David S. Hertan is a vice president and portfolio manager for State Street Global Advisors, the money management arm of State Street Bank & Trust Co. in Boston.
Mr. Hertan was selected as an All-star Portfolio Manager for the Seven Seas Yield Plus Fund performance in the one-year, short investment-grade debt fund category.
He joined the Boston-based money manager in March 1994 from the Student Loan Marketing Association, where he was director of investments for the quasi-governmental agency.
Prior to taking over the port-folio management duties of the State Street fund, he focused on enhanced cash management and securities lending for State Street.
Mr. Hertan described the Seven Seas Yield Plus fund as "a bridge between the money market funds and the longer-term bond funds." He called the fund a tool which allows corporate treasurers to practice enhanced cash management.
That concept, he explained, calls for managing that portion of a corporation's daily cash reserves a bit more daringly than the usual cash-management techniques.
"It's not a large part of a treasurer's cash, but, if he does have it, we can maximize his returns," the State Street portfolio manager said.
Mr. Hertan particularly likes floating-rate assets for the fund, he said, because it allows him to take advantage of both ends of the investing cycle.
Some of those securities are too short for the longer-term bond funds and too long for the money market funds, so he's able to get a very good price and yield because of the duration of the fund he manages.
The fund doesn't dip down into the corporate rating scale to improve its yield, a cautious approach that has served it well.
"I'm not digging down into the triple-B's. We like to buy companies who care about their ratings," he said.
State Street, like many other asset management companies, uses the team approach to managing its funds. For example, Mr. Hertan just recently took over the fund from Glenn Migliozzi.
But the close working relationship among all members of the money-management team at State Street Global Assets ensures the continuity of its funds and the investment objectives of those funds. Mr. Hertan counts his European experience with Ford of Europe as among the high-lights of his career.
"I worked three years with Ford in London managing foreign exchange exposure and money-market portfolios," he said.
Mr. Hertan receive his bachelor;s degree in economics from Duke University And a master's degree in business administration, in finance and accounting, from Columbia University.
