Founders Manager Gerding Resigns

Founders Asset Management, a money management unit of Mellon Bank Corp., said Monday that Michael Gerding, who oversaw two of the firm’s 11 mutual funds, resigned.

Gerding, 37, will leave the Denver-based firm where he’s worked since 1990 at the end of the week, the company said.

Gerding, who managed the $240-million Founders Worldwide Growth Fund and the $123-million Founders Passport Fund, couldn’t be reached for comment.

The relatively small Founders, which has about $7.7 billion of assets under management, has suffered personnel turnover since Pittsburgh-based Mellon acquired the firm last year. Former Chief Executive Jon Zeschin resigned about a year ago, and other fund managers have quit.

The company hired Tracy Stouffer, 42, from Federated Investors Inc. to manage Founders Passport and named a team of existing managers, including Tom Arrington, Scott Chapman and Doug Loeffler, to run Worldwide Growth.