This Washington Post (free online registration required) article profiles John Keeley, a former FDIC bank examiner who is now the manager of the $155 million Keeley Small Cap Value Fund, which is generating above-average returns by buying shares of U.S. companies that are emerging from bankruptcy or being restructured.
Keely’s fund is up 8.5 percent this year, ranking it second of 146 small-cap value funds tracked by Bloomberg. Only the FBR Small Cap Value Fund recorded a bigger gain. Mr. Keeley, who opened his fund in 1993, holds shares of more than 110 companies and devotes no more than 2 percent of assets to any one stock. His family is the fund’s largest shareholder, with about an 11 percent stake on June 30, including money invested for the college educations of Mr. Keeley’s grandchildren.
While discussing his educational background in evaluating investments, Mr. Keeley passes along this sage advice:

“[T]the greatest education you can get is to get through a bear market.”