MutualFundWire.com: A Northwestern Boutique's Leading Fund Turns 15

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Thursday, August 7, 2025

A Northwestern Boutique's Leading Fund Turns 15

Near Portland, the team at a 28-year-old, employee-owned, boutique asset manager is celebrating a crystal anniversary for their flagship mutual fund.

John Emmet Lekas
Leader Capital Corp.
President, CEO, Founder

John Lekas, president and CEO of Leader Capital [profile], highlights the 15th birthday last week of the Leader Capital High Quality Income Fund. Vancouver, Washington-based Leader Capital Corp. serves as investment advisor to the fund, which the Morningstar folks classify as an intermediate core-plus bond fund and give five stars.

The Leader team launch the Leader Total Return Fund on July 30, 2010. On May 31, 2022, they renamed it as the Leader High Quality Floating Rate Fund. And on May 16, 2023, they rebranded it again, this time as the Leader Capital High Quality Income Fund.

The Leader Capital High Quality Income Fund currently has about $1.219 billion in AUM. It comes in four flavors:

institutional shares (LCTIX), with no load and an expense ratio of 97 basis points;

investor shares (LCTRX), with no load, an expense ratio of 135bps;

A shares (LCTAX), with a maximum up-front load of 400bps, a maximum deferred load of 100bps, and an expense ratio of 118bps; and

C shares (LCCTX), with a maximum deferred load of 100bps and an expense ratio of 197bps.

The required minimum initial investment for the fund's institutional shares is $100,000. For the other three share classes, that minimum is $2,500.

Lekas himsef, founder and principal owner of Leader, has PMed the Leader Capital High Quality Income Fund since its inception.

"Over 15 years, our edge has come not just from the decisions we've made, but from the ones we didn't," Lekas states:

If we maintain our current pace, the Fund could cross the $10 billion mark within five years. We'll stay true to our process and let the market tell us what to do, rather than try and predict the market. We pivot when the numbers tell us to.

The Leader Capital High Quality Income Fund is a series of Leader Funds Trust. The mutual fund's other service providers include:

CCO Technology, LLC (dba Joot) as provider of chief compliance officer services;

FinTech Law, LLC as counsel;

Gryphon 17, LLC as administrator, dividend disbursing agent, fund accountant, shareholder servicing agent, and transfer agent;

Sanville & Company as independent accounting firm;

U.S. Bank National Association as custodian; and

Vigilant Distributors, LLC as distributor.