Apple Invests With Women-Owned Adviser Starting Job Program

• Seelaus will create a new one-year job initiative for women
• Asset management fees from Apple investment will help program

Apple Inc. is allocating a portion of cash to women-owned investment adviser Seelaus Asset Management, which will use fees from the investment to support a new one-year rotational job program for women.

Seelaus, which has more than $600 million in assets under management, will manage a portfolio for the iPhone maker, according to a statement Thursday. The fees from the asset management deal will help power the training program, according to Ben Seelaus, chief operating officer of R. Seelaus & Co. Inc., which owns Seelaus Asset Management.

The business called the Apple allocation a “step forward” for women-owned asset managers and marks another way corporations are seeking to boost women and minority-owned firms. Last year, Allstate Corp. hired solely banks owned by minorities, women or veterans for a bond sale last year in one of the biggest corporate deals managed only by diverse firms at the time.

“Women remain critically underrepresented at every level of the asset management industry, with the pandemic putting even more pressure on women in the workforce,”Annie Seelaus, chief executive officer of R. Seelaus, said in the statement. “We are honored to have the support of Apple who has been at the forefront of the diversity and inclusion discussion and recognizes the need to drive impact across their business, including with their investment dollars.”