Brett Kautter: “When you wear the ‘I’, it becomes an identity”

By Mike Pearson

FightingIllini.com

Former Fighting Illini defensive tackle Brett Kautter readily admits that he couldn’t have risen to his current position as Vice President at Franklin Templeton Investments in Morristown, N.J. without the encouragement and assistance he received from his teammates, coaches, educators, and co-workers as a starter on the defensive line for the 2001 Big Ten Championship Illinois football team.

Arriving at the University of Illinois in the Fall of 1998, Kautter was initially unsure as to what course of study he would pursue.

“A bunch of us were just taking a variety of bridge classes, the type that weren’t really counting toward a major,” he said. “Then, one day, (teammate) Steve Fitts and I decided that we should enroll in the business school. We started taking basic Econ 101 kinds of classes, then advancing to finance and accounting classes. By the time I was a senior, I had this broad general business education, something that I’ve come to learn that a lot of my peers didn’t have. The more well-rounded you are, the more success you have. The University of Illinois gave me a basic understanding of business, economics and finance.”

In his five years at the U of I (1998-2002), the Harrisburg, Pa. native said he rarely left Champaign-Urbana.

“Taking summer classes allowed us to live off our scholarship money, so we typically were on campus year-round,” he said.

Within three-and-a-half years, Kautter earned his business finance degree. A year later, he completed his master’s in educational policy studies. Kautter then was recruited by former Illini football staffer Deryk Gilmore to join his football recruiting unit at the University of Oregon. While in Eugene, Kautter completed his MBA.

After a brief flirtation with coaching, Kautter decided to instead take advantage of his multiple business degrees and began in sales with Franklin Templeton, a global leader in asset management. He’s now in his eighteenth years with Franklin.

“I believe we’re the sixth-largest asset manager in the world, managing about $1.5 trillion,” Kautter said. “We don’t work directly with the retail client or the public, we just manage money.”

Kautter’s sales territory is northern New Jersey and his clients include Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

“I am a liaison between our portfolio managers and…