As a new decade begins, we reflect on our past and the strides that we have made since our founding in 2003. During that time, we have witnessed amazing growth from our employees, our resources as a firm and the assets that we manage. I am very grateful to our clients and friends for their trust and am incredibly proud of the fact that we have been able to maintain our small-firm feel and family-focused culture even as we have grown to nearly 80 employees and $7.8 billion in assets under management across the firm.
Founded and based in Cleveland, Ohio, Ancora is a firm with strong midwestern roots. In 2012, we made the strategic decision to open a second office in the Detroit, Michigan, market to broaden our investment capabilities and better service our growing client base. This gave us better reach across the Midwest and allowed us to continue to develop our nationally-recognized asset management capabilities.
With that same spirit of growth in mind, I am excited to announce that in 2020 we are expanding again and opening our third office location, this time in Naples, Florida. We believe the west coast of Florida is a natural market for us and have decided to extend our unique mix of wealth management capabilities, financial services experience and institutional-caliber, proprietary investment solutions into this thriving part of the country. This is a region where many of our clients already reside for part of the year as “snowbirds,” so we look forward to the opportunity to better serve them year-round, as well as to serve new relationships.
With a focus on relationships, broad investment capabilities and outstanding client service, Ancora is uniquely positioned to deliver tailored financial solutions to families, small businesses, organizations and financial intermediaries in all the markets we serve. We believe our proprietary asset management strategies in categories such as equities, fixed income and alternatives set us apart from wealth advisors who typically outsource most of the money management for their clients. Comprehensive wealth planning, retirement plan management and a consultative approach to insurance planning further round out our ability to provide holistic financial solutions delivered with a highly personalized touch. We take great pride in knowing that we provide our clients with customized solutions built for their needs.
We have worked diligently in selecting our Naples office space to create another home for Ancora and our clients to gather and create dynamic financial solutions. The space is designed with flexibility in mind to allow our Cleveland and Detroit-based relationship and portfolio managers to work productively when they are in town, meet with existing clients and get to know new ones. We are excited to share our new space and will be posting updates to our LinkedIn page, so be sure to follow us there. We thank you for your ongoing support of Ancora as we grow to better serve you in the regions that you call home.