General Investing >> Money Manager Interviews >> December 25, 2000
JEROME L. DODSON is President of The Parnassus Fund, a mutual fund that
invests in companies that practice corporate social responsibility, and
President of Parnassus Investments, the Fund's management company. He
also serves as President and Portfolio Manager of the Parnassus Income
Trust. Before founding The Parnassus Fund in 1985, Mr. Dodson was
President of Working Assets Money Fund. From 1976 to 1982, he served as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Continental Savings of America
where he started the 'Solar T-Bill' program. From 1966 through 1969, he
was a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State, serving with
the American Embassy in Vietnam and as the American Consul in David,
Panama. Mr. Dodson is a graduate of the University of California at
Berkeley and of the Harvard Business School. He is Chairman of the Board
of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics and a former Director of the Social
Investment Forum. Mr. Dodson also served on the Board of Project Open
Hand, a nonprofit organization that prepares and delivers meals to
people with AIDS. He has been active in community affairs and has served
on the boards of a number of other nonprofit organizations. In 1992, he
received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Beta Gamma Sigma (the
business school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa) for his commitment to
social responsibility and his entrepreneurial skill in founding three
successful financial institutions: Continental Savings of America,
Working Assets and The Parnassus Fund. Mr. Dodson has also written and
lectured in Europe and Japan on the subject of business and social
responsibility. Profile
investment philosophy of the firm you head?
Mr. Dodson: The main investment implication of the legend of Mt.
Parnassus has
