Brian Bader Partner, Senior Vice President, Client Service and Marketing

Axiom Investors

Partner, Senior Vice President /Client Service and Marketing, Axiom Investors, 2016-Present Principal & Head of Sales, Rainier Investment Management, Inc., 2007-2016 Senior VP, Head of Sub-Advisory and National Accounts, US Trust, 2003-2007 Director, Head of Sub-Advisory, Deutsche Asset Management, 1999-2003 VP, Business Manager for Equity Businesses, Bankers Trust, 1995-1999 Operations Manager, Bankers Trust, 1993-1999 Senior Consultant, Price Waterhouse Management Consulting, 1991-1993 Vice President, Citibank, 1987-1991 Manager, Mutual Fund Accountants, Bradford Trust Company, 1983-1987 B.S., Economics, State University of NY at Albany

Rob Balkema, CFA Head of Multi-Asset Solutions, North America

Russell Investments

Rob has primary responsibility for managing Russell Investments’ US Retail and Institutional Multi-Asset Solutions, including the firm’s traditional target risk balanced funds, outcome oriented portfolios, target date, and investment outsourcing mandates.  In this role, he leads the team which integrates the firm’s equity, fixed income, real asset, and alternatives capabilities globally.  He is tasked with creating strategic asset allocations for the portfolios, selecting managers or passive alternatives to populate asset classes, integrating the firm’s capital market insights, and positioning the total portfolio in order to help clients achieve their objectives. Rob has deep experience researching and managing both traditional and non-traditional assets from his 14 years in the industry, all of which are with Russell Investments.  

Previously, Rob was a senior analyst in the investment process and risk group for the investment division at Russell Investments. In this role, Rob focused on improving the measurement, evaluation, and enhancement of Russell’s portfolio management practice.

From 2006 until 2009, Rob was a member of the global equity team in multiple capacities.  He was responsible for evaluating asset management firms worldwide that offer global, international and emerging market equity mandates and supported portfolio managers in the structuring and monitoring of Russell’s global equity strategies.

Rob holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard College and is a member of the CFA® Society of Seattle. He also previously served on the board of Covenant House NY, a non-profit organization charged with serving NY homeless youth.

Anne Banks Principal

gr8 communications

Anne Banks is the Principal and founder of gr8 communications LLC—an independent consulting firm that specializes in developing marketing strategy and communications solutions for institutional money managers. Prior to establishing gr8 communications in 2006, Anne was Senior Vice-President of International Marketing for a leading global equities manager, Bank of Ireland Asset Management (“BIAM”). She was responsible for designing and implementing the marketing and communications strategy for BIAM’s international operations in the U.K., Germany, Japan, Australia, the U.S. and Canada (AUM $40bn+.)

Anne has a B.A. Economics (magna cum laude) from the University of Dublin, Trinity College. She also holds the Certified Diploma in Accounting & Finance (Bronze Medal Winner) from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and the CFA Institute’s Investment Foundations® Program. Anne is currently a member of 100 Women in Finance (formerly 100 Women in Hedge Funds) and was a member of its Connecticut Education Committee From 2007-2011. Anne was an active member of PAICR from 2010 to its dissolution in 2019, and served as a member of its Board of Directors from 2013-2015.

Rayman Bovell, CFA Head of Wealth Portfolio Management

HSBC Global Asset Management (USA)

Mr. Bovell manages the Wealth Portfolio Management team in New York and is primarily responsible for developing the asset allocation in HSBC’s US multi-asset investment solutions and researching third party investment managers. He joined HSBC Global Asset Management (USA) Inc. in 2008 after having worked in the industry since 2001. Prior to joining HSBC, Mr. Bovell was an Analyst at Merrill Lynch and was responsible for researching US equity managers, where he worked since 2005. Previous to that he worked at Lehman Brothers as a Financial Adviser, where he joined in 2001. Mr. Bovell started his career as a Technical Specialist at Pfizer and manufactured oral and intravenous products. Mr. Bovell holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Columbia University in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Society New York and the CFA Institute. Mr. Bovell is a member of the Investment Committee for Columbia Engineering Alumni Association and served as a Board Member from 2005 to 2018 and Chair of the Investment Committee from 2008 to 2018.

Jayson Bronchetti, CFA, CAIA President

Lincoln Investment Advisors

Jayson Bronchetti is President of Lincoln Investment Advisors Corporation (“LIAC”) and SVP, Head of Funds Management for Lincoln Financial Group. In this role, he is responsible for the leadership and strategic direction of Lincoln’s $150 billion mutual fund platform. His team of portfolio managers, research analysts, client investment strategists, and business management professionals are focused on due diligence of sub-advisors, portfolio construction, asset allocation, and development of equity, fixed income, and alternative investment funds. Jayson is Chair of the LIAC Investment Committee and the primary liaison between LIAC and the Board of the Lincoln Variable Insurance Product (“LVIP”) Trust, of which he is also President. 

Jayson is also responsible for the oversight of Lincoln’s $70 billon General Account Public Corporate Bond portfolio. In this capacity, he leads a team of portfolio managers and analysts in the development and execution of Lincoln’s long-term investment strategy, portfolio construction, active credit risk management, and trading activities.

Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Jayson was Head of Manager Selection & Investment Research for LIAC. He joined Lincoln in 2013 as Portfolio Manager of Alternative Investments and Private Debt Strategies for Lincoln’s General Account.  In that role, he also provided broad based asset class expertise and thought leadership for Lincoln’s overall General Account investment strategy.
Before joining Lincoln, Jayson was Executive Director of Debt Capital Markets for J.P. Morgan in New York.  He has also held positions in private equity, fixed income asset management, credit research, and trading with Macquarie Investments and Bank of America.

Mr. Bronchetti currently serves on the Board of Directors of Millennium Capital & Recovery Corporation as well as CITRS, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on the advocation of character education and development. He is also a founding Chapter Executive of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (“CAIA”) Society of Philadelphia.

Jayson received his bachelor’s degree in finance, with a minor in economics, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is also a graduate of the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Jayson is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia, and holds his Series 7, Series 79, and Series 63 securities licenses.

He resides in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania with his wife Erin Todd Bronchetti Ph.D. and their five children.

Zoe Brunson Senior Vice President, Investment Strategies

AssetMark

James Carpenter Director and Client Portfolio Manager

Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss

23 Years of Industry Experience

Mr. Carpenter joined Barrow Hanley in 2015 from Russell Investments, where he served as a portfolio manager for several multi-manager funds across the firm's international and global equity strategies. Previous to this role, Mr. Carpenter was head of the firm's global equity manager research team. Prior to his nearly 18-year tenure at Russell Investments, Mr. Carpenter served as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP. He graduated from Brigham Young University with both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Accounting. He is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Alwi Chan Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer

AXA Equitable Funds Management Group

Alwi Chan is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of 1290 Asset Managers. Mr. Chan is head of 1290 Asset Manager's Portfolio Analytics team. Mr. Chan joined AXA Financial in June 1999, having previously worked at D.E. Shaw & Co. and Arthur Anderson. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia and an MBA from Tulane University. Mr. Chan is a CFA® charterholder.

Brenda Chia Board Co-chair

Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM)

Mike Christiansen, CFA, CFP® Team Leader - Equity, Investment Manager Research

Edward Jones

Brandi Colander Principal

The Raben Group

Brandi Colander is a Principal at The Raben Group, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm. Her work at The Raben Group includes supporting a range of clients and the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative, an effort dedicated to creating a more inclusive culture in the financial services industry as it relates to asset managers. Colander was a former Deputy General Counsel and Deputy Assistant Secretary during the Obama Administration and resident of the District of Columbia. She serves as the Board Chair of the DC Green Bank which accelerates the deployment of clean energy, energy efficiency and resilient design for the nation’s capital.

Stéphane Corsaletti Chief Investment Officer

Allfunds

Philip DiDio Portfolio Manager

SECOR Asset Management

Philip Didio is an absolute return Portfolio Manager for SECOR Investment Advisors.  Prior to SECOR, Philip was Director of Research at Summit Private Investments, a fund of hedge funds. Before that, Philip managed hedge fund research and was the portfolio manager for Oppenheimer & Co.’s proprietary fund-of-funds. Philip has additional related experience at FRM Americas, a $13 billion fund-of-funds company, where he headed a team responsible for finding, recommending and monitoring relative value managers. Philip spent the earlier part of his career as a convertible bond portfolio manager for General Motors Asset Management and a quantitative analyst with Merrill Lynch. He has authored a chapter for a hedge fund compendium published by Euromoney. Philip received a B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley.

James Dunham Director of Financial Institutions and National Accounts

William Blair Investment Management

James Dunham is the Director of Financial Institutions and National Accounts (FINA) at William Blair Investment Management. Based in New York, he’s responsible for the firm’s relationships with financial institutions and the sub-advisory market. James has 25 years of experience in the investment management industry with expertise across the full spectrum of strategies, clients, and geographies.

Before joining William Blair, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Sub-Advisory at Perella Weinberg Partners. Before that, he served as Vice President in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs & Co. Previously, he was Managing Director and Head of Sub-Advisory at Principal Global Investors in New York. Jamie spent six years at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank in Australia before joining Principal in the United States in 2000.  

He is a graduate of the University of South Australia where he holds both a Bachelor of Business Degree majoring in Banking and Finance and an Associate Diploma of Business with a major in Credit Management. He also holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 Securities License, the Series 63 Securities Agent Law License and the Series 3 Commodity Futures License.

James is a regular speaker at industry conferences and has been a guest on Bloomberg TV. He’s also a former Chairman of Financial Research Associates Sub-Advised Funds Forum. Outside of work, he’s married with two children, has completed over 30 marathons and is a four-time Ironman Triathlete.

William Blair is a premier global boutique with expertise in investment banking and investment management. The investment management business manages $56 billion in assets across U.S equity, non-U.S equity, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives.

Julie Frank Director, Investment Management

Christian Brothers Investment Services

Rufat Garalov, CFA, CAIA Senior Investment Analyst

Transamerica

Mr. Garalov joined Transamerica in 2014 as a Senior Investment Analyst. He focuses on domestic equity and alternative strategies. Previously he worked as a Director of Investment Research for Waypoint Advisors, a multi-family RIA based in Virginia. Rufat was responsible for investment research and due diligence and led the investment committee's selection of managers across major asset classes. Rufat has prior experience working in internships for Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Inc., and British Petroleum. Rufat holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in International Business from the Azerbaijan State University of Economics. He received his MBA with a concentration in Finance from Old Dominion University and has earned the right to use the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. Mr. Garalov has thirteen years of investment experience.

Adam Jordan, CIMA, AAMS Director of Investments / CCO, Registered Principal

Paul R. Ried Financial Group

As Director of Investments at Paul R. Ried Financial Group, Adam’s responsibilities include developing, implementing and monitoring client portfolios. This includes designing the overall asset allocation strategies, conducting in-depth market analysis and investment manager due diligence. Also, as Chief Compliance Officer, Adam carries out supervisory and compliance responsibilities. He has been with the firm since 2002.

Adam earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst designation which included an educational component administered through The Wharton School of Business and also earned the Accredited Asset Management Designation through the College for Financial Planning. In addition, he holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 53, 63 & 65 licenses. Adam is also a member of the Association of Professional Fund Investors (APFI).

Philip Kalus Managing Partner

accelerando intelligence

Hooman Kaveh Chief Investment Officer

Mercer

Hooman is the Global Chief Investment Officer for Mercer's Delegated Investment Solutions business. Hooman leads a team of investment professionals who are responsible for developing and implementing all aspects of the fiduciary investment process, including investment strategy, asset allocation and de-risking, fund manager selection, monitoring and blending as well as portfolio implementation.

Hooman has been in his current role since 2017 having previous been the European CIO for Mercer’s Delegated Investment Solutions business since 2006 when he joined Mercer to help set up this business in Europe. Prior to that, Hooman was Chief Investment Officer at one of Ireland's largest financial services companies whose investment division he joined in 1990. He has held various investment roles, including Portfolio Manager and Head of Quantitative Investments, prior to becoming CIO.

Hooman graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1986 with an honours degree in microelectronics engineering. He then worked in the research and development laboratories of Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He left Philips in 1989 to complete an honours MBA degree in 1990 at Trinity College Dublin. Hooman also holds an MSc master’s degree with honours from Dublin City University in investments and treasury management, which he gained in 1993. He has also lectured on investment management subjects on that programme.

Anoop Kumar, CFA Principal

SECOR Asset Management

York Lo, CAIA, CIMA Head of Institutional and Retirement Product Development

John Hancock Investment Management

York Lo is the head of institutional and retirement product development at John Hancock Investments where he has served in manager research and product development roles for the past decade. He was instrumental in the launch of the firm’s ETF business in 2015 and has been responsible for the manager selection and launches of many of the firm’s mutual fund products. He has over 20 years of experience in the asset management industry in the US and Asia. He received his BSBA from Boston University Questrom School of Business and MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and is a CAIA and CIMA charter holder. He is involved in two ERGs for professionals of color at John Hancock and has served a mentor for the firm’s MLK Summer Scholars program. Outside of his firm, he is currently involved in the formation of the DEI committee for the CAIA Association and two industrywide initiatives to bring underrepresented students into the investment industry.   

Eivind Lorgen CEO & President

Nordea Asset Management

Investor Advisory Group (IAG) Chair
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

Eivind Lorgen is the CEO of Nordea Investment Management North America, Inc. Nordea actively manages about $ 270 billion. He is a founding member of the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB) Investor Advisory Board and the former head of  Nordea Asset Management’s Manager Selection Unit.

He holds a BSBA and Master Degree from Denver. He also played varsity soccer for DU. His Executive Management degrees are from IMD, Switzerland and from The London Business School.

Eivind received the Reiman Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016. Eivind maintains a home in New York and Denver.

Laura Lutton Head of Asset Management Solutions

Morningstar

Laura Lutton is head of asset management solutions for Morningstar, Inc., where she leads sales- and product-development strategies for Morningstar’s asset manager client segment.

Before assuming her current role in 2019, Lutton was the North American practice leader, manager research, for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. There she directed the firm’s manager research analyst teams in the United States and Canada.

Lutton was a leader on the Manager Research team for more than a decade, previously heading asset-class teams, as well as the firm’s parent research and ratings on mutual fund firms. Lutton helped develop Morningstar’s Analyst Rating^TM methodologies for mutual funds, separately managed accounts, collective investment trusts, target-date series, and 529 college savings plans. She is also a founding member of Morningstar’s Women’s Initiative.

Lutton joined Morningstar in 1999 as an equity analyst and moved to the fund research team in 2001. Before joining Morningstar, Lutton was the Chicago bureau chief for American Banker.

Lutton holds a bachelor’s degree in government and international studies from Colby College and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Christa Maxwell Head of Marketing and Distribution

Acuitas Investments

Paul Mikelson Vice Presidnet, Multi-Manager Investment Solutions

Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Paul supports the subadvised fund, multi-manager and asset allocation products within Columbia Threadneedle Investments, an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial. His responsibilities include relationship management, negotiating agreements, supporting the subadviser/investment manager selection process, due diligence, creating and maintaining subadvisory policies and procedures, operational on- and off-boarding, reporting and fund board presentations. There are 32 subadvised funds and 39 subadvisers within the Columbia Fund Family, with assets under management of approximately $50 billion. Paul is the chair of Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ subadviser management committee. He works with colleagues from Ameriprise Financial’s retail broker/dealer and life insurance affiliate, RiverSource Life Company, regarding their asset allocation products. He has supported the subadvised funds since 2006.

Paul has held a variety of roles at Ameriprise Financial, covering such products as non-proprietary mutual funds, 529 plans, variable annuities, insurance and alternative products, such as non-traded REITs and funds-of-hedge funds. Prior to joining Ameriprise Financial, Paul was an attorney, primarily representing small businesses. Paul has nearly 20 years of financial services experience.

Paul received his B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas and his J.D. from Creighton University.

Niall O'Sullivan Chief Investment Officer EMEA & Asia, Investment Solutions

Mercer

Niall is the CIO for MGIE. He is responsible for the design, implementation and ongoing management of Mercer Investment Management's range of Fund Investment solutions in Europe, whether provided to Multi-Client Funds, Single Client Funds or other implementation platforms. He is also responsible for the Discretionary Management services that we provide to clients such as DDS.

Niall graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1997 with a Gold Medal & First Class Honours in Mathematics. In 2002 he completed an Honours MSc from Dublin City University in Investments and Treasury Management in which he finished in first place.

Michael Paciullo Head of Operational Due Diligence

Wells Fargo Investment Institute

Michael Paciullo is a Research Director for Global Manager Research (GMR), a division of Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The GMR team conducts investment and operational due diligence on the third-party money managers used throughout Wells Fargo’s brokerage, private banking, family wealth, and retirement businesses.

In his role, Mr. Paciullo oversees the operational due diligence function in GMR. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Paciullo was Director of Operations at The Archstone Partnerships, a fund of hedge funds located in New York City.

Michael holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University School of Business and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University School of Engineering.

Amit Popat Partner & International Business Leader, Wealth Management & E&F; European Business Leader, Sentinel

Mercer

Amit has over 10 years experience at Mercer where he was initially responsible for the strategy and growth of Mercer's Fiduciary Management business in Europe. Subsequently he was based out of Singapore where he was the Regional Business Leader for the Fiduciary Management business within the Growth markets (Asia, Ex. Japan, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America).

Amit has over 25 years experience within the asset management industry, and prior to joining Mercer, he was a Senior Vice President at Banco Santander Group and Head of the Institutional Business for their fund of hedge funds business. Hew as responsible for developing and establishing the institutional infrastructure globally and he was Head of the UK office.

Amit has also spent a number of years with the Northern Trust Global investments where he was head of expanding business across a full range of clients within the UK, Ireland, and the Nordics. Prior to that he was with Fidelity Investments and London Stock Exchange.

Amit graduated with an honours degree in Economics (specializing in Corporate Finance) and Biology. He is an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and is IMC qualified. He is also regulated to provide investment services in HK and Singapore. 

Carl Robinson Partner

Genesys Research

Carl Robinson joined Genesys Research in 2015 as a senior associate. In his current role, Carl oversees existing client relationships, with a focus on providing sub-advisory research and competitive analysis for the U.S. and Canada. Carl holds a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from Wheaton College.

Leslie Samuelrich President

Green Century Capital Management

Leslie Samuelrich leads Green Century Capital Management, focusing on the firm’s investment strategies, business development, and impact investing program. Ms. Samuelrich is a frequent speaker on sustainable investing and has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and other financial and environmental news publications. Ms. Samuelrich currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF), the Management Council for Divest-Invest Individual, and the Advisory Board of the Intentional Endowments Network. She also is a guest lecturer on impact investing at The Wharton School. She holds a BA in Economics from Boston College.

Harold Singleton III Vice President/Managing Director - Head of Manager Selection and Portfolio Construction

Lincoln Financial Group

Harold Singleton III, Vice President, Head of Manager Selection and Portfolio Construction, joined Lincoln Financial Group on July 7, 2014. Harold’s primary responsibilities include leading an 8-person team in manager selection, due diligence and portfolio construction for a $150 billion investment platform across Annuity, Life and Retirement Plan Services product lines covering all asset classes, with a particular focus on the Lincoln Variable Insurance Products (LVIP) funds. Harold has more than 20 years of industry experience, having held roles as an investment analyst, portfolio manager, and most recently, business leadership roles both domestically and abroad. Prior to joining Lincoln, he was Managing Director, Head of Asset Management Companies and Global Head of Retail & Intermediary Sales at PineBridge Investments (formerly AIG Investments). Harold holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He is also Series 7 and Series 24 licensed.

Christopher Tessin Founder and Managing Partner

Acuitas Investments

Christopher D. Tessin is a Founder and Managing Partner of Acuitas Investments and serves as the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Small and Microcap portfolios.

Prior to founding Acuitas, he served as Portfolio Manager at Russell Investments with responsibility for all of the firm's US microcap, small and small/mid cap strategies. Prior to his tenure at Russell Investments, Chris held positions in asset management and investment research at Bear Stearns, Schroders and Lehman Brothers. Chris is a regular contributor to CNBC and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The New York Times and other publications. Chris holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Columbia University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Seattle Society of Financial Analysts.

Brad Watterson AVP, Director of Investment Research

Touchstone Investments

Mr. Watterson is Assistant Vice President and Director, Investment Research for Touchstone Investments. He has been with Touchstone since 2007 and has experience in the financial services industry since 1997. Prior to joining Touchstone, he was an Equity Research Analyst with Robert Leshner & Associates, Inc., a Cincinnati-based independent RIA. Prior to Robert Leshner & Associates, he was a Commercial Credit Underwriter for PNC Private Bank. Mr. Watterson began his career as a Mutual Fund Accountant with BISYS Fund Services. He earned a BS in Finance from Indiana University (IU) and an MBA in Finance and Multinational Business from Xavier University. While at IU, Brad competed in swimming for the Hoosiers, earning four varsity letters, first team All-American honors and served as team captain. He is a CFA charterholder and member of the CFA Society of Cincinnati.