Rob Arnott

Chairman at Syzygy Asset Management

Speaker

Rob Arnott is Chairman of Syzygy Asset Management.

In 2002, Rob established Research Affiliates as a research-intensive asset management firm focused on delivering innovative and impactful investment products and insights. Over the next two decades, he helped build Research Affiliates and RAFI Indices into globally recognized businesses. In 2026, Research Affiliates and RAFI Indices were sold to TMX VettaFi in a strategic transaction undertaken from a position of strength, marking the culmination of that chapter of Rob’s career.

Rob has pioneered several unconventional portfolio strategies that are now widely applied, including tactical asset allocation, global tactical asset allocation, tax-advantaged equity management, and the Fundamental Index™ approach to investing. His success in bridging academic theory and financial markets has earned him a reputation as one of the world’s most provocative practitioners and respected financial analysts.

Rob is co-portfolio manager on the PIMCO All Asset and All Asset All Authority funds and the PIMCO RAE™ funds.

Earlier in his career, Rob was chair of First Quadrant, LP, which he built from the former internal money manager for Crum & Forster into a highly regarded quantitative asset management firm. He also served as global equity strategist at Salomon Brothers (now part of Citigroup), founding president and CEO of TSA Capital Management (now part of Analytic Investors, LLC), and a vice president at The Boston Company.

Rob has published more than 150 articles in publications including the Journal of Portfolio Management, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Analysts Journal, where he served as editor in chief from 2002 through 2006. He has received eight Graham and Dodd Scrolls, as well as four Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy awards from the Journal of Portfolio Management. In 2013, Rob received the William F. Sharpe Indexing Lifetime Achievement Award. He is co-author of The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest (Wiley, 2008).