From the Editor...

Chairing a mutual fund board is serious business, and most independent chairs will tell you that the hard work involved is intellectually and professionally challenging and rewarding. For ARK Funds' chair, Darlene DeRemer, the job is also fun—because of the people involved at the adviser level and the funds the board oversees and continues to approve for launch. ARK exchange-traded funds invest in bitcoin, 3D printing companies, Israeli technology, genomics, and other industries that are hardly considered "plain vanilla." We interviewed DeRemer about her role on the ARK Funds board our A Seat at the Table feature, and she shared some of her experiences over the past five years since ARK Investment Management's debut. 

We also spoke with compliance and fund governance professionals this month about how to ensure a good compliance culture. They talked to us about what to spend on compliance, the CCO's role, and best practices; it's an instructional piece with a lot of good information in it. 

Plaintiffs in an excessive fees case against Davis Selected Advisers have appealed a judge's dismissal of the lawsuit, the latest development in an aspect of the legal realm that has kept the mutual fund industry busy for the past several years. ICI Mutual, meanwhile, has published a new report that looks at all fund litigation since the start of this century—including 36(b) cases. The prediction? Securities-related litigation is likely to remain a real and ever-present risk into the future. 

Enjoy these long, hot summer days and nights while they last; it'll be September before we know and the end of the year will be in sight. 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor