Quantitative investing. Values you can verify.
Stance Capital is a Boston-based quantitative investment manager. Founded in 2016.
Our Founding Thesis
Values alignment and investment performance are not in conflict.
Stance was built on the simple conviction that rigorous analysis of what companies actually do, not what they report, supports both values alignment and sound portfolio construction. Those two goals are the same objective.
Three structural problems we set out to address.
Commercial sustainability ratings reward disclosure over substance and routinely include fossil fuel producers in sustainable portfolios as long as they rank well against sector peers. Stance uses data that measures what companies do, not what they report.
Stance strategies are built on weighting structures that deliberately diverge from market capitalization. Portfolios are designed to look and behave differently from conventional benchmarks, not be variations of them.
Modeling future relationships between positions is one of the most significant levers in portfolio management. At Stance, risk efficiency is a core component of construction across every strategy.
The team
Bill founded Stance Capital to bring to market investment portfolios that mitigate material environmental, social, and governance risks and seeking to generate excess returns while at the same time allowing investors to align their portfolios with their belief systems. Prior to forming Stance Capital, Bill was co-founder and Managing Director of Empirical Asset Management, and Portfolio Manager on EAM Sustainable Equity, a strategy he launched in 2014. Prior to co-founding Empirical, he was the founder and CEO of Ze-gen, a venture and private equity backed renewable energy company. Bill received a B.A. from Connecticut College, and his career in business has included serving as CEO or founder of numerous companies including Database Marketing Corporation, Holland Mark, and Cambridge Brand Analytics. He serves on the Board of Ceres and leads a shareholder engagement effort within Climate Action 100+, a collaborative effort between United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and Ceres.
Kyle co-leads portfolio management across all Stance strategies and heads quantitative research for the Stance strategy platform, applying machine learning and advanced portfolio construction methods to systematic sustainable equity. Before Stance he led Cognitive Forecasting at IBM, developing large-scale forecasting systems for enterprise clients across sales, demand, crop yield, and advertising. He also led sustainability research at Corporate Knights Capital, the origin of Stance's data partnership. Kyle holds an M.Sc in Financial Markets from EDHEC and dual degrees in Mathematical Sciences and Economics from McMaster University.
Oversees operations and regulatory compliance across all Stance strategies and firm activities as an SEC-registered investment advisor. CFA charterholder.
Conservation science, biodiversity data, and natural capital analysis in support of the Stance KB strategy platform.
Former Co-founder and President of Karner Blue Capital. Former partner at KPMG, then CFO and President of Calvert Investments. Brings deep experience in sustainable investment management, financial operations, and firm leadership. B.A. University of New Hampshire, M.B.A. Bentley University.
Supports quantitative research across Stance strategies, sustainability factor analysis, company screening, and portfolio analytics.
CEO of Corporate Knights. Provides the sustainability data underlying Stance's factor selection, measuring sustainable revenue and investment across 6,000+ companies globally via a published, open-source methodology.
Leads index methodology for the Stance Sustainable Beta strategy, including inclusion criteria, weighting rules, and rebalancing logic. Ensures rules-based construction is rigorous and consistent.
Manages financial operations and accounting across Stance Capital, including bookkeeping, expense tracking, and financial record accuracy across both strategy platforms.
Portfolio manager for the Stance KB Biodiversity Strategies. Discretionary management focused on conservation finance, natural capital, and biodiversity-focused equity investing. Full biography to follow.
How We Invest
Two platforms. One research standard.
Both platforms start from the same conviction: that rigorous, data-driven analysis of what companies actually do produces better portfolios. The investment process differs by platform.
Screens proprietary criteria using independently verified company data, with methodology varying by strategy. Construction is rules-driven: equal weight for Sustainable Beta, risk-optimized for other strategies. Stance does not use commercial sustainability ratings as the basis for security selection.
Portfolio managers apply individual company assessment informed by conservation science and structured biodiversity data. Construction reflects conviction rather than formula. Designed for investors whose mandate extends beyond financial return to the condition of natural capital.
Affiliations & Partners
Both platforms depend on research partnerships, independent certification, and shareholder engagement that go beyond what the firm builds internally.
Stance is a signatory to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, committing to protect and restore biodiversity through its investment activities. The pledge unites financial institutions globally in applying biodiversity considerations across portfolios and engaging companies on nature-related risks.
Bill Davis serves on the Ceres Board and leads Stance's participation in Climate Action 100+, engaging the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters on climate risk and governance. Stance is a UNPRI signatory.
Nonprofit shareholder advocacy organization. Stance engages with As You Sow on proxy voting and shareholder resolutions across areas including climate, deforestation, and corporate governance.
Stance's carbon offset source for the Sustainable Beta strategy. HGX regenerative agriculture offsets, verified by BeZero, pay American farmers $70 per acre for soil carbon sequestration across 3 million+ enrolled acres.
Independently calculates and certifies the carbon neutrality of the Stance Sustainable Beta strategy each year. Stance purchases all required offsets at no cost to investors. Subject to annual renewal.
Provides the sustainability data underlying Stance's factor selection across all strategies. Methodology measures sustainable revenue and capital investment using a published, open-source approach covering 6,000+ global companies. Global 100 ranking announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos since 2005.
The strategies. The data.
The conversation.
Learn about our strategies. If our approach fits what you're looking for, reach out we'd love to hear from you.