Profiles in Leadership - UW-Milwaukee

M&I Marshall & Ilsley Center for Business Ethics
Great Journeys An Inspirational Series
Ab Nicholas Tell Students:
Your Real Goal Should Be To Do What You Love
Ab Nicholas
One of the founders of Milwaukee’s
mutual fund community —
Albert “Ab” Nicholas — told
Lubar School students that they aren’t
much different than he was in college.
“At your age, you’re wondering what you’re
going to do,” he said. “I was the same way.”
Nicholas, Chairman and CEO of Nicholas
Company, shared the story of his career
with business students in Great Journeys:
An Inspirational Series this fall. The series,
sponsored by the School’s M&I Marshall
& Ilsley Center for Business Ethics, helps
shape students’ understanding of ethics,
integrity, and leadership by featuring
exceptional “role model” business leaders.
12 OUTLOOK
Ab Nicholas fully intended to become a
lawyer after earning his undergraduate
degree in business and serving in the
Korean War, but a semester in law school
convinced him otherwise. He decided to
return to UW-Madison for his MBA and
to pursue the fi eld of investments,
sparked by the enthusiasm of a fi nance
professor he had as an undergraduate.
His talents caught the attention of some
solid Milwaukee fi rms, and he embarked
on his career — fi rst at Northwestern
National Insurance Company and later with
Marshall and Ilsley Bank. But after ten
years working for others, he decided that
he wanted to go into business on his own.
“Why? Well, fi rst of all, I don’t work well
for others — just ask my wife,” he said
half-jokingly. “But I also craved the
challenge of it.”
During those years of working for others,
Nicholas had invested some money and
made a tidy nest egg for himself. “I decided
that I wanted to do for others what I had
done for myself.” Nicholas Company was
born in 1967.
Today, the fi rm has earned respect and
trust in the mutual fund arena on a
national level. With seven no-load mutual
funds, as well as separate private accounts
managed for individual and institutional
investors, the fi rm concentrates on
inde pendent, primary research and
performance, offering low cost and low
minimum investments to its clients. It
boasts $3.5 billion in assets under management.
The company’s fl agship fund, the
Nicholas Fund, has been on Forbes’
Honor Roll for nearly two of the last
three decades.
How does he explain his success? “First,
you have to have a philosophy and you
have to stick to it — consistently and over
a long period of time.”
“I am also a strong believer in contrary
opinion — looking for opportunities
away from the crowd,” Nicholas noted.
“This is an art, not a science.”
“It was never a goal for me to become
rich. That was secondary,” he said. “To do
what you want to do and what you love to
do — that should be your real goal. You
have great, long futures ahead of you.”