This is one of over 50 corporate profiles I've written for Heritage Media history books. Profiles recount a corporation's history while keeping with its current marketing goals.

Oak Associates

Individuals and organizations that choose Oak Associates as their investment advisement firm soon find out why the mighty oak tree is the perfect namesake for the company. Like the oak, the firm has a strong core of business philosophies that result in a healthy financial harvest.

Oak Associates owner Jim Oelschlager’s sharply-focused investment strategies have consistently out-performed the Standards & Poor’s 500. This doesn’t come as a surprise to The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. It hired Oelschlager as director of pension investments in 1969. Under his management, the $250 million pension plan rose to a total value of $1.2 billion by 1984, with $300 million in surplus assets.

That same year, Firestone’s financial troubles forced it to eliminate the pension plan. Seizing the opportunity, Oelschlager agreed to continue managing its funds, but only on a contract basis as an independent. He asked four Firestone associates — Donna Barton, Margaret Ballinger and Gloria Klinebegan — to join him in starting his own company. They agreed to take the leap and on April 1, 1985, the simply- named Oak Associates was born.

Though the firm began with only one client and no game plan, word of Oelschlager’s financial wizardry spread quickly throughout the Akron community aided by fellow brokers such as J.D. Maynard and his assistant, Donna Rizor, from Paine Webber. The Firestone account continued to show a profit and still remains one of Oak Associates’ largest accounts. By 1987, the firm was able to branch out into the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati regions.

In the late 1980s, Oak Associates started attracting clients from the institutional market. It won the largest account in the country, the California Public Employees Retirement System, in the early 1990s. Today, the account remains with Oak Associates and is joined by a variety of foundations, endowments, hospitals, universities and high net worth individuals from around the United States. Amazingly, all new business comes from referrals only.

Oak Associates currently manages $5.3 billion in private accounts and two mutual funds that it launched in 1992. Regardless of the size of their portfolio, the firm focuses on what is right for the client, not its own profits. Oelschlager finds managing the privately-owned business very rewarding. Building up the assets of individuals and organizations provides them with options they might not otherwise have.

Though his investment choices may seem “visionary,” Oelschlager’s approach is common sense. He believes the key to success in the stock market is holding onto good stocks for a long time. This fundamentalist approach has netted outstanding returns that have caught the attention of dozens of national publications including The New York Times, Smart Money, Forbes and Money magazines.

All Oak Associates’ clients receive highly-personalized service from its employees. What began as a four-person firm now employs more than 65 workers. Oelschlager’s unconventional management style creates a work environment where everyone is important and part of the team. Any individual could win or lose the game. There is a ban on all job titles and an emphasis on cross-training. The firm has a unique compensation set-up with low pay and no raises, just bonuses four times a year based on the firm’s performance. In the history of Oak Associates, no employee has ever left for another job.

Oelschlager’s wife, Vanita, has been part of the team since the company’s inception. Oelschlager has been confined to a wheelchair since 1984 because of multiple sclerosis and Vanita acts as his handler, as well as assists with employee and client relations.

Together, the Oelschlagers have made many generous gifts to educational, civic and hospital organizations, including a $1.66 million dollar donation to the Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron’s child advocacy program. Their contributions have increased along with the company’s success and are often done quietly and without fanfare. Determined to lead by example, the Oelschlagers set-up an incentive for Oak Associates employees where they match charitable contributions dollar for dollar.

The Oelschlagers also personally fund a multiple sclerosis clinic, The Oak Clinic, located in Green, Ohio, for low-income and uninsured sufferers of multiple sclerosis. Services are free to all residents of Summit County and the clinic staff is paid a salary so that the physicians, physical therapists and psychological counselors can all take their time with each patient. Since it opened in 2000, The Oak Clinic has helped over 300 patients.

Another charitable endeavor unique to the Oelschlagers are one-time gifts of $50,000 given to college investment classes or clubs so the students can gain experience in investing using real money. So far 20 different colleges have been gift recipients and an awards banquet is held every year where more money is donated to the class or club that received the best returns or were the most improved. Afterwards, 5 percent of the donation goes to the university and the remaining is left for the next class or club to re-invest. Oak Associates is the first firm ever to donate money this way and the endeavor was featured in an article in The Wall Street Journal. In addition, each of the Oelschlagers’ alma maters, Mt. Union College and Denison University, are receiving new science buildings thanks to the couples’ generosity.

Its clients needs and wants will decide the future of Oak Associates. The firm is structured so that ownership will go to its employees when Oelschlager passes on in what will hopefully be the far-off future. “We’ve decided to let the people who have made Oak what it is keep running it if I get hit by a truck. They know and they care about the clients. Some of them are even good stock pickers. I’ve hired the best people available. Why shouldn’t they be given a try at it?” says Oelschlager.

“It might be embarrassing for me to be around and see how well the firm does without me,” he continues with a laughter that, like the portfolios managed by Oak Associates, yields remarkable returns.

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