Watch for Kristof Gleich and his team to make bigger pushes in the active ETF and model sides of the business next year.

Gleich, president and chief investment officer of Harbor Capital Advisors [profile], tells MFWire that he's aiming for the firm's active exchange-traded fund business to reach $10 billion in AUM by the end of next year. The Chicago-based fund firm currently has about 30 ETFs accounting for about $5 billion the firm's $68 billion in total AUM.

"We're trying to become as vehicle-agnostic as possible," Gleich says. "We will continue to lean into active ETFs aggressively."

In terms of product development, one key area of opportunity is outcome-oriented ETFs, Gleich reveals.

"There is still an unmet need," Gleich says. "'Outcome' can be taking an investment strategy and tweaking to provide incoming, or taking different asset classes and laying them together. We would call that 'return-stacking.'"

Another crucial expansion area for Harbor, according to Gleich, is in models. Jason Alonzo, managing director and head of portfolio solutions, now spearheads that effort for Harbor.

"We launched a models business this year," Gleich says. "We are going to be leaning significantly into models as a source of growth next year."

Gleich spoke to MFWire this morning on the sidelines of Harbor's 2026 investment outlook press breakfast, at a Convene in New York City. Gleich moderated the presentation, which also featured remarks from:

Spenser Lerner, Harbor's head of multi-asset solutions;

Justin Menne, a portfolio manager in multi-asset solutions; and

Jake Schurmeier, head of fixed income, currencies, and commodities.

"2025 was and is the year of active ETFs," Gleich told reporters at the event, noting that while only 20 percent of active mutual funds are currently netting inflows, 80 percent of active ETFs are doing so. "We see that trend continuing, if not accelerating further, as we go into 2026." 

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