Two New Fund Managers to Watch

It's always important to keep a close watch on the fundamentals and performance of your mutual funds. But it's also important to know about the wizard behind the curtain -- the fund manager pulling the strings and running your investment.

That's why TheStreet.com Ratings monitors the manager changes going on at the mutual funds we track. Below are the two manager changes that took place during February.

Credit Suisse

On Feb. 20, Jordan Low, CFA, took over the day-to-day portfolio management of several funds that had been run by Joseph Cherian since Dec. 1, 2006. These include the Credit Suisse Large Cap Value A (WFGIX - commentary - Cramer's Take), Credit Suisse Lg Cap Growth A (CUAAX - commentary - Cramer's Take), Credit Suisse Mid Cap Core Fund A (CUWAX - commentary - Cramer's Take), Credit Suisse Small Cap Core A (WFAGX - commentary - Cramer's Take), Credit Suisse Trust-Blue Chip (CUBCX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Credit Suisse Trust-Large Cap Value (WGICX - commentary - Cramer's Take).

Aside from the C+ or hold-rated CS Trust Blue Chip, the rest of these funds ranked in the bottom 30% of the open-end stock mutual funds we track, earning sell ratings. Along with the related share classes, this accounts for a management shift of $659.6 million in total net assets.

According to each funds' recent prospectus or supplement, Low's support team from the Credit Suisse Quantitative Equities Group includes William Weng, Eric Leng and Todd Jablonski. As director, Low serves as global head of research and portfolio management for quantitative equity products.

Low has been with Credit Suisse Group since 2005. He ran the global proprietary trading business as the U.S. head of statistical trading. He gained experience in statistical and volatility arbitrage, along with fundamental and microstructure strategies, at Morgan Stanley from 2001 to 2002 and Deutsche Bank from 2002 to 2005.

Invesco Aim

Taking over the lead portfolio management duties for the D- rated AIM Technology Fund (ITYAX - commentary - Cramer's Take) is Warren Tennant, CFA. As of Feb. 4, he is responsible for day-to-day management of the fund's $697.3 million net asset portfolio. According to his corporate biography, Mr. Tennant joined Invesco Aim in 2000 and was promoted to portfolio manager from senior equities analyst last year. Prior to Invesco Aim, Mr. Tennant spent five years as an auditor for Exxon Mobil (XOM - commentary - Cramer's Take).

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Kevin Baker became the senior financial analyst for TSC Ratings upon the August 2006 acquisition of Weiss Ratings by TheStreet.com, covering mutual funds. He joined the Weiss Group in 1997 as a banking and brokerage analyst. In 1999, he created the Weiss Group's first ratings to gauge the level of risk in U.S. equities. Baker received a B.S. degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. with a finance specialization from Nova Southeastern University.