New chief investment officer looks to grow business at Okabena Investment Services

Dennis Santos, the new senior vice president and chief investment officer at Okabena Investment Services, is leading its investment team while getting to know what's important to the firm's family and nonprofit clients and overseeing efforts to meet their philanthropic and other financial objectives.

Santos joined Okabena Investment Services (OIS) in April. OIS is the investment advisory of Okabena Co., a Minneapolis-based investment firm established to manage Dayton family money. Santos is a member of Okabena's senior leadership team.

"Working in a family office and working for specific family trusts and foundations, you build a bigger relationship with them," Santos said. "Some have specific philanthropies they're using that money for and others are planning for future generations and trying to take care of family. There's a lot that goes into it and you get to build a personal relationship with them."

Santos most recently was head of investment manager research at Global Fiduciary Solutions at State Street Global Advisors, which he said had grown to $150 billion in assets under management during his nine-plus years there. OIS had $1.4 billion under management at the end of 2020.

The collaborative culture and team camaraderie under Okabena Co. President and CEO James Field, Santos said, helped bring him to the firm. Okabena and its subsidiaries have offered family office and wealth-management services for more than 50 years.

"Because it's a little bit smaller, you can have a real personal relationship with your colleagues," Santos said. "You can wear more hats and can help grow the business, which is part of the fun. Winning a new client, one that you know is a good fit and that's going to have a long relationship with you, that's awesome."

Santos, a Boston native, has an MBA from Bentley College (now University) and an undergraduate degree in international economics from Suffolk University. He and his family recently moved to the Twin Cities from Stamford, Conn.

A: Jim Field has such a good growth mind-set but wants to do it in a measured fashion and keep Okabena running for another 50 years and more. That was really attractive, being part of that growth and part of that future. Being in a family office or multifamily office allows you to be a nimble investor. You're working with a reasonable asset pool where you get coverage from any investment manager that you want to get in front of.

Q: What are your responsibilities?

A: Leading the investment team, delivering for our clients and making sure that we're putting our clients first, making sure that we're delivering them a compelling return and we're doing it inside the guidelines they set for us. Clients have to be the first thing you think about. There's a great team already in place so I'm just augmenting what Jim has built over the last several years so it's more of an augmentation than a massive change.

Q: What are you focusing on?

A: Getting to know the clients, getting to know their client relationship managers, making sure I understand what's important to them. I don't think you can deliver great investment outcomes for your clients if you don't really know your clients' needs. Finding opportunities to add incremental value in the portfolios. Helping grow the business, supporting that effort.