Our Team

George Needham co-founded Needham & Company in 1985, a leading investment banking firm specializing in emerging growth companies. He was formerly a managing director of The First Boston Corporation, where he established its Business Development and Technology Groups during his 15-year career.

Prior to this he was a portfolio manager in the Investment Advisory Division at Bankers Trust Company. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army and served as Company Commander of the 503rd Transportation Company in Heidelberg, West Germany. He is a graduate of Bucknell University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Since January 2010, John Barr has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Needham Growth Fund and Portfolio Manager of the Needham Aggressive Growth Fund. 

John started on Wall Street in 1995 at Needham as a sell-side analyst following technical software companies.  He rejoined Needham in 2009 to co-manage the Needham Mutual Funds.

From 2000 – 2002, John was a senior analyst at Robertson Stephens following semiconductor technology companies.  He was an Institutional Investor All-Star and was ranked by Reuters as leader of a top software team.  In 2002, John joined Buckingham Capital Management, where he served as a portfolio manager and analyst for its diversified industry long/short domestic equity hedge fund.  From 2009 – 2017, John was on the board of directors of Coventor, Inc., prior to its sale to Lam Research.  Prior to Wall Street, John spent 14 years in the electronic design automation industry

John loves the challenge of identifying businesses with compounding characteristics. From his industry experience, he looks to invest in companies that he would have liked to have been part of.  He is a graduate of Colgate University and Harvard Business School.

Meet the Manager

Since January 2008, Chris Retzler has been Portfolio Manager of Needham Small Cap Growth Fund.  He has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Needham Growth Fund since January 2009. 

Chris joined Needham Asset Management in 2005 as a Portfolio Analyst, coming from Winterkorn, a privately-owned orthopedic device company where he spent the previous three years. Prior to Winterkorn, Chris was part of Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking division from 1994 to 2002.

Chris enjoys building long-term relationships with the management teams of his portfolio companies and the investment community, and also the challenges of finding undiscovered or misunderstood investment opportunities.  

Chris graduated with a BA from Bucknell University in 1993, moving on to become a Fulbright Scholar in 1994. He received his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1999.

Meet the Manager

Jim has been Chief Financial Officer of Needham Asset Management since 2011, and was its Controller from 2006 through 2010. Prior to Needham Jim was the Chief Accounting Officer for Olayan America, the U.S.- based investment arm of an ultra-high net worth family office. From 2000 through 2004 he was Chief Financial Officer for Rhone Group LLC, a multi-billion dollar private equity fund and broker-dealer with a European focus. From 1990 through 2000 he was Controller of Rosecliff, Inc., a U.S.-based private equity fund. Jim started his career as an auditor for KPMG LLP. He has served in a volunteer capacity on the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Investment Company Expert Panel for several years.

Russell Bailey has served as the primary trader for the Needham Funds since 2002. He works closely with the Portfolio Managers in regards to the entire investment process.  Russell began his career at Hambrecht & Quist and was an NASDAQ equity trader at the boutique investment firm Gerard Klauer Mattison. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1994 and holds his Series 7, 63 and 55 licenses.

Jim joined Needham & Company in 1998 and has been Chief Compliance Officer for Needham Asset Management since that time, overseeing SEC and FINRA compliance for Needham Funds.  He also serves as Chief Administrative Officer of Needham & Company, an affiliated broker-dealer, and he is a member of the Firm’s Operating and Executive Committees.  Prior to joining Needham he worked at Herzog, Heine Geduld, Inc., a leading market maker in Nasdaq and OTC securities, and J.B. Hanauer, a wealth management firm.

When Kathleen joined Needham in 2008, she was an executive assistant in the investment banking department at Needham & Company. She moved to Needham Asset Management in 2009 to work as George Needham’s assistant, and she began to assume other roles at the firm, primarily in client services, marketing and operations. Prior to Needham, Kathleen worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car for 7 years. She holds her Series 7 license.

Bill has been in the financial services industry for 30 years, beginning his career at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1991, where he was a Communications Writer in the Insurance Services Department.  In the following three decades, Bill has held sales and marketing positions at Oppenheimer Funds (1992-1999), Evergreen Investments (1999-2007), First American Funds from 2007 until the firm was purchased by Nuveen, and most recently before joining Needham, TIAA/Nuveen for 9 years.  He began his wholesaling career calling on financial advisors in the tri-state area in 1999 with Evergreen.  In addition to his role as Advisor Consultant (wholesaler), Bill served as a Divisional Manager in the Northeast for Nuveen from 2015 to 2019.

Bill earned his undergraduate degree in Marketing from Rutgers University in New Brunswick and his MBA in Finance from the Rutgers Graduate School of Management.  He lives in Piscataway, NJ with his wife Christine and their pooch Bella.  Bill and Christine have two children, a son William who is a senior at Drew University in Madison, NJ with a double major in Psychology and Applied Theatre, and Alyssa, who is a Freshman at Iona College where she is a Health Sciences major and a pitcher on the softball team.