Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg fail to make cut in ‘High Character' CEO ETF
A new exchange-traded fund, Return on Character ETF (ticker ROCI), is tapping into America’s love affair with strong corporate leaders even as it leaves out two of its most famous tech pioneers- Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. ROCI also excludes Adobe Inc., whose boss Shantanu Narayen is a top rated CEO on Glassdoor with a 99% approval score. ROCI, launching Thursday, seeks capital appreciation by targeting the stocks of businesses led by “high character” chief executive officers, according to a regulatory filing. The actively managed strategy uses a model based on “integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion,” manager ROC Investments LLC said in a release.
Among those whose firms didn’t make the cut: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The first data show neither Tesla Inc. nor Meta Platforms Inc. are included in the portfolio, while rival megacap stocks like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc -- helmed by Tim Cook and Andy Jassy, respectively -- are among top holdings.
Dan Cooper, portfolio manager and founder of ROC Investments, said the firm’s research determines which stocks are included, a decision that’s not based on popularity or market capitalization. He declined to comment on why Tesla and Meta were omitted at launch.
“It would be wonderful someday if the entire Fortune 500 was on the list,” said Cooper. “I don’t see this as a static thing.”
The mandate may sound fluffy, but ROCI enters one of the oldest debates in organizational management: Just how much difference does a CEO make?
While some dismiss the tendency to attribute a firm’s success to one individual, research presents a more nuanced take. Some studies highlight the damage caused by the loss of a good leader, while a high-performing executive also
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