Matt Arens
Director
Matt Arens has been fortunate to combine two distinct passions in his career: investments and life sciences. Since entering the investments field in 1997, Mr. Arens has followed small-cap stocks, primarily identifying companies with high growth potential in the healthcare sector. He has managed dedicated healthcare portfolios for nearly 15 years.
Mr. Arens founded First Light Asset Management in 2013 with a singular focus — to invest in companies across the healthcare spectrum with innovative and disruptive solutions that help save lives, dollars, or, often, both. Mr. Arens serves as chief executive officer and senior portfolio manager across all First Light investment strategies, which are rooted in the firm’s core investment principles: limited-capacity vehicles, the inefficiency of the small-cap market, unbiased analysis focused on the intrinsic value of companies, long holding periods and conviction-based weighting, with a concentration in best ideas.
Prior to establishing First Light, Mr. Arens was president and senior portfolio manager at Kopp Investment Advisors. While there, he served as the sole portfolio manager for the firm’s healthcare-focused investment strategy.
Mr. Arens has been a keynote speaker at the PricewaterhouseCoopers CFO Forum and a featured speaker at DeviceTalks West. Mr. Arens also has been featured in publications such as BusinessWeek, Barron’s, Pensions & Investments, Investment News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Mr. Arens graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University.