Brown Capital Expands Leadership Team with New Hires and New Roles
The Brown Capital Management team is undergoing some exciting changes. First, we have made two key hires, with Michael L. Forster, CPA, CGMA, joining us as chief operating officer (COO) and chief financial officer (CFO), and Michele L. Ennis joining us as a marketing coordinator. Second, Keith A. Lee has taken on the newly created role of chief investment officer (CIO), while remaining president of the firm and a senior portfolio manager on the Small Company team.
“Our firm has been fortunate to experience steady growth in assets under management over the last five years, so we are strategically reinvesting in the firm’s investment, management and client-service capabilities,” says Eddie C. Brown, founder, chairman and CEO of Brown Capital. “The hiring of Mike and Michele, as well as Keith’s new role, help us address all of these areas,” he says.
Mike’s role as COO/CFO is a newly created one in which he absorbs management responsibilities from Chief Administrative Officer Cecil E. Flamer, CPA, CGMA, and from Keith. Mike is taking on oversight of the administration, finance, and IT responsibilities from Cecil, and the operations, trading, and compliance functions from Keith. “Mike brings decades of experience in overseeing operations, which allows Eddie and me to focus more on our investment programs,” says Keith. Cecil, who has held that role since 2004, will retire on June 30, 2020, after helping Mike transition into his new role.
Keith’s new title of CIO is in recognition of his role overseeing the growing investment team, which has added five new team members over the last four years. “Over the last year, in particular, Keith has done a terrific job helping to facilitate collaboration and communication between the investment teams as they research Exceptional Growth Companies,” says Eddie. Starting January 1, 2020, the investment teams will report to Keith.
Prior to joining Brown Capital, Mike served as chief operating and financial officer of the Woodrow Wilson Center, a prestigious think tank in Washington, DC. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has also held senior positions at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, the Washington Post Co., MAXIMUS, Arthur Andersen and Mitchell & Titus. Mike earned his BBA at George Washington University and his MSA at Central Michigan University.
Michele joins Brown Capital after spending 23 years as operations manager at Industrial Products Supply in Capitol Heights, Md. Previously, Michele was the corporate administrator at Department 13, Inc., a mobile- and communications technology company. She received her BA in anthropology and communications from the University of Maryland.
