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Founded in April 2004 by Jeffrey and Jerry Hakala, Clarkston is the convergence of two brothers’ work toward their common goal: Providing superior long-term performance while avoiding unnecessary risks. Although Jeffrey managed separate accounts prior to founding Clarkston, his background is in public accounting with Arthur Andersen as a CPA, Jeffrey brings a foundation in financial statement analysis to the firm. Jerry, alternatively, gained his experience at Ford Motor Company as a financial analyst and internal auditor where he was required to mine, model and analyze large amounts of data. The coming together of Jeffrey’s financial statement analysis skills and Jerry’s data mining and modeling skills was the foundation of the proprietary models that were built to facilitate the firm’s fundamental tools.
To this day, the two work in harmony. Jeffrey focuses on balance sheets and cash flow statements. Jerry focuses on income statements and business strategies. This culminates into a forensic process, whereby the two verify that the financials support managements strategy and the industry economics. Clarkston’s success is due to a shared respect for a value investing discipline and the unique dynamic resulting from the union of two different perspectives. |
