Clark Capital Management Group's Brendan Clark Named CEO of the Year, Asset Managers at the 2026 Wealth Management Industry Awards

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Sep 15, 2026, 09:08 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Clark Capital Management Group, an asset manager founded in 1986, announced that CEO Brendan Clark has been named CEO of the Year in the Asset Managers category at the 2026 Wealth Management Industry Awards, also known as "the Wealthies." The award was presented during the 12th annual awards ceremony, held September 10, 2026, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, where more than 600 executives from across the wealth management industry gathered to celebrate the year's top achievers.

"This award reflects where Clark Capital is headed as much as where we've been," said Brendan Clark, CEO. "It's an honor to be recognized, and it's one I share with our entire team. Their hard work and dedication to advisors and their clients is what makes me most excited for what lies ahead."

The CEO of the Year, Asset Managers award recognizes an individual CEO who has demonstrated vision, creativity, integrity, leadership, communication skills and high performance in leading all aspects of an asset management firm. Judging criteria include demonstrable impact on the firm and the broader industry; external benchmarks such as business excellence, revenue, profitability and growth; thought leadership; and a track record of industry respect and promoting diversity.

Since Brendan became CEO, Clark Capital's assets under management have grown from approximately $6 billion to more than $49 billion, an all-time high. That growth accelerated even as the firm completed its most significant strategic milestone in 40 years: a partnership with Raymond James Investment Management, alongside a record $10 billion in gross sales in 2025.

This honor adds to a strong 2026 for Clark Capital, winning two InvestmentNews Awards — the Prudential Advisors Award for Asset Manager of the Year and the Thrivent Award for Excellence in Philanthropy and Community Service — and most recently, being named to the Philadelphia Business Journal's Best Places to Work list for the eighth consecutive year.

For more information about the Wealth Management Industry Awards and the full list of 2026 winners, visit https://informaconnect.com/wealth-management-industry-awards/winners/#asset-managers

About Clark Capital Management Group, Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group, Inc. is an independent boutique investment manager within Raymond James Investment Management providing institutional investment strategies for individual investors, corporations, foundations, and retirement plans. The firm was founded in 1986 by Harry Clark, Executive Chairman, and has been entrusted with over $49.16 billion in discretionary assets under management and non-discretionary assets as of June 30, 2026.

Our investment philosophy is driven by a single-minded focus: to add value for our collective clients. This focus enables us to seek risk-adjusted returns over full market cycles through a disciplined process focused on three principles: meaningful diversification, opportunistic asset allocation, and personalized risk management. It compels us to maintain a long-term perspective and provide innovative investment management strategies that enable advisors to help clients achieve their goals and objectives.

The Prudential Advisors Award for Asset Manager of the Year
This award recognizes the outstanding asset management firm which consistently delivers superior advisor service while pushing the boundaries with innovation and industry best practices over the past 12 months. When judging this category, the following criteria were considered: Effective client relationship management strategies and stakeholder engagement. Demonstration of innovative strategies & ability to educate advisors on the value to their clients of these products. Administration or technology solutions where strategic thinking, collaboration and excellence have made a key impact with advisors. Sustained effort and commitment to the advisor channel. Corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and responsible investment (SRI) initiatives are all considered.

InvestmentNews opened nominations to all wealth management professionals and organizations. All submissions from the excellence awardees were forwarded to the independent judging panel comprising industry leaders and senior representatives. The panel votes for winners in each category according to the relevant category criteria. Voting commenced in May 2026 and the award covers the previous 12 -18 months. Using a simple points system to aggregate judges' votes, the excellence awardee with the top score in a category were named the winner. The winners were announced at the awards show on June 24, 2026. More information regarding the selection process and criteria can be found at https://investmentnewsawards.com/process. No compensation was provided by Clark Capital Management Group to obtain these awards.

The Thrivent Award for Excellence in Philanthropy and Community Service
This award recognizes the advisor or advisory team whose outstanding contribution of time, leadership and financial support over a sustained period of time, beyond normal expectations, has made significant impacts in the receiving causes or communities. When judging this category, the following criteria were considered: Demonstration of major philanthropic and community service programs or initiatives over the last 12 months that align with broader corporate goals or strategies (i.e. company culture, employee engagement etc.). Impact on local, national, or international causes or communities. Overall commitment to philanthropy and community service. Testimonials from beneficiaries or partners.

Philadelphia Business Journal's Best Places to Work
The Best Places to Work survey measures key areas that make up an organization's culture. These range from compensation and benefits to trust in senior leadership. The survey also measures the level of engagement exhibited by employees, known as employee engagement. Each question on the Best Places to Work survey is associated with a response option; each response option is associated with a numerical value. The survey uses these numerical values to profile employees and calculate an overall score, which is used to determine each organization's rank

Wealth Management Industry Award – Chief Executive of the Year

This award recognizes an individual CEO of an Asset Manager who has demonstrated vision, creativity, integrity, leadership, communication skills, technology insight and high performance in leading all aspects of a wealth management technology provider that helps advisors succeed.

Criteria for the award include demonstrable impact on their firm, the industry, and wealth management in general; external benchmarks such as business excellence, revenues, profitability, business growth, thought leadership content, industry activism; as well as a strong track record of industry respect, notoriety and promoting diversity.

The program begins with an open nomination process for all categories which extends from February 2025 to May 2026. Firms submit business initiatives, either introduced or enhanced, during the previous 18 months. Submissions were reviewed in June 2026 by a panel of independent judges with required industry expertise, looking at the submission's innovation, scope and impact. From the pool of submissions, judges select finalists for each category. Each judge on the committee then ranks those finalists, with the weighted aggregate ranking determining the winner. Winners are announced in September 2026.

No financial compensation is paid for consideration in the award process. Judges' decisions are made independent of any firm's business relationships with Informa Plc. Judges recuse themselves from the process from selecting finalists or winners for any category where the conflict exists.

SOURCE Clark Capital Management Group