Spotlight On: Lawson Allen, President & Chairman, Lee, Danner & Bass, Inc.
July 2025 — Lawson Allen, president and chairman at investment firm Lee, Danner & Bass, Inc. spoke with Invest: about how the firm’s customized approach gives it an edge. “While many of our competitors become more standardized using AI, we will continue to become more customized. Our model may not be as scalable as other firms because it takes more time with each client, but that’s what sets us apart.”
What development or changes over the past year have most influenced your firm’s approach to helping clients preserve and grow their wealth?
The industry has evolved with many more passively managed products, including exchange traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. We take an active approach in using individual equity and debt securities in a customized manner to build a portfolio of assets around a client’s specific needs. The tremendous growth of these passive products has helped differentiate us and broaden our appeal to people looking for a tax-efficient managed strategy, or one that allows them to shift from their existing holdings into others that are more representative of their income and growth needs.
What do your clients expect when it comes to personalized portfolios and hands-on relationship building?
Our clients most appreciate our ability to manage and tailor their investment portfolio to meet their specific goals and objectives. With a pooled asset approach, you can’t control the tax consequences in any given year. More importantly, you don’t understand exactly what you own with a broad approach through a mutual fund or ETF, and some of those components may not align with your goals and values. Our approach in owning individual equity assets and debt securities allows us to be tax efficient and customize the amount of income a client might need. There also isn’t a fee on a fee. When clients pay our firm, there isn’t another embedded fee in an individual stock or bond, as is the case when our competitors own ETFs and mutual funds in a portfolio. It’s a direct approach to investing that allows us to work around low-cost basis positions that clients bring to us. Some firms simply sell everything in the portfolio and move it to a standard platform. We can transition those assets more thoughtfully.
What concerns and priorities are you seeing from clients in the midst of economic uncertainty?
There have been two major issues and concerns that we have been shepherding our clients through recently. From an individual perspective, people wanted more clarity on tax rates, estate and gift taxes, and exemptions in the Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress. Many clients were worried that if tax rates changed, they might have to accelerate their investment and income planning. Having that clarity is very important. Tariffs and their impact are still a major focus. There’s uncertainty about whether tariffs will be 50% or none at all come Aug. 1, which makes it hard on corporate America.
The other big issue is the growing deficit, something the investment community rarely factors into their analysis of the market. Both Presidential candidates were proposing initiatives that expand rather than reduce the debt, which is exactly what’s happening. The bond market will start paying more attention to federal debt, and it’s going to have an economic impact.
With all the changes and policy developments, what sectors or asset classes are drawing the most interest or scrutiny from your clients and team?
Our team has discretionary authority to manage assets without having to call clients for every change. Technology is a sector that represents 33% of the S&P 500. The only other time a particular sector represented that high of a percentage was in 2000 when tech was around 30%. Back then, companies like Amazon and Google were classified as tech, but are now classified as consumer discretionary and communication services. The difference today is these companies have real earnings and free cash flow. Before the dot-com bubble burst, many companies didn’t have earnings but were trading to excessive prices. Technology will be a part of everything we do moving forward, and it deserves to represent a large part of the market. We’re entering a period when people will ask more about how these companies monetize investments and deliver returns to their shareholders. Healthcare companies should represent reasonable valuations. They are usually less cyclically sensitive to economic uncertainty and tariffs.
How are you leveraging technology and AI to deliver customized advice and client service?
Technology is here to stay and will make all of our lives in the investment industry more productive. Most of the vendors that provide financial analysis are incorporating AI into their services, helping to gather and summarize data more efficiently. We use AI to analyze individual companies, get summaries of conference calls, and compare quarterly trends to competitors. AI will become more advanced and bring real efficiencies in our industry, but the important distinction is that it will help us do our jobs better. While many of our competitors become more standardized using AI, we will continue to become more customized. Our model may not be as scalable as other firms because it takes more time with each client, but that’s what sets us apart. Additionally, the efficiencies created by leveraging AI will allow us more time to focus on our clients and their needs.
How does your firm’s model help clients navigate periods of financial uncertainty?
The markets are driven by fear and greed. In the greed period, clients are happy because they are making money. In the fear period, there are levels of uncertainty. You can ask AI to provide information, but the ability for a client to pick up the phone, talk to a manager, and make appropriate tweaks helps talk the emotion out of a client. That is what makes our firm unique and attractive to clients.
Looking ahead, what are the top priorities for the firm over the next three to five years?
We have recently added two new professionals to our firm. We’re a boutique firm of 12 people overseeing $1.9 billion in assets, so adding two people is a significant 20% increase. Growing our staff helps us continue customizing unique experiences for our clients. We’re not yet at full capacity, but we want every client to know that their primary point of contact is looking at their portfolio and analyzing their needs on a daily basis. It requires scaling up, and we’re excited about the future. Nashville is a dynamic market with a tremendous amount of wealth moving to and being created here. We are fortunate to be a part of that growth. Nashville has a diverse economy that isn’t just a healthcare hub. We have automotive, hospitality, technology, and more. We have some Amazon exposure, Oracle is bringing more tech jobs. That diversity is healthy because every industry can be cyclical.
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