Dimensional Celebrates 40 Years of Innovation

Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global leader in systematic factor investing, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the firm’s founding. To reflect on its role in several industry transformations and highlight its commitment to innovation, Dimensional will ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today, host Dimensional Week for employees, and launch an employee podcast featuring first-person stories from inside the company over its four decades.

“We built the firm on the foundation of implementing the great ideas in finance,” said Founder and Chairman David Booth. “For 40 years, we have trusted markets. And for 40 years, we have built trust with financial professionals and investors around the world. We will continue to work every day to transform the client and investor experience for the better.”

Booth started Dimensional in 1981 from the spare bedroom of his apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. The new firm was built to apply an academic approach to investing and improve upon indexing. What seemed like a bold idea to many people at the time has become a cornerstone of a better way to invest. Over the past four decades, the industry has made significant progress toward driving down costs, encouraging diversification, and developing innovative solutions that benefit investors.

This morning, Dimensional will kick off its anniversary celebrations with the NYSE bell-ringing. The event comes shortly after Dimensional’s  surpassed $1 billion in combined assets less than five months after launching. Their early growth is evidence of the firm’s strong relationships with financial professionals and their interest in accessing Dimensional Investing through an ETF wrapper.

“Our clients are at the heart of everything we do,” said Dave Butler, Co-CEO of Dimensional. “We are committed to continuing to enhance the solutions and services we deliver based on our clients’ evolving needs, just as we have for the past four decades.”

“The launch of Dimensional’s ETF suite and the expansion of our separately managed account platform are just the most recent examples of how we seek to continually evolve while maintaining our focus on rigorous research and implementation,” said Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer Gerard O’Reilly.

“Just as we have helped transform the investor experience through offering broadly diversified, low-cost, systematic portfolios and advocating for professional advice, we will continue to advocate and innovate for the best interests of clients and investors,” Butler added.

Following the NYSE bell ringing, Dimensional will kick off Dimensional Week, an annual event for its nearly 1,500 employees across the firm’s global offices. In addition to presentations, workshops, and conversations, Dimensional will commemorate its 40 years of innovation by giving employees a bespoke hardbound book celebrating the firm’s legacy and achievements and recognizing their central role. In addition, Dimensional will release a special internal podcast series featuring employees and their stories.