Cynthia Clemson
Jared Leeds/Courtesy of Eaton Vance
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Cynthia Clemson has worked at Eaton Vance since shortly after she graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1985. But for Clemson, who has co-headed the Boston firm’s municipal investments since 2005, the past 12 months posed incredible challenges, both personally and professionally.
“None of us had lived through a pandemic,” recalls Clemson. “This wasn’t just a liquidity issue. This wasn’t just a recession issue. This was a lot of things coming together that nobody had experienced.”
But she’s pleased that the firm’s muni assets grew to about $17.3 billion as of Jan. 31, up from $16.4 billion a year earlier.
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One of the funds Clemson runs is the $1.5 billion
Eaton Vance High Yield Municipal Income
(ticker: EHTYX), whose recent 10-year annual return of 6.7{98cae0078f524eff3ab8ec32cf55b261677ef6c8a6ed6e94d92a4234b93f46b6} placed it in the top 30{98cae0078f524eff3ab8ec32cf55b261677ef6c8a6ed6e94d92a4234b93f46b6} of its Morningstar category.
“I’m most proud of how the [muni] group was able to completely transform itself to a remote, work-from-home environment and still maintain that team impact,” says Clemson, a boating enthusiast and the mother of three grown children.
Her advice to women in the financial world when it comes to balancing the demands of work and home: “Stay with it” and “ask your superiors if there is any chance for flexibility. You can work it out.”
Write to Lawrence C. Strauss at [email protected]
