Speakers- 10th Annual Global ETF Awards©Workshop |
Mark Abssy Index & ETF Manager, ISE ETF VENTURES | Mark Abssy is the Senior Index & ETF Manager for the International Securities Exchange. In this capacity, Mark is responsible for all phases in the development of innovative tradable products from concept to commercial launch. Mark speaks on behalf of ISE as the Index and ETP expert at industry conferences, events and workshops and is also a contributor to publications such as thestreet.com, SeekingAlpha.com, Swiss Derivatives Review and Sentiment Magazine. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, Index Universe, Research Magazine and many others. Prior to joining ISE, Mark has held various product management positions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Fidelity Investments and Loomis Sayles & Company LP and has worked on the institutional client side, managing short-term investments for Genzyme Corporation. Mark is a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts. He is also a member of IMN's Advisory Board. He received a BSBA in finance and international business from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. |
Nicholas L Aninos Jr. Vice President Global Index & Exchange Traded Products, IntercontinentalExchange|NYSE |
Nick Aninos is a Vice President in the Global Index and Exchange Traded Products division at NYSE Euronext. His role primarily revolves around index production in the U.S. in support of products listed on NYSE Arca. Additionally, he is involved with index development for both NYSE's proprietary indices as well as third parties for whom NYSE provides calculation and publication services. Nick joined NYSE Euronext in 2006 from Standard and Poor's where he focused on the S&P/Citigroup family of indices. |
Brian Brennan Vice President, BNY MELLON | Brian is responsible for the development of the exchange traded funds (ETF) and unit investment trust (UIT) products of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing. He oversees global product strategy, prioritizes capital and technology resources, and innovates distribution opportunities on behalf of BNY Mellon's ETF and UIT customers. Brian joined BNY Mellon in 1994 and has also worked in the Pershing division where he managed relationships with exchange traded funds and mutual funds. He also helped develop the Pershing ETF Center on NetX360. Prior to this, he worked in the Pershing Customer Service and Managed Accounts groups. Brian was honored as a recipient of the BNY Mellon STAR Award in 2012 for his significant contributions to the firm. He earned a BS degree from Loyola University in Maryland, and holds the FINRA Series 7 license. |
Mike Castino ETF and UIT Business Development, U.S. BANCORP FUND SERVICES, LLC |
Mike Castino serves as business development officer for the Exchange
Traded Funds and Unit Investment Trusts division. Mr. Castino
joined U.S. Bancorp Fund Services in 2013 with more than 20 years
of business development, relationship management, marketing,
managerial experience, and futures/equity trading experience. Prior
to joining U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, Mr. Castino worked for Zacks
Investment Management as managing director of the Index Services
Division. He also held the position of vice president of Institutional
Sales for Claymore ETFs (now Guggenheim Funds) and was senior
floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for a major Wall
Street trading firm.
Education and Credentials |
Andrew Chanin Chief Executive Officer, PUREFUNDS | Andrew Chanin is chief executive officer of PureFunds. Previously he worked in the prop trading unit of Cohen Capital Group specializing as an ETF Arbitrage trader. He began his career on the American Stock Exchange for Kellogg Capital Group. In 2008, he became Lead Market Maker for newly NYSE Arca-listed International/Global Equity ETFs at Kellogg. Chanin has made markets in over 100 ETFs, and this experience has provided him with a vast knowledge of all varieties of ETF products. Chanin holds a Bachelor of Science in Management degree in finance from Tulane University. |
Joseph K. Cunningham Executive Vice President and Head of Capital Markets, Horizons ETFs Management (USA) LLC |
Mr. Cunningham has over 30 years of experience spanning investment product and business development, strategic relationships management and the implementation of trading models for global equities and derivatives markets. He joined Horizons ETFs Management (USA) LLC in April 2013 as Executive Vice-President and Head of Capital Markets. In this role he oversees all market-making and capital-market trading relationships for Horizons ETFs in the United States, and assists with institutional distribution.
Prior to joining Horizons ETFs, Mr. Cunningham served as Director of Institutional ETF Order Flow and National Account Manager at ProShares from 2006 to 2012. During this time he played a key role in expanding ETF assets under administration, increasing ETF liquidity and creating options for more than 130 ETFs with a wide range of strategy mandates. He was previously Vice President of Louis Capital Markets, where he was instrumental in successfully launching the firm's algorithmic trading platform. Before that, Mr. Cunningham was a Senior Vice President with McNamara Trading, working on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), where he also provided live radio market reports for National Public Radio (NPR) and Bloomberg Radio. Mr. Cunningham's career began on the options floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in the late 1970s while attending Villanova University. He regularly speaks at industry events on the topics of ETF strategy and liquidity, and tactics for advanced trading. He is a member of the Market Technicians Association and the Investment Traders Association of Philadelphia. Mr. Cunningham is also a board member of UMPS CARE Charities, a not-for-profit organization established by Major League Baseball (MLB) umpires to provide financial, in-kind and emotional support for America's youth and families in need. |
Srikant Dash Head of Bloomberg Indexes, BLOOMBERG LP |
Srikant Dash is the head of Bloomberg Indexes, which provides global, independent and transparent indexes for the fixed income, currency and commodity markets. Based in New York, he is responsible for all initiatives and strategy related to Bloomberg's index business.
Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2012, Mr. Dash was at S&P Indices where he was responsible for the firm's global R&D and channel management functions, and led the development of new indexes across asset classes underlying more than $75 billion in assets. He is a published author and frequent reviewer for industry publications. Mr. Dash has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from NIT Rourkela in India and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad. |
Brinton Frith Managing Director-ETF Issuer Solutions, Inc., (ETFis) |
Brint leads the business and product development initiatives for the company. ETFis seeks to optimize certain operational functions and distribution for select "Alternative" Portfolio Managers who need to access retail oriented sales channels.
Previously, Brint was Founder and President of Javelin Exchange Traded Shares. Javelin managed and marketed ETFs from 2009 through 2011. He also served as Chairman of the Trust and supervised the sales and marketing initiatives. Prior to founding Javelin in 2007, Brint was a Managing Director at Philadelphia Brokerage, a full service Broker/Dealer specializing in corporate finance and asset management. He was responsible for developing proprietary products and strategies as well as executing trading strategies for hedge funds and his own investment company, Optional Investors.
He has obtained Series 3,4,7,24,27,53,55,63, 65 and 66 securities licenses. |
Joseph Halpern CEO, EXCEED INVESTMENTS | Joe Halpern is the CEO of Exceed Investments, an investment company focused on developing next-generation structured investments. Over a 20 year financial services career, Joe Halpern has structured, priced and traded billions of dollars in structured products, exotic derivatives and listed vanilla options. Additionally, Joe Halpern has managed trading groups, supervised risk management and participated in executive level, firm-wide strategic initiatives for several leading financial institutions. |
Joseph F. Healy Research Manager, BEACON TRUST | Joseph Healy is a research manager with more than 25 years of financial industry experience. He manages Beacon's research team to ensure timely delivery of investment analysis and recommendations and works with Beacon's chief investment officer on sector research, risk control and other strategic projects. Mr. Healy has an extensive background in investment leadership and portfolio management. Prior to joining Beacon Trust, he was a director of research at Legg Mason in Baltimore, PNC Advisors in Philadelphia, and Merrill Lynch in Princeton. Mr. Healy received a bachelor's degree in business administration from William Paterson University and a master's degree in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also is a CFA charterholder. In addition, Mr. Healy is a member of the Global Interdependence Center, CFA Institute, New York Society of Security Analysts, CFA Society of Philadelphia and the Baltimore CFA Society. |
Christopher Johnson Director, ETF Sales/Trading, CANTOR FITZGERALD |
Christopher Johnson is a Director, ETF Sales/Trading, at Cantor Fitzgerald. Based in the United States, he is responsible for broadening the firm's ETF trading relationships worldwide and managing the team's thought leadership. Mr. Johnson has been in the financial service industry for sixteen years and has been involved in sales, development, and product management of ETFs since 2002. He joined Cantor in September 2013 as part of a full team lift-out from KCG (formerly Knight Capital) where the team was the leading ETF market maker in North America. Prior to joining KCG in 2011, Mr. Johnson held several internationally focused management roles with Vanguard over the course of thirteen years. Most recently, he was a senior manager in the firm's ETF Product Management Department, leading a team dedicated to the development of ETFs domiciled and listed in Canada, the U.K. and Hong Kong. Mr. Johnson also spent several years in Vanguard's Singapore office as head of institutional business for Asia ex-Japan and was responsible for bringing in over $17 billion in new assets under management for the firm. Mr. Johnson holds a B.A. (honors) degree in Asian Studies from Colgate University and a Graduate Business Certificate in Finance from Saint Joseph's University. He frequently speaks in indexing and ETF related conferences worldwide having spoken in twenty-two conferences in ten countries during 2012 alone. |
Richard Keary Principal/Founder, GLOBAL ETF ADVISORS, LLC |
Richard Keary, Principal/Founder of Global ETF Advisors, has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry as a stock exchange executive, institutional block trader, and independent management consultant. Mr. Keary created Global ETF Advisors in March of 2009 to promote the growth of ETFs globally and to provide services to various businesses and entrepreneurs looking to create financial product-based entities. Global ETF Advisors maintains a diverse client base that includes stock exchanges, investment managers, indexers and entrepreneurial start-ups. Prior to launching Global ETF Advisors, Mr. Keary was Managing Director of Capital Markets where he built NASDAQ's ETF listing business. He was responsible for all aspects of the listing process for ETFs and provided trading, marketing, regulatory and distribution expertise. Prior to joining NASDAQ, Richard was SVP and Head of Trading for Ladenburg Thalmann in New York. Earlier in his career, he held various positions as an equity block trader and institutional sales trader. |
Dodd Kittsley Global Head of ETP Research, BlackRock | Dodd Kittsley, Director, is Global Head of ETP Research for BlackRock. He was previously Head of Due Diligence for iShares and a Director of Sales Strategy at BGI, leading a team that created and delivered ETP product and industry related insights. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Kittsley held research and fund due diligence positions at State Street Global Advisors and Morgan Stanley. He has published extensively and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and in the media. Mr. Kittsley earned a B.A. degree from the Hamilton College and a Masters degree from University of Houston. He holds various U.S. securities licenses. He received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) designation and is a member of CFA® Institute |
David Krein Head of Research, Global Indexes, NASDAQ OMX |
David Krein is Head of Research for NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes, which has been creating innovative, market-leading, transparent indexes since 1971. Mr. Krein is responsible for the research and development of new and existing indexes across asset classes, which are used as benchmarks for a wide array of active and passive investment funds globally. NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes is part of The NASDAQ OMX Group.
Prior to joining NASDAQ OMX, Mr. Krein served as Senior Director of Product Development and Analytics for Dow Jones Indexes. Mr. Krein earned an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with Distinction from Cornell University. |
Scott Ladner Director of Alternative Strategies, HORIZON INVESTMENTS, LLC |
Mr. Ladner manages the Quantitative investment group and the firm's Risk Management strategies, with a particular emphasis on building Horizon's capabilities within the alternative investment space. He also manages the Fixed Income allocations for the firm, including the Horizon Tactical Income fund, a non-traditional bond fund. Prior to Horizon, Mr. Ladner was a founder of Charlotte Global Advisors and Principal Guard. Mr. Ladner also helped to launch an equity index volatility and dispersion trading unit at PE△K6 Investments in Chicago, a proprietary listed option trading firm. Previously at First Union/Wachovia, Mr. Ladner founded and ran the $4 billion equity swap and forwards portfolio alongside of his listed equity option and over-the-counter equity derivatives portfolios. Coincident with his equity derivatives trading responsibilities, he also co-founded and managed the Risk Arbitrage and Special Situations portfolio. After moving into the Interest Rate Derivatives group, Mr. Ladner managed the $300 billion notional swaption and cap/floor portion of the bank's interest rate derivatives portfolio. Mr. Ladner received his BA in Economics and Russian Language & Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
Karen Landry Managing Member/Tilted Funds Group |
Karen is a securities industry entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience focusing on Business Development and Marketing. Karen is actively making capital introductions to Private Placements through Mercury Securities LLC, a registered Broker-Dealer located in the Bay Area.
Previously, Karen served as a Principal and Director of Marketing at Inflection Partners where she significantly increased the firm's assets under management. While at Brad Peery Inc., Karen established the investment banking department, which participated as an underwriter in over 200 Initial Public Offerings. Additionally, Karen co-founder three investment limited partnerships at Brad Peery Capital Inc. Karen received her BS in Applied Economics from the University of San Francisco, and currently maintains her series 7, 63, 79, and is a California Registered Investment Advisor Representative. |
Chris Lanza Business Head, Exchange-Traded Product Services, Foreside Financial Group |
B.S. Northeastern University Mr. Lanza is responsible for overseeing Foreside's ETP business. He has been with Foreside since 2007 and has more than 25 years of experience in investment management industry. Prior to joining Foreside in 2007, he was a Product Director for Citigroup Asia Fund Services. Mr. Lanza has held other senior management positions at AGF Funds Inc., Price Waterhouse Investment Management Consulting, Charles Schwab Investment Management, and Mitsubishi Union Bank of California. He holds FINRA Series 7 registration. |
David Mazza Head of ETF Investment Strategy, STATE STREET GLOBAL ADVISORS |
David is a Vice President of SSgA and the Head of ETF Investment Strategy for the Americas within SPDR ETF Sales Strategy. He manages a team of Investment and Product Strategists who generate strategic and tactical investment opportunities for the ETF marketplace. David develops market outlooks and investment themes that integrate SSgA's thought leadership from across different investment disciplines. He also authors whitepapers on various market and ETF-related topics.
Prior to this role, David was a member of the firm's Global Enhanced Equity Group, responsible for research, portfolio management and product positioning across multiple investment strategies. David received his BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Boston College. He holds the FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses. He is a member of the Investment Committee at the Notre Dame Education Center in Boston, MA. |
Mike McGlone Head of Research, ETF SECURITIES |
Mike recently joined ETF Securities US as Director of Research. He authors the ETFS Precious Metals Weekly in addition to his other research, strategy and sales responsibilities. Prior to joining ETF Securities, Mike was the Product Manager and head of commodities at S&P Indices where he led the development and oversight of the S&P GSCI. Before joining S&P, Mike was the chief strategist at Lyford Group International Ltd., a global macro hedge fund. Mike has over 20 years of derivatives trading experience and began his career with Discount Corporation of N.Y. Futures, on the Chicago Board of Trade. Mike left the Chicago trading pits in 1993 to become the OTC options trader for Aubrey G. Lanston & Co. Inc, based in New York. He subsequently joined ABN AMRO as Head of North American Futures Research.
Mike holds an MBA from DePaul University in Chicago and a BS and BA from Illinois State University. Mike is a CFA charter holder and certified FRM. |
Sebastian Mercado Vice President-ETF Strategist, DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES INC. |
Sebastian Mercado is Deutsche Bank's executive in charge of ETF Research for the Americas region. His work includes implementation of investment strategies, due diligence, asset allocation guidance through ETF flows, and thought leadership. He is also responsible for maintaining a fluid dialogue with clients and industry participants in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. His team's work has been elected "Most Useful ETF Research" in the Americas in the last four versions of the Global ETF Awards, and Best ETF Research Provider at the 2014 etfexpress Global Awards. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso in Chile, and is a CFA Level 3 candidate. |
Christopher Meyer Head ETF Sales-Trading UK/Ned/Eastern Europe | Christopher was educated at Solvay Business School and the University Notre Dame de la Paix in Belgium. He holds a university degree (BA) in economics and a master degree in financial engineering (Cum Laude). He works as a sales trader heading the UK at Flow Traders, where he is part of the largest ETP Sales trading team in the world that can provide institutional investors directly with advisory services and highly competitive bid-offer prices on an OTC basis for any ETF & ETC regardless which issuer and with reference to all major exchanges world-wide, including pre-market and after,closing trading |
Seddik Meziani Ph. D, Professor of Economics and Finance, MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY and Author |
Seddik Meziani is a professor of finance at Montclair State University, N.J., the Soliciting Editor of The Journal of Index Investing, and member of the editorial board of Global Review of Accounting and Finance. He is also an ETF consultant and speaker. He previously worked for Standard & Poor's and TIAA-CREF. He received a PhD from RPI and an MBA from NYU. His expertise covers exchange-traded funds, micro-caps and emerging/frontier markets. He is published in both academic and practitioner journals. He is also the author of two ETF books published by Macmillan (2006) and Risk Books (2009). His work was recently acknowledged on a worldwide list of "Seventeen ETF Friendly Professors." In addition to speaking on a wide range of ETF subjects, he also delivered key note addresses at The Art of Indexing Summit (2008 and 2009), ETF Indexing and Structured Products-Toronto (2010), and the Chairman's Club of Capital One Bank (2007 & 2008). He also served as conference chair for IMN's World Series of Indexing (2010), The Art of Indexing Summit (2010) and PRMIA's ETF Event (2013). |
Kathleen Moriarty Partner, KATTEN LAW |
Instrumental in the development of SPDRs, Kathleen is a financial services lawyer with extensive experience representing ETPs domestically and abroad. She represents issuers in connection with unusual structures (Vanguard's VIPERs and ProShares), alt strategies (IndexIQ's Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker) and unorthodox assets (SPDR Gold Trust) and is representing the first publicly traded ETF for the digital currency Bitcoin which is currently in registration with the SEC. Kathleen also works with numerous market participants, including hedge funds and operators of other pooled assets, as well as listing exchanges, index providers, distributors, market makers, APs and institutional investors, to assist them in navigating the regulatory landscape and to help bring their products to wider markets. She also advises foreign entities and delegations from both public and private sectors with respect to the regulation and operation of US ETPs.
Kathleen is a recipient of two ETF Global ETP Icons of the Industry Award, an inaugural member of the ETF Database's ETF Hall of Fame and the first Lifetime Achievement Award by ETF.com. She sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Indexes and frequently speaks on the topic of ETPs. Kathleen received her A.B. from Smith College and her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School. She is a member of various securities and derivatives bar association committees, and is a member of the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council. |
Alexandra von Obelitz Vice President, ETF Strategist, PIMCO | Ms. von Obelitz is a vice president in the New York office, exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategist and member of PIMCO's global wealth management team. She focuses on relationships with institutional investors that utilize ETFs. Ms. von Obelitz is also a member of the New York committee for PIMCO's Women's Leadership Network, contributing to the firm's inclusion and diversity initiative. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2011, she was an executive director at J.P. Morgan and previously worked at Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Société Générale. She has 12 years of investment experience and holds a master's degree in finance from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in France (Edhec) and a master's degree in negotiation and conflict resolution from Columbia University. |
Andrew Pfeifer Relationship Executive, BNY MELLON |
Andrew is a relationship executive (RE) in the Global Financial Institutions division focusing on ETF clients. In this role, Andrew will harness the Bank's resources to insure our clients receive the best solutions to meet their strategic success goals on an ongoing basis. With over 25 years of financial services experience, Andrew spent most of his career supporting buy side firms and managing key relationships in the investment manager community. Prior to joining The Bank of New York Mellon in 1996, Andrew held various management positions at Banker's Trust Company, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Merrill Lynch. Andrew is a graduate of St. John's University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance |
Ethan K. Powell Chief Product Strategist, HIGHLAND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT | Mr. Powell is Chief Product Strategist at Highland Capital Management Fund Advisors, L.P. In this role he is responsible for evaluating and optimizing the registered product lineup offered by Highland. Additionally, Mr. Powell works with portfolio managers and wholesalers on appropriate positioning of strategies in the market place. Prior to his current role, Mr. Powell was a senior fund analyst responsible for working with portfolio management teams and service providers in the operation and marketing of the funds. Prior to joining Highland in April 2007, Mr. Powell spent most of his career with Ernst and Young providing audit and merger and acquisition services within the firm's Transaction Advisory Services Group in Houston, Texas. Mr. Powell's primary focus was acquisitions in the Energy industry. Mr. Powell received an MS in Management Information Systems and a BS in Accounting from Texas A&M University. Mr. Powell has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. |
Brian Reilly BBH Global ETF Services, Vice President | Brian Reilly joined Brown Brothers Harriman in early 2010 and oversees Brown Brothers Harriman's Global ETF Business Development and ETF Consulting efforts. In this role, Brian works with both new and existing ETF sponsors as they develop their various index, listing, product, and distribution strategies. Brian began his career with Fidelity in 1990 where he held a number of management roles in Fidelity's sales, marketing, and product management and development functions. Specifically, Brian was the Vice President in Fidelity's Personal and Workplace Investing organization overseeing various aspects of Fidelity's discretionary money management, investment guidance and retirement planning efforts, and most recently, Fidelity's ETF, Index, and Alternative Investments product team. In this last role, Brian was responsible for Fidelity's Alternative Investment products, what is now a $100B equity index product line including the Fidelity (ONEQ) ETF, and the Gatekeeper for 3rd Party ETFs on the Personal and Workplace Investing brokerage platforms. Brian graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA in 1990, and earned his Masters in Business Administration from Boston University in 2000. |
Robert Rushe Head of ETF Servicing, Ireland, State Street Global Services | Rob has been working in the funds industry for 17 years. He was responsible for building the asset servicing model for Europe's first Exchange Traded Funds. Since their initial launch, in 2000, he has continued to be at the forefront within the ETF servicing industry. As Head of ETF Servicing for State Street Global Services, Ireland, he leads a specialised ETF Servicing unit who are responsible for the overall operating model for ETF funds with regards to Fund Accounting, Custody & Investor Services. |
Kevin Rusli Lawyer, BLAKE, CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP | Kevin acts on behalf of several exchange traded funds, closed-end funds and mutual funds in connection with numerous public offerings, mergers, conversions and re-openings. He also regularly provides legal and consulting advice regarding the regulation and registration of investment fund managers, portfolio advisers and dealers, and has considerable experience in structuring and implementing new asset management platforms in Canada for both domestic and international investment fund providers. Kevin is engaged in the regulatory changes and development of the mutual fund and ETF industry and currently sits as a member of the Policy Committee and Media and Public Relations Committee of the Canadian ETF Association. |
Ian Schaad Managing Director, JANE STREET | Ian Schaad has been trading equities and equity derivative products for 20 years. He has been a Managing Director at Jane Street since 2002 running different trading desks including Fixed Income ETFs. Mr Schaad co-headed Jane Street's London office from 2009 to 2013 and is currently working on the expansion of Jane Street's client-facing business in NY. |
Rahul Sen Sharma Partner, Indxx | Rahul is a Partner at Indxx. In addition to helping set the firm's overall strategy, he is primarily responsible for building Indxx's new client relationships and has direct oversight on marketing and sales activities. He is also a member of the Index Committee. Prior to joining Indxx, Rahul was the Director of Investment Research for RR Advisory Group, a full service private wealth management firm based in New York that caters to high net worth individuals. Rahul holds a BS from Boston College and an MBA with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. |
Konrad Sippel Head of Business Development, Executive Director, STOXX LTD. |
Konrad Sippel is Head of the Global Business Development at the global index provider STOXX Ltd.
In this role Konrad is responsible for the development of innovative new index concepts across all asset classes as well as the index business of the existing indices of STOXX Ltd., Deutsche Börse AG and SIX Swiss Exchange AG. Konrad has spent well over ten years in the index business, primarily in index development at Deutsche Börse AG and STOXX. During his career he was involved in the creation and design of thousands of indices and innovative index methodologies. Konrad Sippel graduated in Mathematics from Queen Mary College in London and also holds an MBA from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina/USA. |
Ted Stover Managing Director, Research & Analytic, FTSE AMERICAS |
Ted Stover is Managing Director, Research & Analytics for FTSE Americas. Ted is responsible for the development of new and custom products for FTSE and provides in-depth product support to internal sales staff and clients.
Before joining FTSE,Ted was Co-Head of Risk Management at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA). Prior to that he was a Portfolio Manager at Bear Stearns Asset Management,and a Statistical Arbitrage Trader at Nomura Securities International. He holds a MS in Operations Research and a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. |
J. Stuart Thomas Principal, PRECIDIAN INVESTMENTS | Mr. Thomas began his career on Wall Street in 1989 with Merrill Lynch. He spent his first 10 years there working as a U.S. International Equity Salesman, Senior Deal Manager on the Equity Syndicate Desk, and as Manager of the Convertible Sales & Marketing Desk before moving to Morgan Stanley. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Thomas was widely credited with creating their retail exchange-traded fund business. He served as Manager of the ETF Sales and Trading Department until his promotion in January 2002 to First Vice President, Director of Equity Capital Markets Sales. On behalf of the World Gold Council, he started World Gold Trust Services in August 2002 to create, manage, and market the first U.S. commodity-backed equity traded on an exchange. In November 2004 SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) was launched on the NYSE. |
Robert Tull ROBERT TULL AND COMPANY |
Robert Tull, specializes in serving as a consultant to multiple entities within the financial services community. Bob recently has consulted for new ETF issuers in passive and active ETFs. Bob also complete consulting and due diligence examinations for the Philippine market prior to the launch of their first domestic ETF in December 2013.
Bob's spearheaded the development of the first full'40 Act ETFs in the U.S. market which were later rebranded iShares. Bob has been at the forefront of commodity benchmark ETF, MacroShares, and factor benchmark ETFs called FactorShares. |
Mike Venuto CIO, TOROSO INVESTMENTS | Michael Venuto is Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder of Toroso Investments, LLC. Toroso is a registered investment advisor focused on research and asset management using ETFs and other exchange traded products. The firm strives to understand a clients' point of view and assist them in expressing it through advanced asset allocation strategies and in-depth fundamental research. In his role, Michael is responsible for managing the Toroso's investment strategies and providing consulting and advice to institutional clients on the fundamental optimization of portfolios. Most recently, Michael was Senior Vice President at Horizon Kinetics LLC where, for more than a decade, he served as a key executive, holding a wide range of responsibilities that included new business development, investment strategy, portfolio management, and client management. |
Corey Villani International Securities Exchange, Senior Product Development Specialist | Corey is a Senior Product Development Specialist at the ISE, responsible for design and development of derivative products and indexes as well as evaluating ETP financing opportunities. Corey joined the ISE in 2006, and has held positions in the Technology and Market Operations division. He received his BA from Cornell University. |
Damon Walvoord Head of ETF Capital Markets, SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP (SIG) |
Damon Walvoord is Head of ETF Capital Markets for Susquehanna International Group. As such, Mr. Walvoord is responsible for several ETF-related activities at Susquehanna, including oversight of the Firm's ETF lead market maker business and ETF issuer relationships, ETF trading for the advisor and broker-dealer channels, and global equity portfolio trading. Prior to his current roles, Mr. Walvoord helped build out Susquehann's sell-side business, Susquehanna Financial Group, after beginning his capital markets career as an ETF and index options trader.
Mr. Walvoord is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Philosophy. |
Daniel Weiskopf Portfolio Manager, ACCESS ETF SOLUTIONS | Daniel K. Weiskopf III joined IPI Wealth Management as the portfolio manager of Access ETF Solutions in July 2013. Previously, he was a managing director and ETF Strategist at Forefront Global ETF Strategies (2009 - 2013). In 2003, Weiskopf joined UBS Financial Services Inc., where he was a founding partner of the FaucettaWeiskopf Wealth Management Group (2003-2009). He was the founder and portfolio manager of MH CApital Partners L.P, a small cap hedge fund (1995-2003). The launch of Mr. Weiskopf career was at American Diversified Enterprises, an affiliate of Allen & Company. Weiskopf is a graduate of Colorado College and has an MBA from Fordham University in New York. |
Kelly Westfall Director, Financial Services O'CONNOR DAVIES, LLP |
Kelly Westfall, CPA, CFA is a Director of O'Connor Davies Financial Services Group specializing in investment manager/fund due diligence, risk management, performance reporting and allocation recommendations as well as other types of specialized investment analysis. She has extensive experience in the United States and Europe conducting due diligence and consulting on portfolio allocations to investment managers, alternative investments, public funds and other complex investment products and advises on their use in the design and implementation of investment strategies. Her client base includes large institutional and high wealth investors with large, highly complex, investment portfolios such as multi-billion dollar foundations, pensions, family offices, endowments, and not-for-profit investors. Kelly also maintains oversight of the performance and risk reporting to several of the largest Foundations in the United States. Professional Affiliations
Education
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