Fifteen years ago today Covington Investment Advisors was incorporated. The success we have had with and for our clients has allowed us to grow, hire more talent, continually enhance our technology, purchase our building, contribute to our communities’ societal needs, and expand our overall processes to customize your financial plans providing best in class investment management services and results.
I do not hesitate to say we have formulated the best in class advisory firm as we are not a broker-dealer, nor are we affiliated with one. As an independent advisor, we have an open architectural structure to find the best financial solutions for you. We cut out all the unnecessary middlemen and their fees and we refuse any form of commissions. We are an advisory fee-based only firm. We do not sell products; we provide customized financial plans structured and managed on a separate account basis driven to address your individual investment and family needs. As a federally registered investment advisor with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) we are a corporate fiduciary held to a higher standard of care. The growth of the firm speaks to our results over the past fifteen years. All one hundred six family relationships we now manage are the result of referrals based on our performance--referrals made because we took care of our clients one at a time carefully facilitating each individual financial, succession and generational estate plan while generating attractive investment results through various market environments.
So, thank you for your confidence in our services. Thank you for believing in our small private business model. Going forward please know that we intend to maintain the same commitment to use our net income each year for technology, hiring more people, continuing educational programs and, starting this summer, hiring interns from our local business schools to groom the next generation of advisors as well as new construction to expand the office for additional employee work stations.
I have no intention of monetizing Covington. Selling it off for personal gains would violate the philosophical connection of our commitment to provide a multi-family office for generations to come. I have assigned my 100% ownership to a Trust which will hold and protect the ownership indefinitely, not putting any pressure on our employees or my family to have to buy or sell the ownership shares. Also, more importantly, to allow us to fulfill our commitment that we will be here to maintain our clients’ investment management philosophy meeting their investment needs for not only their immediate families but their grandchildren and great grandchildren. We are also committed to the seven perpetual private family foundations that we manage for philanthropic initiatives established by our clients.
I am often asked by prospective clients if I have a minimum investment amount. My response has always been no; I have a philosophy and if we connect philosophically about how to manage your assets effectively, we will be successful together. Our philosophy of addressing investment management needs from a planning perspective maintained by customized financial plans, understanding the capacity of each client's unique situation and developing a disciplined investment structure process has assured our clients’ investment and overall financial success.
I want to thank my wife Kim for her unwavering support all these years. When I advised her of my desire and reasons to break away from the big corporate banking structure, she did not hesitate to say go do it! In founding Covington, the name which originates from my beloved birthplace Covington Virginia, we were self-funded from our personal savings. I did not have a paycheck for eighteen months as we started from scratch. I also want to personally thank my Office Manager, Alma Johnson. None of this would have been possible without her passionate and professional commitment to see us succeed in meeting your investment management and financial service needs. Additionally, I express my heartfelt thanks to Dan Messmer our IT Manager, Cindy Jones our Portfolio Manager, Hannah Steel our Client Services Administrator and our most recent employee Sarah Rovedatti our Chief Compliance Officer for their professional commitment to be best in class in all that they do to support Covington in meeting your investment management needs and expectations.