About Us / History

Investing With Clarity for Over Three Decades

Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn is a leading value manager. We believe our track record, spanning almost 40 years, is testament to our success in serving clients and providing strong investment performance. Clients benefit from consistent application of one cohesive philosophy and process, implemented by a team with diverse experience in appraising the intrinsic value of companies.

CRM’s founding partners, Gerry Cramer, Ed Rosenthal and Ron McGlynn, met in the 1970s. Sharing a fascination for investing in changing companies neglected by other investors, they founded CRM in 1973 as a value investment specialist. To implement their vision, they created an investment process designed to capitalize on the returns and minimize the risks inherent in changing companies.

After the painful market decline of 1973-1974, many investors lost interest in stocks, creating a climate of neglect. The challenges of the early 1970s led the founders of our firm to formulate the rationale for investing we follow today. They saw firsthand the opportunities inherent in companies experiencing change while operating in an environment of low investor expectations. While inspired by personal experience, the validity of CRM’s strategy is supported by numerous academic studies dating from the genesis of the modern stock market to the present.

“We have client relationships that date back to the inception of the firm.”

Ron McGlynn
Chairman

By the early 1980s, the success of CRM’s investment process led to several positive developments. Our track record attracted institutional clients, helping our firm to grow assets under management and build resources. Jay Abramson joined the firm, and over time expanded our team of talented research analysts. The advent of institutional investors and a new generation of talent in turn brought improvements to the investment process. Specifically, we developed more in-depth approaches to due diligence and formalized valuation techniques.

What began as a collective gleam in three investors’ eyes has turned into an investment company with a 37-year track record based on a proven investment process. While we have grown as an organization, we nonetheless remain true to our entrepreneurial origins, evident in the shared excitement with which analysts team up to pursue a new opportunity.