RhumbLine Advisers (RhumbLine) is an American investment management firm based in Boston. The firm specializes in passive management index-based strategies for institutional investors.
History
RhumbLine was founded in 1990 by African-American John D. Nelson. An avid sailor who had served in the United States Navy, Nelson settled on a nautical reference when creating the firm. Squeezing two words together, he called it RhumbLine, a term for navigating a direct course from point A to point B. Prior to this Nelson was senior vice president at State Street Corporation who helped establish its public funds division. He was also a former chief administrative and budget officer for the Democratic National Committee.[2]
In 1991, Bing Sung joined RhumbLine from the Harvard University endowment and would become its chief investment officer.[3]
In 1998, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Sung and RhumbLine for unauthorized trading and concealing the losses involved.