Jack Somers
Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Income Research + Management. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
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Jack Sommers co-founded Boston-based fixed-income investment firm Income Research + Management (IR+M) in 1987 with his father, serving as an analyst and portfolio manager for over 20 years. As Executive Chair, he chairs the Board of Directors and guides the firm's governance, culture, and client service strategy.
1shows
1appearances
12statements
0resolved
0supported
0contradicted
Everything Jack Somers said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Sommers: Strict Focus on High-Quality US Debt is IR+M's Differentiator
“We talk about our focus as a huge differentiator. We basically are a US dollar, fixed income, pretty high quality firm. And that's what we've been all along. So we haven't stretched it and don't want to risk what we've built.”
Sommers: The 2008 Financial Crisis Was IR+M's Greatest Business Opportunity
“Shockingly, the great financial crisis was like the greatest business opportunity for us ever. After that, our assets grew the fastest they ever had over any ten-year period, and we got up to about seventy billion dollars in 17 and 170 colleagues, and since th…”
Sommers: IR+M Paid 'Lip Service' to DEI Until George Floyd's Murder
“I think about DE and I, we talked about it. It was pretty close to lip service, and it really took the George Floyd incident for us to make a much more significant commitment to getting after it. And it's going to be a long game, and it's hard, but it's good. …”
Sommers: Fire Cultural Misfits, but Coach Employees With Technical Gaps
“If they're a cultural misfit, I think that's clear that they need to go. If it's technical capabilities that we can teach or coach people out of, or maybe a small behavioral thing we can help coach somebody up on, and that person is committed to it, we will gi…”
Sommers: Why IR+M Rejects the 'Family Business' Label for Corporate Culture
“We try not to call our business a family business because you can't fire a family member and a family member can't really quit.”
Sommers: IR+M Avoided High-Risk Credit Ahead of the 2008 Crisis
“And then from a investing perspective, if you think back to 2006 and 2007 and what was going on, we basically said no to the quote, picking up pennies in front of the bulldozer. That, in hindsight, was obviously a very good decision. That was huge.”
Sommers: IR+M Cut Issuer Limits After Concentrated Portfolios Burned Them in 2002
“And then from an investment side, we definitely, in our early days, Ran very concentrated portfolios that I don't think fully took advantage of the ability to diversify away idiosyncratic risk, and we got burned in 2002, and we said we got to change this, so w…”
Sommers: Asset Managers Must Reject Business to Protect Core Strategy Resources
“There are times when you just have to say no to some business because you want to make sure you have the resources that you need to find attractive bonds and getting them in the right portfolios in the right way.”
Sommers: Market Pundits Display Arrogance Driven by Polarized Political Discourse
“I hate to bring politics into this, but the political conversation has become so polarized and hyped up, and sometimes I feel like our pundits are falling into that same trap where they just display this incredible arrogance.”
Sommers: Failing to Delegate Held IR+M Back in Its Early Years
“It's just a sign of not delegating enough, not trusting other people enough, and we have done a lot of delegating, but it's been too late and not enough, and certainly in my early years, that held us back for a long time.”
Sommers: IR+M Generates Alpha Via Bottom-Up Bond Selection Without Macro Bets
“So we started the firm to basically be a bottom-up bond picker to help clients beat their fixed income benchmarks, and that hasn't changed. Part of what makes that work is not making big macro bets, and that really hasn't changed.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Jack's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 CAPITAL ALLOCATORSLEDGER | Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Income Research + Management | 1 | 12 | — | full record on Capital Allocators → |