RESEARCH AFFILIATES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Head of Data Systems
Alan Lin leads the Data Systems team, which is responsible for managing the financial, market, and reference data that support investment research, portfolio construction, and product management at Research Affiliates.
For more than 20 years, Alan has held positions in information technology, portfolio engineering, and strategy implementation within the investment management industry. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he was an associate director at First Quadrant, where he developed tools and applications for managing the firm's data systems.
Alan holds an MS in computer engineering from the University of Southern California and a BA summa cum laude in physics from Ithaca College. Alan holds the CIPM® designation from CFA Institute.
Alex Pickard is responsible for conducting research and writing to support the publications of Research Affiliates. Since joining the firm, Alex has contributed a number of research insights on market-impact trading costs, mutual fund expected returns, and factor timing. Additionally, Alex has assisted with the development and implementation of the firm's systematic trading strategies.
Alex received a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, and a Master of Financial Engineering from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Andrew Baker is responsible for developing and improving management and financial reporting processes, coordinating audit, tax, and valuation services performed by external accounting and valuation firms, as well as various finance and accounting-related projects for Research Affiliates.
Before joining Research Affiliates, Andrew was a global finance manager at Capital Group, where he worked on financial planning, forecasting, reporting, and analysis for several divisions of the company. Prior to that position, he was a senior tax accountant at The Carlyle Group. He started his career at the public accounting firm of Deloitte.
Andrew received a BS in accounting from Loyola Marymount University and is a certified public accountant (inactive).
Job Titles:
- Partner, Head of Product Management and ESG
Ari Polychronopoulos oversees the Product Management group, which is responsible for product development and oversight, analytics, and business development. In this role, Ari works collaboratively across the firm to understand investors' needs and to develop and support investment solutions that aim to create value for investors worldwide. Ari is also responsible for the firm's ESG efforts (Environmental, Social, and Governance), including product development, creation of ESG research and content, and collaborating with Research Affiliates' product partners and other organizations in the development of ESG investing initiatives. He is a member of the Management Committee of Research Affiliates.
Ari has a BS in math/economics from Pitzer College and an MS in financial engineering from Claremont Graduate University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Head of Solutions Distribution
- Product Strategist
Brent Leadbetter serves as a product strategist responsible for delivering the firm's strategies to financial advisors as well as institutional investors and their consultants. He supports the firm's product partners who offer various investment vehicles that utilize Research Affiliates' strategies.
Brent earned a BA in history from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Director of Research
- Partner
- Senior Advisor
Campbell Harvey leads strategic research for Research Affiliates. His recently published research with Research Affiliates includes "Reports of Value's Death May Be Greatly Exaggerated" and "A Backtesting Protocol in the Era of Machine Learning." He is the co-author of DeFi and the Future of Finance, was named #1 in LinkedIn Top Voices 2020: Finance & Economy, and received the Quant of the Year Award 2020 by the Journal of Portfolio Management.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Partner
Chris Ariza oversees the Data Systems, Enterprise Systems, and Information Technology teams, as well as defines technology strategy, contributing to firm-wide software engineering activities and promoting open-source RA technologies. He is a member of the Management Committee of Research Affiliates.
With over 20 years of software engineering experience, Chris has developed tools in a variety of domains, most notably algorithmic music composition and computer-aided musicology. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he was a visiting assistant professor of music at MIT, assistant editor of the Computer Music Journal, and assistant professor of recording arts and music technology at Towson University.
Chris has a BA in music with honors from Harvard University and an MA and PhD in music theory and composition from New York University.
Chris Brightman - CEO, Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Investment Officer
- Member of the LEADERSHIP Team
- Partner
Chris Brightman, as CEO, leads the firm by establishing its business strategy and policies to execute on its mission to be a leading source of insights and products transforming the global investment community for the benefit of investors. As CIO, Chris leads the investment teams and supervises research and development activities, provision of index strategies, and management of client portfolios. He is co-portfolio manager on the PIMCO All Asset and All Asset All Authority funds and the PIMCO RAE™ funds. Chris is a member of the board of Research Affiliates.
Chris joined Research Affiliates in 2010 as the director of strategy and head of investment management, became CIO in 2014, and CEO in 2021. Chris has four decades of investment management experience in equities, fixed income, currency, and asset allocation. He has traded securities and derivatives, managed portfolios, supervised quantitative product development, and allocated assets to alternative investment strategies. He also has extensive organizational and people management expertise.
Before joining Research Affiliates in 2010, Chris was the chief executive officer of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company for five years and the chief investment officer of Strategic Investment Group for four years. He has also served as the board chair of The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF), director of global equity strategy at UBS Asset Management, senior portfolio manager at Brinson Partners, vice president and head of asset/liability management at Maryland National Bank, and associate national bank examiner at the Comptroller of the Currency.
Chris received a BS in finance from Virginia Tech and an MBA from Loyola University, Maryland. Chris holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Head of IT
- Senior Vice President
Chris Harper leads the Information Technology team, which manages IT infrastructure and end-user support. Chris also serves as the chief information security officer on the Information Security Committee, which oversees cyber and information security strategies for Research Affiliates.
For more than 20 years, Chris has held various positions in information technology. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he was a senior network engineer and IT consultant for Miles Consulting Corporation, where he was responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting various IT solutions.
Chris earned a BA in social sciences with an emphasis in economics from the University of California, Irvine.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Human Resources
Elaine Zane - Chief Compliance Officer, SVP
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- Senior Vice President
Elaine Zane is a senior vice president and Chief Compliance Officer for Research Affiliates, working on the firm's legal and compliance matters.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Elaine was an attorney consultant in the Alternatives Compliance group at PIMCO in Newport Beach, California, where she focused on private equity transactions and all aspects of private fund compliance. Before PIMCO, Elaine served as associate compliance counsel at Canyon Partners in Los Angeles, California. At Canyon, she worked on legal and compliance matters for the firm's registered investment adviser and helped to launch Canyon's first registered fund.
Elaine received her BA in international development studies, with a minor in Chinese, from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her JD from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. She is a member of the State Bar of California.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Vice President, Research
Forrest Henslee is a quantitative equity researcher whose primary focus is to conduct research related to the design of systematic equity strategies, supporting both existing strategies and the development of new strategies. Forrest also plays an essential role in the firm's article publications, researching actionable insights on evidence-based investing topics and practical solutions to common challenges investors face.
He holds a Master of Financial Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BA in economics from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President, Multi - Asset Strategies
Jay Jeon conducts capital-asset and business-cycle research, having responsibility for the quantitative development of alpha signals and portfolio construction for multi-asset products. Jay works in close collaboration with the firm's product partners as part of the team that trades and rebalances the firm's asset-allocation strategies. Jay also contributes to the publications of Research Affiliates.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Jay worked in the biotech industry as a product engineer of neural interface devices. He holds a Master of Finance from the University of California, San Diego, and a BS and MS in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Chief Distribution Officer
Jeff Wilson is responsible for leading the global sales, distribution, and marketing activities of Research Affiliates. He is a member of the Management Committee.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Jeff was senior associate and director of Marketing at Maverick Capital in New York City, where he led new business development in the United States, Canada, and Asia. In this capacity he provided sales, marketing, and client service to corporate and public pension plans, endowments, foundations, funds of funds, and multi-family offices. Previously, Jeff had been senior vice president at TCW in Los Angeles, responsible for the firm's institutional client base in the western and midwestern regions of the United States. Prior to TCW, Jeff was a finance associate at Occidental Petroleum Corporation.
Jeff received his BS and MBA from the University of Southern California.
Jennifer Macha is responsible for the day-to-day corporate accounting activities of Research Affiliates. Jen's remit includes financial reporting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, audit, tax, payroll, and benefits.
Before joining Research Affiliates, Jennifer was assistant vice president at New Century Mortgage, where she oversaw forecasting and financial activities for the Marketing and IT departments. Prior to that position, she served as financial controller at First Quadrant, LP, where she was responsible for the corporate accounting activities of the firm. Jennifer has also held positions at Arthur Andersen & Co, specializing in both audit and tax for the banking and financial services industries.
Jennifer received her BS in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from the University of Southern California.
Jim Masturzo - Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Partner
- CIO of Multi - Asset Strategies and Is Responsible
- Partner, Chief Investment Officer, Multi - Asset Strategies
Jim Masturzo is the CIO of Multi-Asset Strategies and is responsible for the firm's tactical asset allocation and cross-asset portfolios. Jim joined Research Affiliates in 2013 and took over leadership of multi-asset activities in 2018. In this role Jim oversees research and product development for cross-asset portfolios, including both asset allocation strategies as well as global active futures-based portfolios. He is also co-portfolio manager on the PIMCO All Asset and All Asset All Authority funds.
Jim regularly writes about capital markets and oversees the firm's public asset-allocation resources, specifically the Asset Allocation Interactive tool. Jim is a member of the Management Committee of Research Affiliates.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Jim worked at EquiLend, a firm focused on securities lending, and at Bloomberg specializing in portfolio analytics. In that role Jim advised portfolio managers on best practices related to performance measurement, attribution, and risk analytics for equity and fixed income portfolios.
Jim has a BS in electrical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Investment Management
- Senior Vice President, Investment Systems, Equity Strategies
John Hawk is responsible for internal application development for investment management and productionizing research models.
John brings over two decades of dedicated expertise within the investment and insurance sectors with an ability to leverage technology to drive innovation and enhance operational efficiency. Prior to Research Affiliates, John held multi-faceted positions encompassing roles as a seasoned software engineer, business analyst, and performance and attribution analyst.
John holds a BS in management information systems from California State University, Long Beach.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Retired As Research Affiliates' Chief Financial Officer in June 2023 and Now Advises on Finance, Accounting, and Operations Matters
Joe Hattesohl retired as Research Affiliates' Chief Financial Officer in June 2023 and now advises on finance, accounting, and operations matters.
Joe was previously a partner and the chief financial officer at Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC, prior to its acquisition by Trust Company of the West. After MetWest's sale, Joe was managing director at TCW and helped integrate the two firms. Prior to that position, he was Vice President at PIMCO, overseeing financial reporting, fund accounting, and taxation for the PIMCO Funds.
Joe received his BS in accounting and business administration, with high distinction, from the University of Kansas. He is a certified public accountant and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Strategy Research
- Senior Vice President, Strategy Research, Equity Strategies
Joseph Shim is responsible for research, product design, and analytics of the smart beta strategies of Research Affiliates. Joseph also conducts quantitative research and designs factor-based systematic equity strategies such as RAFI™ Multi-Factor. He leads the firm-wide effort in designing and implementing new RAFI ESG strategies.
Previously, Joseph designed PIMCO RAE™ systematic active equity strategies including RAE Fundamental, Low Volatility, and Income strategies. In addition, he has co-authored a number of articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Joseph was a risk management consultant at Moody's Analytics and at Accenture. In his consulting role, he helped major commercial banks innovate business processes and implement Basel II credit risk management and asset-liability management systems.
Joseph has a BS in computer science and industrial engineering from Yonsei University, and Master of Financial Engineering from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Member of the LEADERSHIP Team
- Partner
- Vice Chairman
Katrina F. Sherrerd serves as an advisor to the firm and is a member of the Executive Committee of the board of Research Affiliates. Katy joined Research Affiliates in 2006 as a managing director responsible for strategic planning and affiliate relations, and served as the CEO, president, and COO before becoming the vice chair.
Throughout her professional career, Katy has worked to further inventive and groundbreaking investment research and to encourage the continuing education of investment professionals around the world. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, she spent 19 years in various roles at CFA Institute, the largest global association of investment professionals. As part of the CFA Institute leadership team, she led the research and education effort, including oversight of the Financial Analysts Journal, and spearheaded strategic planning. She was also the executive director and member of the board of trustees of the CFA Institute Research Foundation. In 2020 and 2021, Katy was named by Barron's as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Strategy Research
- Senior Vice President, Strategy Research, Equity Strategies
Li Liang is responsible for research, product design, strategy innovation, and portfolio optimization in collaboration with the Investment and Research teams of Research Affiliates.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Li was a portfolio manager at WorldQuant managing their global long-short systematic active equity strategies. Before that, he was a quantitative strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he specialized in equity derivatives.
Li received a BS and MS in computer science from City University of Hong Kong and a Master in Computation for Design and Optimization from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Strategy Research, Equities Strategies
Mario Albuquerque is responsible for cross-sectional equity research, developing systematic strategies, and conducting product design. He is also deeply involved in developing the next generation infrastructure for strategy back testing and analytics.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Mario was Senior Researcher at PredictWallStreet LLC. Before that, he held Analyst and Portfolio Manager positions at BPI Asset Management and a Junior Financial Controller position at Siemens Information and Communications.
Mario has a BS in Business Management from Universidade Catolica Portuguesa in Porto, Portugal, and a Master of Financial Engineering degree from UC Berkeley. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate, EMEA
- Senior Associate, Europe
Matt Lundberg, based in London, supports the firm's relationships with a number of its key distribution partners in Europe that represent the various investment strategies of Research Affiliates. He also provides education around the firm's research and insights to the region's institutional investors and consultants.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Matt worked at Dimensional Fund Advisors in London. Matt worked with a variety of financial advisers, wealth managers, and institutions to drive the investment of the firm's available products in the region and engagement with their research and resources. Matt also previously spent a year in the Treasury team at Link Asset Services (formerly Capita Asset Services).
Matt has a BSc with honours in Management Sciences from Loughborough University. He has completed the Investment Management Certificate and the Certificate in ESG Investing.
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing
- Senior Vice President
Natalie Grasso heads the firm's marketing department. Her responsibilities include managing and directing the company's strategic planning, brand experience, publications, public relations, websites, digital marketing, and social media platforms. She is also responsible for developing marketing campaigns that support growth initiatives and generate leads across products, affiliates, and advisor programs.
Natalie has over 20 years of financial services marketing experience. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Natalie held executive marketing positions at FiComm Partners, Index Fund Advisors, and Wedbush Securities.
She has a BA in Communications from Cal State University, Fullerton, and is a Certified Marketing Expert by the Direct Marketing Association.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Strategy Research
- Vice President, Strategy Research, Equity Strategies
Noah Beck is responsible for active equity strategy research and development, including signal construction and robustness, portfolio design, implementation research, risk management, and analytics. Additionally, he develops expected return estimates for systematic equity strategies.
Noah contributes to Research Affiliates' publications on factor investing research. In 2016, he and his co-authors were awarded the 2016 Financial Analysts Journal Graham and Dodd Scroll Award for their work on "Will Your Factor Deliver? An Examination of Factor Robustness and Implementation Costs."
Before joining Research Affiliates, Noah worked as a systems engineer at Boeing, where he was responsible for the final test and evaluation of ICBM inertial guidance, navigation, and control systems.
Noah holds a BS in physics from Harvey Mudd College and a Master of Financial Engineering from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Omid Shakernia focuses on innovative research and contributes to the firm's research publications. He is responsible for quantitative research and development in the areas of signal generation, optimization, and portfolio construction across the multi-asset strategies of Research Affiliates.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Omid was a senior technical specialist at Northrop Grumman, where he conducted research and technology development for unmanned vehicles.
Omid received his Master of Financial Engineering from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
Que Nguyen - Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Partner
- Partner, Chief Investment Officer, Equity Strategies
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Partner
Reena Lalji is responsible for overseeing the finance, legal/compliance and human resource functions of Research Affiliates. She is a member of the Management Committee and chairs the Administration Committee.
Reena has over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, she was general counsel and a member of the board at Wilshire Advisors, a global investment management and technology solutions firm. Reena has held various roles in the financial industry, including senior counsel at RBC Global Asset Management and associate at Dentons (formerly Faser Milner Casgrain). She is also a founding board member of the Asset Management Forum, a business league that promotes women in the asset management industry.
Reena received a BComm from the University of Alberta, an LLB/JD from the University of Victoria, and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School. She is a member of the bar in California and Ontario, Canada.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Board
- Founder
- Member of the LEADERSHIP Team
- Partner
Rob Arnott is founder and chairman of the board of Research Affiliates. Rob plays an active role in the firm's research, portfolio management, product innovation, business strategy, and client-facing activities. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the board. Rob is co-portfolio manager on the PIMCO All Asset and All Asset All Authority funds and the PIMCO RAE™ funds.
Over his career, Rob has endeavored to bridge the worlds of academic theorists and financial markets, challenging conventional wisdom and searching for solutions that add value for investors. He has pioneered several unconventional portfolio strategies that are now widely applied, including tactical asset allocation, global tactical asset allocation, tax-advantaged equity management, and the Fundamental Index™ approach to investing. His success in doing so has resulted in a reputation as one of the world's most provocative practitioners and respected financial analysts.
In 2002, Rob founded Research Affiliates as a research-intensive asset management firm intent on delivering innovative and impactful products and insights.
Prior to establishing Research Affiliates, Rob was chair of First Quadrant, LP, which he built up from the former internal money manager for Crum & Forster into a highly regarded quantitative asset management firm. He also was global equity strategist at Salomon Brothers (now part of Citigroup), the founding president and CEO of TSA Capital Management (now part of Analytic Investors, LLC), and a vice president at The Boston Company.
Rob has published more than 150 articles in such publications as the Journal of Portfolio Management, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Analysts Journal, for whom he served as editor in chief from 2002 through 2006. Rob has received eight Graham and Dodd Scrolls, which are awarded annually by CFA Institute to the top Financial Analysts Journal articles of the year. He also has received four Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy awards from the Journal of Portfolio Management. In 2013, Rob received the William F. Sharpe Indexing Lifetime Achievement Award. He is co-author of The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest (Wiley 2008).
Rob received a BS summa cum laude in economics, applied mathematics, and computer science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Head of Investment Management
- Partner, Head of Investment Management, Equity Strategies
Seanna Kim oversees the investment process of the firm's model-driven portfolios. She is responsible for managing daily operations and for implementing new strategy designs and portfolio construction methods for the investment products of Research Affiliates.
Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Seanna was a director and senior portfolio manager at Blackrock, managing their long-short quant active equity strategies. Previously, she was a principal and senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investors, and a partner in Asset Allocation at Brinson Partners.
Seanna received a BA in economics from the University of California, Irvine, an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Shaun Patel leads the global team responsible for investor outreach to expand relationships with the firm's largest institutional clients and build strategic partnerships to grow firmwide sales. He is also directly responsible for managing the North American business development and client service initiatives of Research Affiliates.
Prior to this role, Shaun led US sales for the firm, engaging with the largest public funds, corporations, Taft-Hartley plans, RIAs, and institutional investment consultants to drive growth objectives. He was also responsible for developing and expanding the firm's insurance channel. Before joining Research Affiliates, Shaun served as an assistant vice president at Delaware Investments, now part of Macquarie Group, where he was charged with building partnerships with plan sponsors and investment consultants globally and in the US institutional marketplace. He started his career with Lincoln Financial Group in its Professional Development Program, a rotational track for high-potential talent, before moving to roles of increasing responsibility in sales and client service.
Shaun graduated from Northwestern University with a BS in organizational communication and business institutions. He is a Certified Investment Management Analyst®.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Investment Management
- Senior Vice President, Investment Management, Equity Strategies
Ted Hsu is responsible for portfolio construction quality control, portfolio analytics, portfolio delivery, and improvements of automated processes. He also designs and oversees the starting universe creation process for the investment products of Research Affiliates.
Ted received his BS in business management from the National Chengchi University in Taiwan and an MS in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.
Job Titles:
- Senior Analyst, Product Management
Tom holds a BA in economics from Reed College. He holds the Charted Financial Analyst® designation as well as the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Los Angeles.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Investment Management
- Senior Vice President, Investment Systems, Equity Strategies
Tom Rutherford is responsible for the design and implementation of custom infrastructure and applications to support portfolio creation, analysis, and quality control at Research Affiliates.
Tom holds a MSc in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a BASc in Computer Science and Psychology from the University of Lethbridge and has over a decade of professional software engineering experience. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he designed software in the precision agriculture and neural interface device industries.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Head of Enterprise Systems
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Head of Strategy Research
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Head of Investment Systems