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Tim is an Equity Portfolio Manager and the Chair of the Equity Selection Committee at Evercore Wealth Management. He is also the co-manager of the Evercore Equity Fund, an equity mutual fund advised by the firm. Tim has over 30 years of experience managing balanced portfolios for high net worth clients, equity accounts for institutional clients, and equity mutual funds.
Tim joined Evercore in 2009. He was previously a managing director at U.S. Trust, and, following Bank of America’s acquisition of U.S. Trust, a senior equity portfolio manager with Columbia Management, where his group managed over $14 billion in assets.
Tim received his B.A. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
He is the Chairman of the Mianus River Gorge Preserve and is on the board and Treasurer of the Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York.
Michael is a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Evercore Wealth Management, managing investment assets for families, foundations and endowments.
Michael joined Evercore in 2019 from Fieldpoint Private, a boutique private bank headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he served for two years as a senior investment advisor, providing asset allocation, security selection, and estate and tax planning advice to high net worth clients. He previously worked for 13 years as a senior portfolio manager at U.S. Trust, managing $2 billion in assets for families and foundations.
Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Michael worked in education and policy as a charter member of Teach for America and as the manager of external relations at the Manhattan Institute.
Michael received a B.A. at Rutgers College and an M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business. He serves on the board of LEEP Dual Language Charter School in Brooklyn.
The recent dramatic swings in the equity market are unprecedented in terms of speed and volatility. With economies and supply chains going all but dark in the wave that began in the Hubei province of China in January and is now hitting the United States, the impact to GDP and earnings will undoubtedly be quite severe, and is all but certain to be recessionary.
Among the hardest hit are energy/commodity companies, which are contending with a precipitous drop in the price of oil as Saudi Arabia and Russia lock horns just as global demand for oil falls off a cliff with the slowdown of the economy. Financial services companies and others with balance sheet concerns have also taken a beating. The Evercore Wealth Management core equity portfolio has almost no exposure to oil and commodities and very limited exposure to balance sheet financials.
Consumer stocks are also under considerable pressure, after years of outsized gains. As waves of quarantines bring spending to a halt, very high-quality retailers such as Home Depot have been punished severely, perhaps excessively. While under considerable pressure now, we expect the consumer to return to pre-crisis behavior. We will continue to assess this assumption, as it informs many of our holdings.
Information technology is a key component of the U.S. equity market. The biggest five companies by market capitalization – Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook – represent nearly 20% of the S&P 500 index and have been significant outperformers over the past few years. They have so far fared relatively well in this pandemic, thanks to differentiated business models and balance sheets that enable them to dominate their respective markets. Four of these five companies (excluding Facebook) remain core components of many of our portfolios.
We are not trying to pinpoint the bottom of this market. Even as indicators flash maximum fear and bearishness, we would seek some view to a plateau of the crisis and/or a settling of the extreme volatility before becoming more aggressive buyers of equities. But we are targeting high-quality investments that will be solid additions to the portfolio for years to come as they fall to prices that we believe reflect good entry points and reasonable valuations.
In markets such as these, there are advantages to having a long-term mandate. As painful as the day-to-day volatility is – and it is truly painful – patient capital is at a considerable advantage as it can take advantage of others’ need for liquidity at any price.
Tim Evnin is a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Evercore Wealth Management. He can be contacted at evnin@evercore.com.
Michael Kirkbride is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at the firm. He can be contacted at michael.kirkbride@evercore.com.
This special edition addresses the unprecedented challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic for investors and wealth managers. It highlights the rapid market sell-off, subsequent volatility, and the government’s massive fiscal and monetary interventions.
The journal emphasizes disciplined portfolio management, including asset allocation and rebalancing, to weather turbulent markets. It also explores the impact of the crisis on municipal bonds, capital allocation strategies, and the importance of cybersecurity in a remote work environment.
The firm underscores its commitment to client relationships, long-term planning, and resilient wealth management.
Investment and Wealth Management services are provided by Evercore Wealth Management, LLC an investment advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Trust and custody services are provided by Evercore Trust Company, N.A. a national trust bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Client retention rate is based on data from 06/30/24 – 06/30/25. Assets under management are as of 06/30/25
