The Energy Report: Kenny, you are a former MLP portfolio manager. You've also been an analyst at a bulge-bracket investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS:NYSE), where you followed the energy and power sector, as well as MLPs. Is Alerian similar to Standard Poor's or Russell Investment's indices?

Kenny Feng: Yes, it's similar in that we are purely an indexing firm that maintains benchmarks for the MLP sector. But we are also an education provider for the asset class and aspire to be the Wikipedia of MLPsthe first-pass information source for an investor who comes across the sector through an article in Barron's, a commercial on CNBC, a conversation with a friend or financial advisor, or even through one of these interviews at The Energy Report. So besides the statistics we provide, we also speak at conferences and conduct free teach-ins to educate the investment community about MLPs.

TER: Do you manage any assets?

KF: No, and because we don't manage any assets, the investment community views Alerian as an unbiased source of information. We field questions for investors across the spectrumfrom individuals who have $100 to invest, to the multibillion-dollar institutions that are conducting due diligence on the sector prior to making a percentage allocation to the asset class.

TER: How does Alerian make money? Continue reading "What Every Investor Should Know About Income and Growth: Kenny Feng" →