Photo by Avia Ustanny
Steven Gooden, general manager of Pan Caribbean asset management.Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer
Steven Gooden, vice-president and general manager of Pan Caribbean Asset Management Limited, is 27 years old. Only just.
Today, in an interview with Outlook, the August - born executive smiles and his braces flash disarmingly as he digresses to speak of his love for his alma mater, Wolmer's Boys' School.
He chats about his mother and father and you wonder, is he still living at home?
But, leaving Steven's youthfulness aside, he is driven and purposeful in a very obvious way.
The former national black belt karate champion who was raising German shepherds for sale and trading stocks at age 15, is now the brilliant analyst who manages $50 billion in assets, including the Sigma Unit Trust Fund.
Steven will also be recognised as the frequent winner of local investment competitions in which entrants were called upon to effectively manage chosen portfolios to show profit and good strategic planning.
Three months ago, Steven rejoined Pan Caribbean to head the Asset Management Division, after spending time away developing further experience in the financial services industry.
His strategy is one worth copying by others who wish to enrich their careers and open up opportunities for their own advancement.
A graduate of the University of the West Indies, Steven arrived on the Jamaican investment scene after completing a master's in finance and economics at the University of Southampton in the U.K in 2001.
The beginning
He first started with Manufacturers Sigma Merchant Bank (which subsequently merged with Pan Caribbean and became Pan Caribbean Asset Management) in 2001.
There, he worked as investment analyst and assisted in the daily management of Sigma Unit Trust Equity portfolio. He also conducted research on the economy and financial markets (local and oversees). His main focus was equity and economic analysis.
He also played an integral part in product development.
Steven worked with and was mentored by Revworth Burchinson, then the general manager of Sigma Unit Trust Managers, learning the ropes of analysis and management.
He stayed for approximately a year and a half, after which time the opportunity presented itself to work with the National Insurance Fund (NIF).
The NIF needed someone to manage their equity portfolio.
"I figured it was an opportunity to further hone my skills and to manage a portfolio on my own," Steven recalls.
At Manufacturer's Sigma, he was more into analysis. Now this would focus on management. Gooden also felt that at his age, 23 at the time, the opportunity of management was something to be grasped.
The NIF interview with a panel of six was intimidating, he recalls, but he had in his favour a past history of unit trust management, exposure through The Masters investment competition and his academic record. He was successful - to his personal shock.
His tenure was not long (he left after 11 months) but working in the senior government post at age 23, he says, was a good experience.
"The NIF allowed me to be more accountable," he states.
Investment analyst
At the NIF, his role was that of investment analyst and manager - equities (Equities Portfolio Manager) for approximately $3 billion in equities.
The 11-month stint was a career-defining one, which only ended when once again a new opportunity - this time in the form of NCB Capital Markets - appeared. This, now, was a chance to diversify his skills, this time in equities as well as fixed income and general product development.
He went over to NCB where he was asked to manage the company's proprietary portfolio and design and manage a suite of mutual funds.
Later, in the absence of the mutual fund launch, he was asked to head the repurchase business, assuming asset management responsibilities which totalled over $50 billion.
"I am a very driven person with a positive attitude and for me the sky is the limit. If I want something, I am going to go after it," Gooden comments.
Invariably, he succeeds in his search for challenges. He was raised to be a winner, it appears.
Steven is the son of retired banker Magnus Gooden and Lorna Gooden of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).
His father, he says "has a lot of confidence in my capabilities, even when I lack confidence in myself. Even today he has high expectations of me."
His first experience in selling stocks was with his father who used to pick him up after school (Wolmer's) and take him to the stock brokerage to buy and sell shares. For Magnus Gooden, education was a priority, but he also encouraged his son's entrepreneurial leanings.
After-school activities
In the evenings after school, Steven was raising German shepherds for sale. Before that it was birds and fish.
But, he was not distracted from his studies. In high school, Steven accumulated a pleasing five G.C.E. A'Level subjects with three distinctions, and 10 CXC/GCE O'Level subjects, several with distinctions. While at Wolmer's Boys', he also held the positions of head boy, president of the Wolmer's Editorial Society (previously V.P. Finance) and 1st V.P. of the Students Council.
His mother, he said, was the one who gave much practical help in improving himself as a person. "I got the softer side from my mother. I am a very caring person," he claims.
When at prep school he went home in tears because all the other students seemed to write faster than he did, she spent many nights helping him to improve the speed of his writing.
Never being satisfied with mediocrity, this approach has helped him through life.
"Losing is not an option," he says.
This attitude also enabled him to excel in The Masters investment competition for 2003-2004. In year one, his efforts saw a return of 120 per cent.
"I actively traded the portfolio and tried to take advantage of trends. I always knew, too, when to cut my losses. I am not afraid."
Next was the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market research competition in which he placed first in the first quarter and entered the finals to collect the winners trophy again. During this time, he also entered The Masters at the regional level. Two months before this competition was over, his team was in second place.
"It was a bad year for the market. We were losing money instead of making a positive return."
But, again determining that losing was not an option, the team devised a strategy which led them to first place in the regional battle in the 2005-2006 season.
At NCB, between 2004 and mid 2006, Steven Gooden continued to develop skills in equities, fixed income and department instruments management. As manager of the Portfolio & Asset Management Unit, he was in charge of over J$50 billion in assets covering both debt and equity investments.
He was also a member of the company's Investment and New Products Development committee.
In the middle of 2006, hearing that the GM of Pan Caribbean Asset Management was about to retire, Steven emailed the CEO to tell him that he was the man for the job. The executive and his team which immediately offered him an interview, agreed.
"The decision was clear in my mind, but it was rough leaving NCB," Gooden reflects.
Selected for the job, and placed as vice-president and general manager of Pan Caribbean Asset Management Ltd., Gooden now heads the asset management subsidiary.
He now directly manages the Sigma Unit Trust portfolios, the largest of its kind in Jamaica, and oversees the group's research outfit. He continues to prove himself, using natural talent buttressed by hard work.
Steven Gooden also finds time to sit on the board of the Jamaica Family Planning Association, and is a member of the Public Accountancy Board.
He also teaches. He lectures at the Jamaica Institute of Management on Securities. And, ever the entrepreneur, Steven is also a principal in the 'Strategic Wealth Creators' Investment Club (a registered partnership), a club made up of young professionals who seek to capitalise on investment opportunities, which include but is not limited to equities, fixed income and real estate development.
On reflection on his career, the young financier states, "I would not have wanted to do it any other way."
For a very brief time, his father wanted him to pursue medicine, but even he, today, thinks that Steven has found his place in the sun.
