Company History
In 1983, Michael Miola founded American Data Services, Inc. ("ADS"). His goal was
to design a mutual fund accounting system that would operate on personal computers.
This opened the industry to investment advisors that had marvelous track records
but simply couldn't afford the massive mainframe systems that were required at the
time to process the huge daily transaction volumes. No longer did the largest brokerage
and money management firms have a lock on the industry. Michael designed the prototypes
of all the proprietary software used by ADS to perform fund accounting and stock
transfer services, as well as the operating and marketing models for the administration
and distribution service lines that would come later.
Michael's approach to finding the best money managers and distributing mutual funds
was also unique. Knowing he could never compete in the same space as the mammoth
organizations such as Fidelity or Dreyfus, who could leverage tremendous resources
to hire portfolio managers and advertise for assets, Michael searched the country
to find the best independent money managers, who were often managing money for select
groups of wealthy individuals. Michael formed mutual funds around these managers,
and ADS would then service, market, and distribute each fund in its local geographic
area.
By 1998, ADS was among the top twenty mutual fund service organizations in the United
States, servicing over 150 mutual funds with assets in excess of $6 billion. In
August 1998, Michael was featured in the annual mutual fund edition of Forbes Magazine
as the mutual fund organizer to watch.
Company Change
In August of 1999, Michael sold ADS to an international company with ambitions to
create a strong presence in the US. Under the terms of the agreement, Michael continued
to manage the operations of his company. Almost 2 years into the experience, Michael
realized that his company was headed in the wrong direction and knew he could make
ADS successful once again. At that time, Michael decided to join forces with W.
Patrick Clarke, who had also sold his company to the same group, to buy back their
original companies.
Working Together
As a result, NorthStar Financial Services Group, LLC was formed in late 2002. Beginning
in January of 2003, Patrick's company, CLS Investments, LLC, and ADS were back under
the control of their founders. Several important decisions were made at this point.
ADS was re-branded as Gemini Fund Services, LLC. The previous holding company had
retained ownership of CLS Brokerage Services, which Patrick had owned, so Michael
and Patrick founded Northern Lights Distributors, LLC to maintain securities licenses
and distribute Gemini's mutual funds. The back-office software solution Patrick
had developed earlier for CLS was established as another company, Orion Advisor
Services, LLC, in order to provide its services to outside firms.
After overcoming the pitfalls in its past, Gemini has done nothing but grow and
gain new clients. Today, Gemini Fund Services has nearly $10 billion in assets under
administration...and is still growing.