Richard F. Aster, Jr. was born in Southern California. Formal education included undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Mr. Aster worked for the U. S. Treasury Department and invested privately before joining Newburger, Loeb & Company, a New York Stock Exchange firm, in 1970. He worked for Newburger, Loeb for almost two years as a West Coast analyst before joining Robertson, Colman, Siebel & Weisel (which became Montgomery Securities and subsequently Banc of America Securities, Montgomery Division).

Mr. Aster’s responsibilities at Montgomery Securities included formulating the firm’s economic overview and investment strategy. His primary areas of research included emerging growth stocks and special situations covering a broad number of industries. Mr. Aster successfully managed accounts on a discretionary basis during this period. He left Montgomery Securities in March 1977 to form Aster Investment Management Co., Inc. Mr. Aster started the Meridian Growth Fund in 1984, the Meridian Value Fund in 1994 and the Meridian Equity Income Fund in 2005.