Michael J. Materasso

Operates as a holding company which provides investment management services

Operates as a nationally chartered commercial bank

GC specializes in management of equity, balanced and fixed-income portfolios. The guiding tenet of GC's investment philosophy is risk consciousness in both equity and fixed income portfolio management. They believe their first obligation is the preservation of the future purchasing power of their clients' capital. The investment decision-making process at GC is bottom-up, focusing on fundamental research that begins with intensive accounting validation. They believe the key to successful portfolio management is prompt implementation of investment decisions once due diligence on companies has been conducted. Each portfolio manager has primary responsibility for and knowledge of a group of clients. The firm emphasizes value when analyzing a potential investment, seeking to identify securities trading below their intrinsic worth. When selecting individual securities, GC's risk conscious philosophy is characterized by price sensitivity and the continuing search for the best relative value among securities given prevailing and anticipated trends within the economy and capital markets. When they are less than positive about the equity market, they will periodically use fixed-income securities, convertible issues and cash equivalents as alternatives to common stocks. Generally, their cash position is a residual of investment ideas rather than a conscious effort to time the market. The stocks they purchase tend to exhibit common characteristics, including relatively low p/e ratios, low price-to-book value, high earnings-per-share growth, excess cash flow, solid balance sheets and high ROE. GC's sell decisions are a function of risk versus reward for a particular issue and relates to the degree to which the expectations that supported its original purchase have been realized, in terms of both the company's operating results and the price of its stock in the marketplace. Likewise, the flow of new ideas serves as a natural 'weeding out' process for older holdings that have realized a substantial portion of their potential. A stock may be sold for any of the following reasons: ongoing evaluation of a stock's fundamentals proves disappointing, the stock achieves the firm's price objective or the stock's price increases substantially in a short period, thus making the risk/reward relationship unfavorable. The firm will also sell if alternative investment ideas are deemed more attractive than the least attractive current holding. The portfolio manager/analyst responsible for a specific issue determines when it is appropriate to sell a holding and informs all portfolio managers immediately.

Franklin Advisers provides advisory services to a range of products and separate accounts which utilize various investment strategies including equity, fixed income, core, hybrid, and multi-asset strategies. The firm employs fundamental, bottom-up investment analysis to select securities within a specific sector or industry.

Functions as a College/University