General Investing >> Money Manager Interviews >> July 27, 2009
Larry D. Coats Jr. is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Oak Value
Capital Management, Inc. He has spent much of his career pursuing and
implementing the disciplined investment approach Oak Value executes for clients.
He dedicates most of his time to investment research and portfolio decision
making and maintains oversight responsibility for the various functional areas
of the firm.He is a member of the firm's decision making Investment Committee,
serves on Oak Value's Board of Directors and is one of the Co-Managers of the
Oak Value Fund. He is also President of the Board of Trustees of the Oak Value
Trust and serves on the Boards of several charitable organizations. He joined
Oak Value in 1994 after beginning a successful career in the investment business
in 1986 with Carolina Securities, Thomson McKinnon, and Legg Mason Wood Walker.
He began his professional career performing business and systems analysis as a
Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen (the predecessor to consulting firm
Accenture) in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1983. He received his BS and MBA
degrees in 1981 and 1983 from the University of South Carolina. Profile
Christy L. Phillips is Senior Vice President, Director of Research and a
Portfolio Manager at Oak Value Capital Management, Inc. She received her BS
degree in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Her credentials stretch back to her 1986 entry into the investment business as a
research analyst, where she has primarily served in a senior analyst capacity.
Her employment background includes significant experience with securities and
investment firms including Wachovia, Lehman Brothers, Equitable Securities,
Smith Barney, Indepth Research, LLC, and Coker, Palmer, Phillips, & Mullens,
Inc. Her research experience has included industry concentration and generalist
responsibilities. She joined Oak Value in 2003 as a Vice President and Senior
Analyst, was promoted to Director of Research in March 2005 and has been a
shareholder of the firm since 2006. In March 2006, she joined the firm's
decision making Investment Committee, and in September 2008, she was made a
Portfolio Manager. Profile
Mr. Coats: In January 1993, we launched the Oak Value Fund (the Fund). Our
philosophy is grounded in the teachings
