American Century Investments® Names Ben Clouse as CFO

Ben Clouse will join American Century Investments, a more than $350 billion global asset manager¹, as chief financial officer in early October, reporting to Jonathan Thomas, chairman, chief executive officer and president. In this role, Clouse will be responsible for all the firm’s financial functions, including strategy, planning, reporting, capital management, tax, FP&A, risk management, sales reporting and financial controls across the American Century and Avantis Investors brands. Based at the firm’s global headquarters in Kansas City, Clouse will serve on the firm’s management committee.

“American Century is entering an exciting chapter marked by rapid growth, increased relevance and increasing demand from clients and prospects around the world. Ben's deep financial leadership experience and proven track record guiding and transforming complex, highly regulated organizations make him the ideal leader to help drive our next phase of growth and innovation,” said Thomas. “Ben will play a critical role as we continue to use our speed and agility to scale our business, evolve to meet client preferences and remain focused on delighting clients who have entrusted us with their assets.”

“I am very excited to join American Century, one of the industry’s and Kansas City’s most iconic companies. I look forward to contributing to the firm’s continued growth and supporting its commitment to making clients successful,” said Clouse.

Clouse was most recently CFO for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Prior to the Kauffman Foundation, he served as the CFO at CrossFirst Bankshares and Waddell & Reed Financial. He holds both a Master's of Accountancy and a Bachelor's of Business Administration degrees from Kansas State University.

American Century’s current CFO, Patrick Bannigan, plans to retire in March 2027 after 14 years with the firm and almost four decades in the financial services industry.

Client-focused distribution structure supports continued growth

In addition to strengthening its executive leadership team through the appointment of Clouse, American Century has also modernized its distribution organization to bring leaders and their teams closer to clients, enabling faster decision-making, strengthening collaboration across the business and reinforcing its competitive advantage of nimbleness and agility. Distribution is now led by three members of the management committee who report directly to Thomas: Kevin Eknaian, head of global institutional and workplace sales; Michael Turner, head of U.S. intermediary distribution; and Rick Luchinsky, head of personal financial solutions and marketing.

“A critical driver in our success is our talented team at American Century, and we have made very intentional moves over the years to align and structure our teams to best serve our clients,” said Thomas. “The enhancements to modernize and streamline our distribution organization have been an evolutionary journey that has included elevating and promoting proven leaders to fill key roles. I am thrilled with the dedicated, culture-carrying, client-centric leadership team we have in place.”

Client-driven growth fuels continued success

Strong client demand and the firm’s ability to respond with innovative investment solutions and expanded access to its strategies have fueled American Century's growth to more than $350 billion in AUM, achieved within a year of reaching $300 billion in AUM for the first time in its history. Since launching its first ETF in 2018, American Century, along with Avantis, has become a top-five active ETF issuer in the U.S. by assets under management.² Over the past year, Avantis expanded internationally with ETF launches in Australia, Canada and Europe, including the addition of 11 Avantis CIBC ETFs in Canada, where assets have already surpassed $1 billion USD, and the expansion of Avantis UCITS ETFs across Europe, including entry into Italy. American Century also broadened its ETF lineup with the launches of American Century Small Cap Growth Insights ETF (ACSG), American Century Small Cap Value Insights ETF (ACSV) and the American Century Securitized Credit ETF (ASEC), while reducing fees on four ETFs to deliver additional value for clients.