Bios 2019

Board of Directors Bios

2019-2020 Officers

Michael R. Gillis
TD Greystone Asset Management

Michael Gillis is Vice President and Director, Institutional Relationships for TD Greystone Asset Management.

Immediately prior to joining Greystone, Michael held the position of Vice-President Institutional Marketing and Sales for a number of years with Seamark Asset Management. Previously, he worked for the Halifax Grammar School for 2 years, as a Teacher. Michael has also worked as a Director of Business Development for National Trust, and has held the position of Senior Account Representative for both Royal Trust and National Trust.

Michael’s professional credentials include a Bachelor of Education, which he completed at Mount Saint Vincent University and a Bachelor of Business Admin., which was obtained from St. Francis Xavier University.

Michael is also an active board member for Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE) and Benefits and Pensions Monitor. Michael is also actively involved in the Canadian Benefits and Pension Institute (CPBI), the Association of Canadian Pension Managers (ACPM), the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO), and the International Foundation of Employee Benefits (IFEBP). Michael serves on the board of two charities, MAGICANA and Georgetown Walk for Wishes (Ontario).

Kurt P. Terrien
Clarkston Capital Partners

Kurt joined Clarkston Capital Partners in 2013 and oversees the firm’s institutional business, including sales, consultant relations and client service. Kurt has over 20 years of industry experience. Most recently, he was the Director of Sales and Consultant Relations for Johnson Institutional Management. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Institutional Asset Management at National City Bank and a Senior Client Services Manager at World Asset Management.

Kurt received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Walsh College and a MBA from Wayne State University. He is a member of MAPERS (Michigan Association of Public Employees Retirement Systems) and serves on the board of AIMSE.

Miriam Tai, CFA, CAIA
Franklin Templeton Investments

Miriam Tai is currently Vice President of Consultant Relations for Franklin Templeton Investments. Previously, she was Managing Director at CIFC Asset Management, where she was responsible for managing consultant relationships and business development. Prior to that, she was Global Head of Consultant Relations at Itaú Asset Management, Head of US Consultant Relations at Man Investments, and a Director of Consultant Relations at BlackRock (formerly BGI). Before her asset management days, she spent time in structured finance as well as management consulting. Miriam has an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and an A.B. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. She holds both the CFA and CAIA designations. She is a native of Hong Kong, fluent in Cantonese and passable in French and Portuguese. She spends her spare time on circus activities, golf, teaching Pilates and traveling.

Christopher Paolella
Invesco

Chris Paolella is a Managing Director and Head of North America Institutional’s Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) channel. He is a member of Invesco’s North America Institutional Management team.

Prior to joining Invesco in 2018, Mr. Paolella spent 10 years as a managing partner of a partnership group that launched and operated a series of investment boutiques: Perimeter Capital, Concourse Capital and Liquid Strategies. Mr. Paolella also served as head of consultant relations for Trusco Capital. He began his career at Great-West Life and Annuity, where he focused on defined contribution retirement plans.

Mr. Paolella earned a BA degree in economics from the University of Richmond. He holds the Series 7 and 66 registrations.

2019-2020 Board of Directors

Gregory T. Bauer, CFA, CAIA
Parametric Portfolio Associates

Mr. Bauer is responsible for developing, coordinating, and executing the sales and marketing strategies for Parametric’s unique family of products in the Southeast region of the United States. Prior to joining Parametric in 2015, Greg worked at Crawford Investment Counsel where he was the Director of Institutional Services, responsible for leading the institutional sales and consultant relations efforts. Prior to Crawford, Greg worked for both Callan Associates and NEPC. Greg earned a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Greg is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Atlanta. He also holds a CAIA designation.

Heather Conforto Beatty
First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Heather is a vice president on the Institutional team at First Eagle Investment Management, and is responsible for managing relationships with institutions and consultants primarily in the Midwest and on the West Coast. Prior to joining First Eagle in March 2016, she was a senior vice president at TCW and, before that, co-director of global consultant relations for Thornburg Investment Management. At both firms, she focused on managing and cultivating consultant and institutional relationships. Heather began her career in investment management at Palisades Investment Partners, where she drove all efforts related to institutional business development, client service and marketing. She is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio and holds her Series 7 and Series 66 licenses. Heather is involved in several national and regional organizations. She is a co-founder of Women in Institutional Investments Network (WIIIN), a Los Angeles-based 501c3, and a board member at Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE).

Tony Buscemi
Gallatin Capital

Tony Buscemi is a Partner of Gallatin Capital LLC. Prior to co-founding Gallatin Capital in May 2003, Mr. Buscemi was at Moore Capital with responsibilities in client services and new business/product development. Mr. Buscemi joined Moore Capital after working closely with the firm in his prior position as Vice President of the Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group within the Chase Manhattan Bank’s Securities Division. In that capacity, he was responsible for executing domestic and cross border equity private placement transactions for both insurance companies and investment management firms, as well as the structuring and execution of mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Buscemi joined Chase in 1991 as an Associate in its Global Project and Trade Finance Group and was promoted to Vice President in 1995 after completing Chase’s Associate Development and Credit Analyst training programs. Mr. Buscemi graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Northwood University and earned his Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University.

Gus Catsavis, CFA
Pinnacle Asset Management, L.P.

Prior to joining Pinnacle in June 2008, Mr. Catsavis was a Principal at Focus Capital Management LLC from February 2000 to May 2008. From July 1986 to January 2000, he was the President of Asset Consulting Group, Inc. Mr. Catsavis received a B.A. in Economics from Southern Methodist University and an MBA in Finance from Washington University.

Sean Clark, CFA
Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.

Sean joined Westwood in 2019 and serves as Senior Vice President, Institutional Sales & Consultant Relations. He has over 25 years of financial services industry experience across asset management, investment consulting and trust services.

Prior to joining Westwood, Sean spent over seven years as Senior Vice President, Consultant Relations with OFI Global Asset Management. His experience also includes roles as Managing Director of Consultant Relations at John Hancock Funds, Head of Consultant Relations at Deutsche Bank/DWS Investments, Director of Institutional Sales & Marketing at High Pointe Capital Management, Regional Sales Director with Safeco Asset Management and VP, Senior Investment Consultant, with the Northern Trust Company.

Sean holds a B.A. degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross and an MBA in Finance from DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. He is a Registered Securities Representative and Principal (FINRA Series 7, 24 and 66). Sean is also a CFA charter holder and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago.

Mr. Clark has served as a board member with the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, Snow City Arts (a not-for-profit organization providing arts education to hospitalized children), the IDPH Genetic & Metabolic Disease Advisory Committee, and as a volunteer with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Peter Crivelli
Raymond James Investment Management

Peter Crivelli is responsible for Institutional Sales and Consultant Relations for Carillon Tower Advisers, the institutional investment business of Raymond James. Prior to joining Carillon Tower in 2014, Peter spent twelve years as a principal for the investment firm of Marvin & Palmer Associates and also worked for a start-up investment firm for a year. He has more than 25 years of experience in the investment industry. Peter received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business. Peter has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware. He currently serves as a board member for the Serviam Girls Academy, a middle school for girls from low-income families. He volunteers as a youth lacrosse coach and as a speaker with American Legion Boys State.

Ami Fox
Artisan Partners, Limited Partnership

Ami Fox is a Director on the institutional client services team at Artisan Partners with responsibility for institutional marketing and client service of the strategies managed by the firm’s Global Equity team. Prior to joining Artisan Partners in September 2018, Ms. Fox was a marketing and client service associate at DePrince, Race & Zollo, Inc. Ms. Fox holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from Rollins College and is fluent in French.

Adam Gerentine
Trinity Street Asset Management

Adam Gerentine is a Managing Director with Trinity Street Asset Management. His responsibilities include managing key relationships with institutional investors and investment consultants throughout North America. Prior to joining Trinity Street in 2017, Adam was a Director with Tremblant Capital, where he was responsible for managing relationships with institutional consultants and direct plan sponsors. He began his career began with HGK Asset Management where he ultimately was overseeing all aspects of the firm’s business development and client service functions. Adam received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Finance from Rochester Institute of Technology and serves on the Boards of Directors Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE).

Tasleem Jamal, CFA
Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.

Ms. Jamal graduated from McMaster University with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) degrees in 1996 and with an MBA (Finance) in 1999. In 1998, Ms. Jamal joined Ernst & Young Investment Advisory Services as an Investment Analyst and in 2000 she was promoted to Vice President. In this role she provided investment consulting services and managed the performance reporting team of analysts. In 2003, she joined Hewitt Associates as an Investment Consultant providing a variety of institutional client’s investment consulting services including asset allocation, investment policy development, manager reviews and searches. In 2007, she joined Burgundy Asset Management where she focused on client relationship management and business development for Burgundy’s Canadian institutional clients. Ms. Jamal was appointed Vice President of the firm in July 2010.

Ms. Jamal joined Sprucegrove in 2010 as Vice President, Marketing & Client Services and was promoted to Vice President, Head of Marketing & Client Services in 2014, overseeing all the firm-wide Marketing & Client servicing initiatives. Ms. Jamal was appointed to the Business Management Committee in 2014, which is responsible for the day to day management of Sprucegrove.

Ms. Jamal is a CFA charterholder. Ms. Jamal has also studied in the Executive Education programs of the Harvard Business School, Columbia University Graduate School of Business and the CFA Institute.

Ms. Jamal is an active board member for Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE) and is also a member of the Toronto CFA Society and the CFA Institute.

Christa Maxwell, CFA®, CIPM®
Acuitas Investments, LLC

Christa Maxwell is a Director of Business Development responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with institutions and consultants. Prior to joining KCM in August 2017, Ms. Maxwell worked with Westwood Holdings Group focusing on business development across the western United States. Christa began her career with Thornburg Investment Management. Over her 10 year tenure with the organization, Ms. Maxwell oversaw various regions and was responsible for client service, consultant relations, and business development. Christa earned her B.B.A. in Finance from the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management. Ms. Maxwell is also a CFA® charter holder and currently serves on the board for the CFA® Society New Mexico and the CFA® Society San Antonio.

John P. Mirante, CFA, CPA
BMO Global Asset Management

John is a member of BMO Global Asset Management’s institutional client relationship team. In this role, John acts as a key advisor to the firms’ clients, managing and expanding relationships across multiple asset classes. John is also a member of the BMO GAM’s Responsible Investing-ESG Committee. He began his financial services experience in 1994, and joined BMO Global Asset Management U.S. in 2013.

Prior to joining the firm, he was an Investment Relationship Manager with Northern Trust Asset Management’s institutional client group. Prior to Northern Trust, John was a Vice President with Credit-Suisse, and served as a Portfolio Consultant for their CS HOLT research division. Prior to Credit-Suisse, John was an internal auditor for Kraft Foods, and an external auditor for Crowe Chizek.

John received a B.S. in Accountancy from Northern Illinois University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Society’s Career Management Advisory Group. He holds the Series 3,7 & 63 securities licenses, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Matt Pawlak
Dimensional Fund Advisors

Matt Pawlak has 15 years of experience in the investment industry. Matt is responsible for developing and executing strategic marketing and business plans for Dimensional Fund Advisors (Dimensional). He works with institutional investment consultants through proactive engagement and promotes Dimensional’s investment philosophy, processes, and investment strategies. Prior to joining Dimensional in January 2012, Matt worked for eight years at Hewitt EnnisKnupp. As a senior consultant, he acted as lead and co-lead consultant for a number of corporate DB/DC, endowment/foundation and public fund retirement plans. Before moving into a client advisory role, Matt was a member of Hewitt EnnisKnupp’s defined contribution research group.

Matt is a member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and is a member of its Retirement Income Committee. He is also DCIIA’s Texas Regional Ambassador. Matt is a member of Association of Investment Sales and Marketing (AIMSE) and is the Texas Regional Coordinator for events.

Matt holds a BA in economics from the University of Iowa and an MBA in finance from Loyola University Chicago.

Kerra Smith
Lawton Park Capital Management, LP

Kerra (Marmelstein) Smith has 16 years of experience in investment management with three years in investment consulting and 13 years of hedge fund industry experience. Kerra attended Bowdoin College, where she graduated with an AB in Mathematics and Economics. After Bowdoin, she worked as a Consulting Associate at Cambridge Associates in Boston. In 2005, Kerra joined JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management focusing on Client Solutions and was promoted to Vice President. Following JP Morgan, Kerra developed new business and managed existing relationships for several hedge fund firms, including Gotham Asset Management, Hudson Bay Capital, and most recently, Forester Capital. She is a member of 100 Women in Finance and serves as a board member of Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE).

James Stafford, CFA
Atlanta Capital

James N. Stafford, CFA is a Vice President, Marketing Director and Principal of the firm. Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Mr. Stafford served as a product manager with Bank of America, responsible for product development and marketing of the bank’s separately managed account platform for mid-market institutional clients. Previously, Mr. Stafford was an analyst at Summit Strategies Group and served various roles at Morningstar, Inc. Mr. Stafford is a graduate of Indiana University and earned an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Mr. Stafford holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Mark A. Sullivan
Elevation Marketing Advisory

Mark Sullivan is a Managing Director at Elevation Marketing Advisory and is focused on consulting to and raising capital for traditional and alternative investment management firms. Prior to Elevation, Mark was a partner at Bridgeway Capital Management, where he was on the management committee and led their investor relations, sales, marketing, and consultant relations team. From 2014-2017, he was head of distribution at Stralem & Company. Prior to that, from 2002-2012 Mark was a Managing Director at AllianceBernstein, where he held several leadership roles in their institutional and sub-advisory businesses. He has deep experience with sales, sales management, investor relations, consultant relations, product development, technology-enabled solutions, talent identification and crisis management. In addition, Mark has broad and deep relationships across multiple channels and with major consulting firms. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, and received a B.S. in Languages and Linguistics, with a major in Portuguese, from Georgetown University. Mark is involved in charities that focus on education, hunger and Veteran’s causes.

Derek Tubbs
CornerCap Investment Counsel

Derek is an Associate Portfolio Manager and the Vice President of Institutional Development for CornerCap. He joined in 2013 with over 16 years of institutional investor experience and is a non-voting member of the investment committee. His primary responsibility is to expand CornerCap’s reach with institutional investors. Prior to joining CornerCap, Derek was a Senior Relationship Manager with a $15 billion equity team at Wells Capital Management where he was the primary point of contact for the largest, most sophisticated and most complicated institutional clients. Derek started his investment career in 1996 and spent the next 12 years in institutional sales with both CIBC World Markets (formerly Oppenheimer) and Prudential Equity Group. He has an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and earned his BA with honors from Texas A&M University.

Kimberley Woolverton
Foyston, Gordon & Payne, Inc.

Kimberley joined Foyston, Gordon & Payne as Senior Vice President, Institutional Client Services, in May of 2018. Kimberley is responsible for leading the institutional client servicing team and is also a member of the Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Foyston, she was responsible for business development and client servicing for Aberdeen Standard Investments’ Canadian business for almost 9 years. Kim spent close to 5 years at Burgundy Asset Management, where she was also responsible for business development and client servicing. In addition, she spent over 3 years with Merrill Lynch in Denver, Colorado as a Special Services Financial Planner, prior to returning to Toronto.

Kimberley earned her BSc (Distinction) degree from McGill University, completed her Canadian Securities Course (Honours) in 1995 and became a CFA charterholder in 2004. She has also completed numerous Executive Education programs including those through the Harvard Kennedy School, the Rotman School of Management and Columbia Business School. She is a member of the CFA Institute and currently serves on the Canadian and US Board of Directors of AIMSE.

Keith Wosneski
Mackenzie Investments

Keith joined Mackenzie Investments in April of 2018. Prior to joining Mackenzie Investments Keith served as a Consultant Relations Officer at Acadian Asset Management. Previous experience includes working with institutional clients in a variety of sales and client service roles at Mercer, Aurora Investment Management LLC, Northern Trust Global Investments, and Barclays Global Investors. Keith earned an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and holds a B.S.B.A. in international business from the University of Denver.