Prior to founding Sector Capital, its president, Bill Gurner was the Manager of Trust Investments at Federal Express Corporation where he successfully directed the investment of $3 billion in employee benefit assets, including pension, 401(k) and LTD plans. In 1991, while Bill was at Federal Express, he developed a unique sector-neutral and style-balanced investment strategy called Sector Plus. The strategy involved hiring expert managers to pick stocks from a limited sector universe. The strategy provided a structure in which active sector advisors could maximize their stock-selection capabilities; thereby increasing the likelihood of including market winners and excluding market losers.


In 1995, Bill left Federal Express and founded Sector Capital Management, LLC where he and Sector Capital’s team of investment specialists continued to manage the Sector Plus strategy and in December of 1997, its socially responsible product, Pathfinder. Over time, the Sector Plus and Pathfinder strategies had consistent performance that was comparable to the S&P 500 Index; however, the Sector Capital investment specialists were always researching ways to enhance performance. While monitoring the sub-advisors, Sector Capital developed new ideas for an investment strategy.

In 2005, Director of Research, Rex Morrison, along with the Sector Capital team, developed an innovative investment screening process based primarily on quantitative analysis of stock price versus earnings growth. The development of this new quantitative method for stock selection, compelled Sector Capital to move away from using external managers to manage the firm’s portfolios and to begin to manage its portfolios internally, while still adhering to the sector-neutral and style-balanced investment philosophy of the Sector Plus strategy.

However, prior to implementing the quantitative stock screening process, Sector Capital rigorously tested the new strategy it named Sector Select, over a ten-year period from December 31, 1994 to March 31, 2005. The tests were designed to be objective and transparent. The stock screens and fundamental analysis were consistently applied with no subjective changes or adjustments made to the formulas or methodology during the tests. Sector Capital applied rigorous parameters to the tests, holding portfolios for a full calendar year with no changes made in the criteria.

The results of the Sector Select back-test were encouraging. Sector Select achieved added-value performance over the S&P 500 Index during the back-test, which covered both extreme value and growth markets, as well as the technology bubble.

Sector Capital, confident the Sector Select investment strategy would deliver consistent, added-value performance over the S&P 500 Index, began to implement the strategy in April of 2005. Over the course of the next year and a half, Sector Capital progressed from managing its portfolios through external sub-advisors to managing its portfolios internally through its quantitative screening process. It grew from managing two products, Sector Plus and Pathfinder, to managing three additional products, Sector Select, Mid-Cap, and the biblically-responsible mutual fund, Centurion Fund. Although Sector Capital had undergone significant changes, through its Sector Plus and Pathfinder products, it still adhereas to the same sector-neutral and style-balanced investment philosophy it was founded upon.