Stephen Gibson

Managing Director

Stephen Gibson is a recognized leader in asset management, with a career spanning four decades. In the late 1980s, Stephen led Chicago’s Kemper Financial product group into the top ten for mutual fund managers, variable annuities, and unit investment trusts. In the 90s, he was the number two executive at Putnam Mutual Funds, which, with $100 billion in assets, became the nation’s leading growth fund manager. Based on that success, Stephen became president of Liberty Mutual’s financial division, including more than $60 billion in assets. Colonial Funds, a Liberty subsidiary, won Barron’s “Fund Group of the Year” in 1996.

Stephen became an advisor to the SEC product committee and FINRA in 2000. In 2007, he joined the Registered Investment Advisory business of Gladstone Associates as an investment banker consultant. This led to Stephen joining Affinity Wealth Management as Chairman of the Investment Committee in 2013. In 2020. Stephen joined Hoover Financial Advisors (later merged with Wealth Enhancement Group) as Chief investment Officer. He joined Eppler Capital Funds in April of 2024.

Stephen has led investment teams that outpaced industry results at five successive firms. He is recognized for innovation in tax-managed funds, high-yield investing, international fixed income, and option strategies for market declines. At Affinity and Wealth Enhancement Group, Stephen expanded the use of private investments. These proved crucial in avoiding the market declines of 2022. Stephen is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and has an MBA in Finance and Banking from Duke University. He is the co-author of Management Science in Banking, a graduate level textbook.