crowd.

There were local surprises too. “Jaws dropped when Mike Cemo walked in. Mike was the chief of our sales and marketing department. He loved the company,” said Patti.

Bob Graham wrote the following email to the organizers: Congratulations on organizing what I think may well be the best AIM Alumni Happy Hour yet and many thanks for all the effort you put into it. Particular thanks go to Patti who used handwritten notes to cajole some of out of towners to attend for the first time. It was really great to have all of them as well as so many of our home town folks there. The fact that so many alumni continue to show up for these events just shows how much everybody at AIM liked the people they worked with and how lucky we all were to be able to work at AIM. It is such a gift to me to be able to see the alumni happily reuniting with their former colleagues and to hear them tell of their fond memories of AIM. AIM certainly seems to hold a special place in the hearts of those who worked there, which does wonderful things for my heart.

Thank you for helping us all briefly recapture the spirit of AIM.

Bob Graham

Other regulars included Dawn Hawley, Mark McMeans, Abbott Sprague, Ginger Neal, Gene Needles, Paula Permente, Sharon Lester, Charles Scavone, Mary Gentempo, Jennifer Tickle, Michelle Grace, Mary Benson, Anne Warnock, Jim Salners, and Ana Hernaez.

Log on and click on Photo Gallery to see the pictures taken by our own Dawn Hawley. “I was excited to see so many friends at the event and I was to get pictures of everyone,” said Dawn. With a crowd of more than 100, Dawn succeeded.

“The Local Pour was a great place with ample parking and a patio. We needed the room and people stayed late into the night. We look forward to building on the momentum and getting an even bigger crowd next year,” said Barrett Sides.