Dunham Wins Asset Management STAR Award and Earns Four Luminaries Finalist Honors

Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. (“Dunham”), a San Diego-based asset management firm with more than 40 years of asset management experience, has been named Boutique Winner in the Marketing Innovation category of the Asset Management STAR Awards North America 2026. The award program was developed by the Investment Management Education Alliance (IMEA) in partnership with FT Live, Ignites and FundFire. Winners were recognized October 19, 2026, at the inaugural ceremony under the program's new partnership. The awards dinner, which was held at the Omni Boston Seaport, was attended by Dunham executives Jeffrey Dunham, Founder and Chairman; Ryan Dykmans, CFA, President and CIO; and Salvatore M. Capizzi, CEPA, CBDA, Executive Vice President.

The 2026 Asset Management STAR Awards build on IMEA's long-running STAR Awards program and recognize excellence in thought leadership, marketing, product innovation, investor engagement, sales, leadership, partnerships and community impact. A panel of investment management leaders and industry experts judged the entries on performance and results, innovation and creativity, strategy and execution, and engagement and impact. Entries were evaluated within peer groupings that may be segmented by firm size.

The award recognizes the educational marketing program built by Dunham's four-person content team under Capizzi’s guidance. The team launched the program in 2024 with no email list, no search presence, and no publications to build on.

AN INBOUND ENGINE BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP

Most asset managers write branded content for audiences they already have. Dunham's team took a different approach and wrote content meant to be found by advisors searching for it. Its main channels are:

• The Tuesday Blog, which answers questions advisors and investors are actively searching for, on topics ranging from currency and dollar dynamics to advisor practice management
• The Morning Pour, macroeconomic commentary written by content editor Adem Tumerkan with contrarian market angles that advisors can use in client conversations
• Research guides distributed through LinkedIn, which let advisors request a conversation with a Dunham team member when they download
• Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), an early investment in getting Dunham content to appear in AI-generated search results before most competitors were focused on the category

"Getting into AI-generated answers early was a calculated bet," said Tumerkan. "Advisors and their clients are changing how they look for information, and we wanted Dunham's research to show up wherever they search, whether that's Google or an AI assistant."

According to results Dunham submitted with its entry earlier this year, in 12 months the program generated:

• 38,737 Google clicks and 4.94 million impressions from organic search
• 24,905 Bing AI citations since November 2025, with monthly citations up 205% between November 2025 and April 2026
• A 29.41% open rate and 11.29% click-through rate across 283 advisor email campaigns
• 492 advisor leads from LinkedIn research-guide distribution

"When we started, we had no list, no search rankings and no publications. We just believed advisors would look for content that actually helped them, and that being useful would build trust better than self-promotion," said Capizzi. "This award belongs to a small team that writes every piece with the advisor's client conversation in mind. Our job is to be the firm advisors already know and trust when they need an investment partner, and we plan to keep earning that."

FOUR THINKADVISOR LUMINARIES FINALIST HONORS

Dunham has also been named a finalist in four categories of the 2026 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards, the most finalist selections the firm has earned in a single awards program. All four are in the Asset Managers category:

• Thought Leadership and Education (Firm): Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. This is the second consecutive year Dunham has been a finalist in this category.
• CMO of the Year: Salvatore M. Capizzi, CEPA, CBDA
• Thought Leadership and Education (Individual): Salvatore M. Capizzi, CEPA, CBDA
• Wholesaler of the Year: Robert L. Pancrazi, Northeast Regional Director

The firm-level nomination reflects Dunham's broader education program for advisors. That program includes the Dunham Quarterly Pulse market outlook and practice guides such as 6 Prospecting Hacks, the Lead Magnet Blueprint and the Financial Advisor AI Prompt Playbook. It also includes Dunham's updated retirement research on longevity risk, the Retirement Investment Paradox and multi-generation retirement planning.

ThinkAdvisor will announce the Luminaries winners Dec. 3, 2026, at the New York Hilton Midtown. Dunham executives plan to attend.

CONTINUED MOMENTUM

The honors add to an active stretch of industry recognition for Dunham:

• A place on USA Today's 2026 list of Best Financial Advisory Firms
• Three finalist nominations in the 2026 InvestmentNews Excellence Awards
• Three finalist nominations in the 2026 Wealthies (Wealth Management Industry Awards)
• Adem Tumerkan's 2025 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Next-Gen Rising Star award

See important award disclosures, methodologies, selection criteria, evaluation periods and compensation information below and via embedded links.

ABOUT DUNHAM

Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a San Diego-based Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) and Broker/Dealer with more than 40 years of experience serving independent financial advisors and RIAs. The firm's turnkey asset management platform (TAMP) provides professional financial advisors access to institutional investment management, trust services through Dunham Trust, Wyoming-based private trust solutions through Dunham Private Trust, and a suite of proprietary mutual funds backed by a performance-aligned, fulcrum-fee model. To learn more, visit Dunham.com.

Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA / SIPC. Advisory services and securities offered through Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. Trust services are offered through Dunham Trust, an affiliated entity. Dunham Private Trust is the Wyoming division of Dunham Trust.

ABOUT THE ASSET MANAGEMENT STAR AWARDS NORTH AMERICA

The Asset Management STAR Awards North America were developed in partnership with the Investment Management Education Alliance (IMEA) and are powered by FT Live, Ignites and FundFire. The program recognizes achievement across the institutional and retail investment management sectors and among the service providers that support them. It is open to asset managers and service providers that have operated in North America for at least three years, and 2026 entries covered activity from March 2025 to March 2026. A judging panel of investment management leaders and industry experts evaluated entries within relevant peer groupings. For more information, visit https://amstarawards.live.ft.com/.

Asset Management STAR Awards North America 2026: Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. was named Boutique Winner, Marketing Innovation (Asset Management Institutional Categories), based on an entry covering activity from March 2025 to March 2026. Marketing and engagement figures are as reported in Dunham's award submission and do not reflect investment performance.

ABOUT THE THINKADVISOR LUMINARIES AWARDS

The ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards honor firms and individuals that demonstrate exemplary leadership, groundbreaking innovation and outstanding community impact over the past 12-18 months. ThinkAdvisor's editorial staff and the Luminaries advisory board select the finalists, and a panel of independent judges from the financial services industry selects the winners. For more information, visit https://events.thinkadvisor.com/luminaries-awards/.

ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards 2026: Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. and its associated persons were named finalists in the following categories: Thought Leadership and Education (Firm), CMO of the Year, Thought Leadership and Education (Individual) and Wholesaler of the Year, for the period Jan. 1, 2026, to present. For more information, visit https://event.thinkadvisor.com/luminaries-awards/criteria.

ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards 2025: Adem Tumerkan was awarded the 2025 Next-Gen Rising Star Award in December 2025 for the period January 2024 - May 2025. For more information, visit https://events.thinkadvisor.com/luminaries-awards/2025-winners.

ABOUT OTHER AWARDS

USA TODAY’s Best Financial Advisory Firm List: The ranking was tabulated by market research firm Statista to rank the top 1000 RIA firms in the U.S. The ranking of the best (“RIA Firms”) was published in April 2026 for the period January 2025–January 2026.

Investment News Excellence Awards: Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. was nominated for the categories: Asset Manager of the Year, Compliance Team of the Year, and Wholesaler of the Year by Investment News in 2026. Based on data from December 2025 – February 2026.

Wealth Management Industry Awards: Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. was nominated as a finalist for the Wealth Management Wealthies Awards in 2026 for the period of January 2025 through June 2026 in the following categories: CMO of the Year, Thought Leader of the Year, and Advisor Service and Support, Estate Planning.

Unless otherwise noted, compensation was not received from anyone in exchange for rankings, recognitions, awards, finalist designations, or nominations referenced in this release. Any fee paid was solely to promote the award nomination and attend the award dinner (IMEA, Wealthies, ThinkAdvisor Luminaries and FT). Recognition is not indicative of future performance and does not guarantee client satisfaction or success. Awards should not be construed as an endorsement by, nor representative of, any client's experience. Dunham and its affiliates are not affiliated with the Financial Times, FT Live, Ignites, FundFire, IMEA, USA Today, LSEG, Investment News, Wealth Management or ThinkAdvisor.

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