Still Strong

Although he sold the company he built five years ago, Richard Strong is still working as hard as he ever did in the financial world.

Today, Strong manages his family’s personal financial portfolio in much the same way he did when he ran Strong Financial Corp. He maintains an office in the Honey Creek Corporate Center on Milwaukee’s west side, staffed with about eight employees.

“Dick is working as hard as he ever has as an investor,” said Jody Lowe, a former Strong Financial manager who now runs Lowe Communications, a Wauwatosa-based communications and public relations firm that specializes in financial services clients. “He’s managing his own family’s portfolio, and in the process is selecting investments the same way he’s always done. He’s going out and researching companies, coming up with ideas. He’s identifying trends and selecting the best asset allocation to achieve an investment objective.”

Strong has kept a low public profile and declined to be interviewed for this story.

Strong’s office includes research analysts, traders, an accountant, support staff and other workers.

Strong’s small family office continues many of the same investment principles and operating models that Strong Financial used. The office It also continues one of its most popular employee programs – the company’s speaker series, in which it brings nationally known speakers to discuss what made them successful.

“He is a real big believer in ongoing learning,” Lowe said. “He and his staff still keep up a speaker program.”