Ameriprise's Columbia Threadneedle team may be raising a few glasses this week, thanks to a mutual fund industry trade group. They're one of 15 firms (including 13 fund firms and 4 retirement plan providers) with cause to celebrate some wins from their peers.

Kimber Lintz Investment Management Education Alliance Executive Director

On Tuesday (September 16), the folks at the Investment Management Education Alliance (IMEA) hosted their 29th annual IMEA Star Awards dinner and celebration. The event, held in New York City last year, was switched to Boston this time, to Franklin Templeton's offices. (Also in Boston at Franklin Templeton this week, the IMEA team held their marketing summit and a content management roundtable.) Longtime Star Awards support Imprint sponsored the awards yet again, while Big Button and Synthesis sponsored the dinner and reception, respectively.

The Columbia Threadneedle team won five Star awards this time, for

"advisor content investment thought leadership" (in the "large asset class" category),

"advisor content | retirement" (in the "large asset class" category),

leadership in "marketing innovation,"

"sales enablement team of the year," and

"marketing team of the year."

Other big Star award winners this week included:

T. Rowe Price, which won four awards;

Invesco, which won three awards;

Janus Henderson Investors, which won three awards (including the "community investment award"); and

Manulife John Hancock, which also won three awards.

"We are honored to be recognized for our efforts supporting the American Cancer Society (ACS) through IMEA's STAR Award for Community Investment Leadership," states Emily Puffett, head of marketing and data analytics at Janus Henderson. Puffett highlights the fund firm's ACS donation arrangement, powered by some fees from the Janus Henderson Government Money Market Fund, which the fund firm's team transformed last year.

Calamos Investments (which won the "product innovation" leadership award), Hennessy Funds, TIAA's Nuveen, and RBC Wealth Management won two Star awards each this week. Other Star-winning fund firms this week included: Hartford Funds, MissionSquare Retirement, Nationwide, Saturna Capital, Thrivent, and Transamerica.

Jim Cove, executive vice president and head of U.S. marketing at Natixis Investment Managers and chair of IMEA's executive committee, describes the 2025 Star awards as highlighting the asset management industry's "resilience and creativity amid ongoing change."

"This year's submissions were among the strongest we've ever seen," Cove states. "Every firm recognized is truly deserving of this honor." 

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