The firm has been in transition. Some key personnel decamped to a new firm started by founder and former CEO and chairman Ric Dillon in 2019. Current CEO Heather Brilliant, an outsider who took over in July of that year, has made changes, including closing Diamond Hill's private asset-management business, which spurred Dillon to launch his new venture and recruit former colleagues.
The Columbus, Ohio-based boutique remains a sound steward, though. It is devoted to bottom-up, long-term, value-oriented equity and fixed-income investing and has refocused on that core competency since Brilliant (who used to work for Morningstar) arrived. It has shut smaller equity funds, sold its high-yield strategies, reorganized its analysts into U.S. and non-U.S. teams, and appointed a full-time CIO and director of research. Diamond Hill employees also invest about $180 million in the firm's funds, which it has been ready to close to new investors to preserve managers' flexibility.
The family is still evolving from an entrepreneur-driven to a professionally managed boutique, but its culture remains intact after a leadership change, personnel ruckus, and pandemic and market turmoil.