Building Portfolios Through Biblically Responsible Investing

General Investing >> Money Manager Interviews >> September 25, 2015

Howard J. Leonard, CFA, is the Founder and CEO of Stewardship Partners Investment Counsel, Inc., located in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. Stewardship Partners is an investment manager dedicated to helping Christian investors align their investing with their biblically based worldview. Stewardship Partners is a recognized leader in the field of biblically responsible investing, and serves institutions and individuals using separately managed accounts. Prior to forming Stewardship Partners, Mr. Leonard was Executive Vice President of Templeton Investment Counsel, Inc. During his 10-plus years at Templeton, Mr. Leonard served on the firm’s Portfolio Management Committee, and managed $3.5 billion of mutual fund and separate account assets in both global and international mandates. Mr. Leonard played an important role in the success and rapid growth that Templeton’s institutional business enjoyed during the 1990s and was regularly ranked by his colleagues at Templeton as one of the firm’s top securities analysts. Prior to joining Templeton in 1989, Mr. Leonard served as the Director of Investment Research for First Pennsylvania Bank and earlier as a securities analyst at Provident National Bank. Mr. Leonard’s career in the investment business actually began at the age of 19 when he became a licensed stockbroker. He received his CFA designation in 1984, one of the youngest ever to receive this prestigious designation. Mr. Leonard also owns and serves as CEO of the Biblically Responsible Investing Institute, Inc. The BRI Institute is the leading organization that compiles information on the actions of public corporations that might be of concern to Christian investors. This information is used by Stewardship Partners as well as other Christian institutions and financial advisers seeking to be good stewards of the wealth the Lord has entrusted them with. Mr. Leonard has served as Treasurer of the Philadelphia Society of Security Analysts and served as a member of the board of regents of the CFA Institute’s Financial Analyst Seminar from 1999 until 2003. He has been a frequent speaker at CFA Institute and other investment conferences on the subject of global investing. He also served as a member of the CFA Institute’s Global Financial Reporting Advocacy Committee that sought to influence the rulings made by the International Accounting Standards Board. Mr. Leonard and his wife, Carol, founded a nonprofit ministry, Wall Watchers, in 1998. Wall Watchers provides insightful research reports on Christian ministries for use by current and prospective donors to those organizations —www.MinistryWatch.com. Thousands of users access this website each month. Mr. Leonard is currently CEO and Chairman of the board for Wall Watchers, which is located in Matthews, North Carolina. Additionally, Mr. Leonard co-authored a column on the subject of charity for WORLD magazine from 2008 until 2010. The work of MinistryWatch.com has been featured on ABC’s 20/20, CNN, The O’Reilly Factor and Good Morning America, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and many other media outlets. Mr. Leonard also serves on the board of directors of the Strategic Resource Group, a nonprofit ministry that seeks to mobilize and direct prayer, people and funds into partnership with churches and key ministries in the Middle East and North Africa. Mr. Leonard is a graduate of Temple University, earning a BBA with a double major in finance and economics in 1981. At Temple, Mr. Leonard served as Vice President of his class, as Ombudsman for the School of Business and won the Financial Executives Institute Award given annually to Temple’s top finance student. Mr. Leonard and Carol, who have been married for 31 years, have three children: Derek, 28, Amy, 26, and Jessina, 22. The Leonards currently reside in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Profile

TWST: Please give us some background on Stewardship Partners.

Mr. Leonard: Before starting Stewardship, I was one of the top portfolio managers at Templeton. I was an Executive Vice

Join for free to read a longer excerpt or purchase this article

Building Portfolios Through Biblically Responsible Investing

Top Company Interviews

CEO INTERVIEWS

SECTOR ROUNDTABLES

MONEY MANAGER INTERVIEWS

ANALYST INTERVIEWS

Building Portfolios Through Biblically Responsible Investing

Top Company Interviews

Register for a Free Account to gain greater access to The Wall Street Transcript right now

CEO INTERVIEWS

SECTOR ROUNDTABLES

MONEY MANAGER INTERVIEWS

ANALYST INTERVIEWS