Savvy forecasting based on quantitative research has paid off for Frank James, M.S. ’66, Ph.D. ’67, founder and chairman of James Investment Research, an investment management firm near Dayton, Ohio, that manages over $2 billion in assets. His firm’s James Balanced Golden Rainbow Fund has been awarded “Best Mixed-Asset Allocation Moderate Fund Over 10 years” by Lipper, a Reuters company. The Fund also received Performance Achievement Certificates for a No. 1 ranking for both the one-year and five- year periods.

“We’ve been toiling away here in Alpha, Ohio (population 402), for the past 36 years,” says James. “Good research helps us to better anticipate the future, and we do all of our own research. We don’t disparage Wall Street advice, but we prefer to follow our own guidance.”

James’s degree dissertation at Rensselaer, “The Implications of Trend Persistency in Portfolio Management,” provided a computer-based study of the price movements of every security listed on the New York Stock Exchange between 1926 and 1960. The results of his research in identifying securities with high probability of future appreciation continue to be used in the firm today.

James was formerly in charge of the graduate management program, and a professor of management and statistics, at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Alan Crain ’73 was featured in the December issue of the National Law Journal. Crain is senior vice president and general counsel for Baker Hughes Inc., where he oversees mergers and acquisitions, and labor and employment law. He also chairs the Center for Human Rights for the American Bar Association.

Prior to joining Baker Hughes, Crain had a number of increasingly responsible roles in Houston area companies including El Paso Energy, Pennzoil, and Union Texas Petroleum. Following a short two-year stint in Philadelphia as general counsel for Crown, Cork and Seal, he returned to Houston in 2000 to join Baker Hughes.