Lauren Cassidy
Lauren Cassidy, CFA is an American investor and fund manager who is Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Founder ETFs. She is a portfolio manager of the Founders 100 ETF (ticker: FFF), an actively managed US equity exchange-traded fund focused on Founder-Led companies.[1]
Cassidy's investment research focuses on Founder-Led companies and the relationship between Founder leadership and long-term equity returns. Her investment approach combines fundamental equity research, quantitative analysis and active portfolio management.[2]
Investment philosophy
Cassidy's investment approach combines fundamental equity research, quantitative analysis and active portfolio management, with a particular focus on Founder-Led companies.[2]
Her research examines the relationship between Founder leadership, corporate decision-making and long-term shareholder returns, including the potential influence of Founders on strategy, capital allocation, innovation and investment in new markets. Cassidy has emphasized vision, conviction and long-term decision-making as characteristics associated with Founder-Led businesses.[2]
Cassidy has argued that investors should consider their exposure to Founder-Led companies deliberately rather than treating it solely as an incidental result of owning broad-market funds.[2]
Education
Cassidy graduated with honors from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business in 2003 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and accounting. In 2008, she received a Master of Business Administration with honors from Columbia Business School, where she participated in the Value Investing Program. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.[3]
Career
Cassidy began her investment career at Sanford C. Bernstein, where she worked in institutional equity research with Howard Mason, an Institutional Investor-ranked analyst covering consumer finance.[4]
She later worked as a global generalist analyst at Cantillon Capital and as a US financials and utilities quantitative analyst at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. She subsequently worked as an analyst and portfolio manager at Northern Border Investments.[5]
Cassidy spent more than a decade at Westwood Holdings Group as a senior equity research analyst and portfolio manager. At Westwood, she co-managed more than $4 billion across Large Cap Quality Value, All Cap Value and Mid Cap Value investment strategies.[3]
In 2026, Cassidy became a Founder, Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Founder ETFs. Effective July 1, 2026, she was appointed Chief Investment Officer of the adviser and an Interested Trustee of Founder Funds Trust. She became Treasurer and Secretary of the Trust effective August 4, 2026.[1]
Cassidy and Michael C. Monaghan serve as portfolio managers of the Founders 100 ETF. Founder Funds Trust cited Cassidy's 23 years of fundamental and quantitative equity research experience in describing her qualifications.[1]
Founder-led investing
Cassidy's principal investment thesis is that Founder-Led US companies have historically demonstrated strong shareholder returns but remain an overlooked source of equity exposure. She has described the difference between investors' existing exposure to Founder-Led companies and deliberate exposure to such companies as the "Founder Gap".[2]
The historical performance of Founder-Led companies has also been examined by independent researchers and financial publications. In January 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that Founder-Led companies had outperformed the broader S&P 500 by 167 percentage points over the preceding five years, while companies led by outside professional chief executives lagged the index by 11 percentage points.[6]
Research by Bain & Company found that Founder-Led S&P 500 companies generated 3.1 times the total shareholder return of non-Founder-Led companies over the 25 years from 1990 through 2014. An extension of the analysis covering 2015 through 2024 found a 2.1-times difference. The definition of Founder-Led companies used in the Bain research is broader than the eligibility criteria used by the Founders 100 ETF, which requires an original Founder to remain a chief officer.[2]
Cassidy has researched Founder leadership across more than 11,000 US stocks using 27 years of quarterly data. Her research contributed to the development of the firm's Founder Factor investment framework.[7]
Founder ETFs separately analyzed the 300 largest US equity ETFs, representing approximately 90% of assets in the category, and calculated that 12.55% of their portfolio weight was allocated to companies in which an original Founder remained a chief officer as of June 30, 2026.[2]
Cassidy refers to the characteristics associated with Founder-Led businesses collectively as the "Founder Factor". Her investment research examines Founder leadership alongside established investment characteristics such as growth, value and quality.[7]
Founders 100 ETF
The Founders 100 ETF is an actively managed US equity ETF focused on companies in which an original Founder continues to serve as a chief officer. The strategy screens approximately 6,000 US-listed stocks to identify approximately 1,000 Founder-Led companies and then considers the 200 largest eligible companies by free-float market capitalization.[8]
The portfolio consists of 100 companies selected using fundamental criteria including balance-sheet, income-statement, cash-flow and valuation measures. The investment process uses a proprietary rules-based fundamental methodology for at least 80% of assets, while up to 20% may be invested using a discretionary fundamental methodology.[8]
The discretionary portion of the strategy allows the portfolio managers to invest in eligible Founder-Led companies outside the primary selection methodology, including newly public companies. The fund rebalances and reconstitutes its rules-based portfolio quarterly, generally in late February, May, August and November.[8]
Founder ETFs defines a Founder-Led company as one managed by a Founder serving as a chief officer, most often chief executive officer, chief technology officer, chief scientific officer or chief medical officer.[8]
The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and has total annual fund operating expenses of 0.75%.[8]
Media and public commentary
Cassidy is a financial-market commentator on founder-led investing, US equities, artificial intelligence, technology, financials, corporate earnings, monetary policy, geopolitics and long-term investing.[2]
She has appeared on Bloomberg Television, BNN Bloomberg, Schwab Network, Yahoo Finance, Ausbiz and FINTECH.TV. She has also been interviewed by Gregg Greenberg of InvestmentNews, Phil Rosen on Full Signal and David Keller, CMT, on Market Misbehavior about Founder-Led companies, artificial intelligence, US equity markets, portfolio construction and individual stock selection.[2][7][9]
In a July 2026 interview with FINTECH.TV, Cassidy discussed Founder-Led companies, artificial intelligence investment, the expansion of AI investment beyond semiconductors and the potential effects of artificial intelligence on employment.[10]
Cassidy appeared on Schwab Network on July 1, 2026, to discuss the investment characteristics of Founder-Led companies, the Founders 100 ETF, artificial intelligence and portfolio construction.[11]
In another Schwab Network appearance in July, she discussed banking conditions, renewed IPO activity, private credit, the equity-market outlook and corporate earnings.[12]
Cassidy appeared on Ausbiz on July 2, 2026, in a segment titled "Do you own enough founder-led businesses?" discussing founder-led investing and portfolio exposure.[13]
In July 2026, Cassidy appeared on BNN Bloomberg's The Open to discuss artificial-intelligence capital expenditures and the potential for those investments to create long-lived corporate assets.[14]
In an August 2026 Bloomberg interview, Cassidy discussed the Founders 100 ETF's investment in SpaceX and its approach to newly public Founder-Led companies.[15]
Cassidy has also been quoted by Reuters, Barron's, MarketWatch, Investor's Business Daily and Inc. on US equity markets, geopolitics, corporate earnings, artificial intelligence and technology companies.[citation needed]
In July 2026, Inc. quoted Cassidy on artificial intelligence development and its integration into businesses.[16]
Reuters quoted Cassidy as Chief Investment Officer of Founder ETFs in its coverage of US equity markets, interest rates, oil prices and geopolitical developments.[17]
Barron's quoted Cassidy in July 2026 on investor uncertainty and US equity-market conditions.[18]
MarketWatch quoted her in its July 2026 coverage of corporate earnings, geopolitical risk and US equity-market conditions.[19]
Investor's Business Daily quoted Cassidy in its coverage of Datadog and the role of observability technology in artificial intelligence infrastructure.[20]
Personal life
Cassidy grew up in Dallas, Texas, and lives in Highland Park. She has two children.[21]
See also
- Exchange-traded fund
- Active management
- Growth investing
- Value investing
- Equity research
- Fundamental analysis
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Founder Funds Trust, Post-Effective Amendment No. 3 to Form N-1A". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 6, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Why companies run by their founders tend to beat the market". InvestmentNews. July 28, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Lauren Cassidy, CFA, Named Chief Investment Officer of the Founders 100 ETF (FFF)". Business Wire. July 1, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Howard Mason". Renaissance Macro Research. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Lauren Hill: Positions, Relations and Network - MarketScreener India". in.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
- ↑ Jakab, Spencer (January 14, 2026). "Founders can make you rich". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Keller, David (August 29, 2026). "The Founder Factor: Selling Hired CEOs with Lauren Cassidy". Market Misbehavior. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Founder Funds Trust Prospectus". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. April 17, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Top Investment Chief: 7 stocks to BEAT the S&P 500 long-term". Full Signal. July 1, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Why Founder-Led Companies Are Winning the AI Revolution". FINTECH.TV. July 8, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Using Founder-Led Companies in ETFs & Portfolios". Schwab Network. July 1, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Banks Are Thriving, IPOs Are Back, and Lauren Cassidy Sees More Upside Ahead". Schwab Network. July 16, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Do you own enough founder-led businesses?". Ausbiz. July 2, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "We think that these investments are going to create long-lived assets: Cassidy on AI". BNN Bloomberg. July 28, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "We Were Day One Buyers of SpaceX: Cassidy". Bloomberg. August 17, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ Rosen, Phil (July 3, 2026). "This Is Where the Actual AI Bubble Is Hiding". Inc. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Wall St futures steady with focus on Mideast talks, US-China summit". Reuters. September 23, 2026. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ Buchanan, Naomi (July 2026). "S&P 500 Gives Back Gains to Extend Losing Streak to 3 Days". Barron's. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ Saefong, Myra (July 22, 2026). "After a 'dazzling' start to earnings season, here's why the market is going in the 'wrong direction'". MarketWatch. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ Mozee, Carla (July 22, 2026). "AI Play Datadog Nears Buy Point As Observability Technology Gains Importance". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved October 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-10-07.
External links
This article "Lauren Cassidy" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lauren Cassidy. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
