Ron Albahary joined Convergent Wealth Advisors in 2009 as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. In this role, Ron leads Convergent’s research team, the Investment Strategy Group, in the development and management of Convergent’s investment process and strategy, including asset allocation, risk management, manager selection and monitoring, and portfolio construction methodology. Ron also chairs Convergent’s Investment Committee and serves as the voice of the firm's investment thought leadership.

Ron has nearly twenty years of investment management experience, most recently serving as Head of Strategic Investment Solutions at Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. where he was responsible for leading and promoting the firm’s multi-asset business in North America. Prior to Schroders, Ron served in a number of investment leadership positions including Managing Director of SEI Global Private Client Portfolio Management where he oversaw more than $60 billion in assets. Ron also served as Chief Investment Officer of Merrill Lynch Retirement Group, overseeing $150 billion in defined contribution and defined benefit assets.  Previously, he spent several years as a Portfolio Manager for Northern Trust and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, managing US Large Cap and balanced portfolios for endowments, foundations and ultra-high net worth clients.

Ron graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA^®) designation and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of Philadelphia.  He also holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7, 63, and 65 licenses.

 

Juan Carlos Artigas leads Investment Research in the US for the World Gold Council. In this position, he is responsible for conducting proprietary research for the organization and publishing research notes on the role of gold in investor’s portfolios, its risk management characteristics and the fundamental drivers of gold’s supply and demand. He is a regular presenter at industry conferences and is a sought after speaker by institutional and private investors who seek his expertise on the strategic case for gold.

Juan Carlos previously worked for JPMorgan Securities, as a US and Emerging Markets fixed income strategist, where he oversaw the US cross-sector strategy first and he later led the Latin American sovereign debt and Mexico local market strategy effort. In this role he created a Latin American sovereign debt monitor and contributed to leading US and Emerging Markets strategy publications. Prior to his work at JPMorgan, Juan Carlos acted as Lecturer and Consultant at the University of Chicago, and before that he served as an Advisor to the General Director of Planning, Programming and Budgeting at the Ministry of Education in Mexico City.

Juan Carlos holds a BS in Actuarial Sciences from ITAM (Mexico), and an MBA and MS in Statistics from the University of Chicago. He is also a candidate for Doctor of Philosophy in Econometrics and Statistics from the University of Chicago.

 

Nathaniel E. Baker is the editor of Bloomberg L.P.'s Hedge Funds Brief. He was most recently a senior editor at The Deal LLC. He began his journalistic career at Institutional Investor, where he was managing editor of Alternative Investment News and contributed to The Journal of Alternative Investments, among others.

 

Alan D. Biller & Associates, Inc. was founded by Mr. Biller in 1982 to provide strategy and investment consulting services to institutional clients. Prior to that he had been Director of Investment Industries at Stanford Research Institute International, where he began long term consulting relationships with the New York Stock Exchange and Metropolitan Life, and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College.

Mr. Biller has advised major pension plans since 1975, when he led the Wells Fargo team which developed the first (and only) pension plan stochastic optimization model. He has been the fiduciary adviser to the largest multi-employer pension plan in the country for more than 23 years. He regularly serves as an expert witness in Federal Court on fiduciary responsibility, investment policy and portfolio management and is the court appointed sole trustee of a corporate ESOP.

Mr. Biller earned a B.A. as Scholar of the House with distinction, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, an M. Phil. in the History and Philosophy of Religion at the University of London, a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University and an M.B.A. in Finance at Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar. He has been a Younger Humanist Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, publishes in industry journals, is quoted in the press and speaks at industry conferences.

The French Government awarded Mr. Biller a medal for helping to found and serve as president of the International School of the Peninsula. He is a board member and treasurer of Child Family Health International, a non-profit NGO which sends medical students to work in clinics in underdeveloped countries.

 

Eugene K. Canzano is currently serving as the Board Chair (since 2008) for the City of Los Angeles Deferred Compensation Board ($3 Billion defined contribution plan). Mr. Canzano joined the Deferred Compensation Board in 2006 while concurrently serving as Vice President of the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Retirement Board ($7 Billion defined benefit plan). Eugene is the Chair of the Plan Governance and Administrative Issues Committee. During Eugene’s tenure on the Board, the plan has been able to simplify and restructure the investment choices, streamline the hardship withdrawal process, redesign the Plan materials/theme, create Plan Bylaws, and lower plan participant fees.

Eugene has been a trustee on several trusts and was elected three times (nine years) to serve as Recording Secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union 18, an 8,000 member local union in Los Angeles.

Eugene earned an MBA from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor’s degree from California State University Los Angeles. While pursuing his MBA, Eugene studied abroad at Oxford University’s Kellogg College in the United Kingdom and the University of Antwerp in Belgium. Through the International Foundation of Employee Benefits (IFEB), Eugene completed the Advanced Investments Management Program and the Portfolio Concepts and Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Additionally, Eugene earned a Retirement Plan Certificate for Public Pension Plans through the IFEB.

 

Peter Carey is a Managing Director of SkyBridge Direct, SkyBridge’s institutional investor business. Mr. Carey will be advising SkyBridge’s institutional investors on initiating, growing, and restructuring allocations to hedge funds. Prior to SkyBridge, Mr. Carey led the successful restructuring of the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s $4 billion hedge fund portfolio. Under his direction, the hedge fund investment portfolio was rebuilt amidst the market crisis of 2008 to become one of the best performing public hedge fund investment portfolios in the country. The pension fund was recognized by Institutional Investor as Large Public Pension Plan Investor of the Year in 2010 for its ability to build and manage a hedge fund portfolio and for long-term performance. Prior to joining New York State Common Retirement Fund, Mr. Carey served in the institutional fixed income department at Bear Stearns. Mr. Carey also served as an Infantry officer in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Carey is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  He holds an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the United States Military Academy Endowment.

 

Ho Ho is a Quantitative Portfolio Manager in the Global Equity Unit for the California Public Employees Retirement System.  Ho leads a team responsible for research, development, and ongoing portfolio management of internally-run quantitative alpha strategies.  Ho’s team has also developed systems used for hedge fund risk management & portfolio construction, external manager portfolio construction & analytics, and is currently working on expanding their platform to include a robust, quantitative approach to global equity allocation decisions.  Prior to joining CalPERS, Mr. Ho was derivatives manager for Transamerica Life Insurance Company. He also worked for KPMG as manager of their Structure Finance Consulting Group.   Ho holds a MBA in finance from the University of Chicago and a BA (Phi Beta Kappa) in Economics from the University of California, Irvine.

 

Robert Horrocks is Chief Investment Officer at Matthews International Capital Management, LLC and a Portfolio Manager. He co-manages the firm’s Asian Growth and Income strategy. As Chief Investment Officer, Robert oversees the firm’s investment process and investment professionals and sets the research agenda for the investment team. Before joining Matthews in 2008, Robert was Head of Research at Mirae Asset Management in Hong Kong. From 2003 to 2006, Robert served as Chief Investment Officer for Everbright Pramerica in China, establishing its quantitative investment process. He started his career as a Research Analyst with WI Carr Securities in Hong Kong before moving on to spend eight years working in several different Asian jurisdictions for Schroders, including stints as Country General Manager in Taiwan, Deputy Chief Investment Officer in Korea and Designated Chief Investment Officer in Shanghai. Robert earned his PhD in Chinese Economic History from Leeds University in the United Kingdom, and is fluent in Mandarin. Robert has been a Portfolio Manager of the Matthews Asian Growth and Income Fund since 2009

 

Bob Hullinghorst was elected Boulder County Treasurer in 2002.  He first moved to Boulder in 1969 with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education after being a CU sociology instructor in Denver.  Before becoming County Treasurer, Bob owned a firm managing cash investments for institutions.
 
Born in New Orleans in 1943, Bob later graduated from the University of Wyoming in government and political science.  His graduate studies included history at Wyoming, law at George Washington and business at the University of Colorado.  He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

As County Treasurer, Bob has several priorities.  He supports his staff becoming a team that has fun while adding “WOW” to public service.  His office won national recognition for services to senior taxpayers.  He has successfully advocated for several bills in the legislature that serve seniors, members of the active Colorado National Guard, small businesses and non-profit groups.  The bill he had introduced in 2010 will save local governments an estimated $30 million per year in fees. 

Bob’s passion is “lean government.”  With Steve Elliott, his Chief Deputy, he launched SLIM, helping a growing number of agencies increase the value of their public services without additional resources.  He and his staff continue to look for ways the County Treasurer’s office can provide more valuable services through aggressive collaboration with others.
 
Bob lives in unincorporated Boulder County near Niwot.  He was married in 1965 to Dickey Lee, a state legislator representing House District 10.  Their married daughter, Lara Lee, lives in Boulder with her husband, Dr. Paul Hammer, a CU professor of History.

Bob’s hobbies are fly fishing, gardening, reading and writing when time permits.  However, his main avocation outside the Treasurer’s Office is politics.  In 2004, he developed the very successful Register Renters program.  He has successfully advocated for many candidates and political initiatives, including Boulder County’s Open Space.  Several years ago, he was also involved in the campaign against Amendment 32.  This proposal would have destroyed the Gallagher Amendment, a provision of the Colorado Constitution drafted by Ron Stewart of Longmont that has successfully protected homeowners from excessive property taxes since 1980.

 

William Lee is Chief Investment Officer and Vice President of Pensions and Foundation Investments at Kaiser Permanente. He has served as chair of Kaiser Permanente's Investment Committee since 2005. Lee oversees approximately $40 billion in defined contribution, pension and foundation assets. He managed interest rate and foreign exchange risk limits for Bank of America's global proprietary desks in the 1980's, then left for eight years to work as a police detective. In 1994 he returned to Bank of America, where he helped develop to equity risk models before becoming senior vice president and chief investment officer for Bank of America's retirement plans. Lee managed the Levi Strauss Foundation and Red Tab Foundation assets as well as the Levi Strauss domestic and international retirement plans. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and completed the Harvard Business School/Kaiser Permanente Executive Leadership program in 2010.

 

Bill Lockyer was elected on November 7, 2006 as California’s 32nd State Treasurer. The State Treasurer’s Office (STO) plays a prominent role in helping California meet the challenges of building the future for a growing and increasingly diverse population. The STO has many tools to help provide residents what they need to create a stronger California – good-paying jobs, superior schools, improved transportation, quality health care, more affordable housing and a cleaner environment. Lockyer is committed to putting those tools to maximum use.

As Treasurer, Lockyer has continued his commitment to environmental protection. He sponsored “green bond” legislation to make government buildings more energy efficient and reduce their contribution to climate change. He sponsored another measure that makes it cheaper for schools and other governmental entities to install renewable energy generation at their facilities. He revived the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, which provides low-cost financing for renewable energy and alternative fuels projects. Taken together, these actions help spur California’s green economy, create the good-paying jobs of the future and fight global warming.

As Treasurer, Lockyer has drawn on leadership, management and policymaking skills developed over a public service career that has spanned more than three decades.

From 1999-2006, Lockyer served as California Attorney General and fashioned one of the most impressive records of accomplishments in the office’s history. In his eight years, he helped revolutionize crime fighting in California by creating and maintaining the nation’s most effective and sophisticated DNA forensic crime laboratory. He also cracked down on Medi-Cal fraud, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in court-ordered restitution and penalties. He established the Megan’s Law website to locate and identify registered sex offenders. And he recovered billions of dollars for defrauded energy ratepayers, consumers and taxpayers.

Prior to his election as Attorney General in 1998, Lockyer served 25 years in the California Legislature, culminating his Capitol career with a stint as Senate President pro Tempore. In that leadership position, Lockyer crafted agreements to balance the state budget, and reform government programs to make them run more efficiently and effectively for taxpayers.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Lockyer earned his law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento while serving in the State Senate. He also received a teaching credential from California State University, Hayward. He is married to Nadia Maria Lockyer and has a daughter, Lisa, and a son, Diego.

 

Keith serves as Partner responsible for overseeing the Hammond Associates | Mercer St. Louis consulting staff.  Keith holds an MBA from the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.  Keith has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute as well as the Saint Louis Society of Financial Analysts.  Keith joined the firm in 2000 as a Consultant, was subsequently promoted to Senior Consultant, and then promoted again to Principal Consultant and Director of the firm’s Foundations Practice.  In 2006, Keith was named Director of Consulting and is responsible for overseeing the Hammond Associates consulting staff.  Keith’s prior professional experience includes serving as a registered representative at Firstar Investment Services and Edward Jones.  Keith also served as an officer on active duty in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Captain.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Lee Partridge is the Chief Investment Officer of Salient Partners. Mr. Partridge also directly oversees the investment program for the $7.7 billion investment portfolio of the San Diego County Employee Retirement Association.

Previously, Mr. Partridge was the founder and CEO of Integrity Capital, LLC, which spanned traditional and alternative investment strategies and the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas where he was responsible for global asset allocation, risk management, portfolio construction, external managers, hedge funds, derivative strategies, equity trading, futures trading and risk management.

Mr. Partridge holds an MBA degree from Rice University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Houston. He also holds both the CFA and CAIA designations.

 

Ronald D. Peyton is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Callan Associates Inc., a privately held, employee-owned firm whose mission is to deliver superior consulting solutions that help clients achieve their investment and business objectives.

Mr. Peyton joined Callan Associates in 1974. Since that time, he has worked with many large institutional investors to effectively plan, structure, and evaluate investment programs, products and organizations. He is a frequent speaker at industry investment conferences and meetings.

Mr. Peyton serves on the Board of the United Way Bay Area where he is the Development Committee Chair and Campaign Cabinet Co-chair. He was previously a member of the Kelley School of Business Dean’s Council at Indiana University, and currently serves as a Dean's Council "Counselor."  He was past President of the Governing Board of the Filoli Center (a National Trust for historic preservation property) where he still serves on the Executive Committee, Compensation Committee, Audit Committee and is Chairman of the HR Committee. Mr. Peyton is a former member of the Advisory Board of the University of California at Berkeley Extension and The Castilleja School Investment Committee. From 1990 to 1999, he served on the AIMR Performance Standards Implementation Committee.  He is an advocate of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired where Callan Associates has been a fundraising sponsor for over 20 years.

Mr. Peyton is Chairman of Callan’s Management Committee. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of the firm.

Prior to joining Callan Associates, Mr. Peyton worked with Marathon Oil Company’s pension investments, in addition to handling other financial responsibilities. Mr. Peyton earned a B.S. degree in Accounting and an M.B.A. degree in Finance at Indiana University.

 

Mr. Pippin is the Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Pepperdine University.  He is responsible for the management of the University’s endowment, general reserves, treasury, trust and annuities and real estate. He is a member of the President’s cabinet and is a liaison to the Board of Regents’ Investment Committee.  He also serves as President of the University’s three affiliated management and holding entities.  Mr. Pippin earned his degree from Abilene Christian University and an MBA from Pepperdine. Mr. Pippin is a CPA and began his career at Arthur Andersen before joinng Pepperdine in 1981.  Mr. Pippin is a board member of the Commonfund, a non-profit registered investment advisor and has served on the Califiornia State Treasurer’s Advisory Committee as well as the Investment Committee for the West Coast Athletic Conference.

 

Michael has more than 25 years experience as an institutional portfolio manager, investment strategist, and investment consultant. From 1997 to 2001, he was a partner at Asset Strategy Consulting. From 1993 to 1997, Michael was the director of investments for WellPoint/Blue Cross of California. He managed a substantial portfolio of fixed income and equity assets internally and oversaw all outside investment managers. Previous to 1993, he spent a total of 8 years as a bond and currency trader, and then as Chief Market Strategist with First Interstate Bank, Ltd. in Los Angeles. He started his career as a derivatives trader with Barclays Bank plc in New York and in London.

Michael was an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Pepperdine University from 1991-2000 and at Loyola Marymount University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Tufts University, and Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts/Harvard). He currently serves as President of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and a trustee of Kehillat Israel and Village School.

 

Don began his investment career in 1985, and he joined NEPC in 2009.  Working out of our Redwood City, CA office, his consulting responsibilities include servicing endowments, foundations, public pension funds, insurance clients and corporate plans. Don is a member of the Large Cap Equity Advisory Group and the Alternative Assets Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Don was the Director of Marketing/Client Service at Shenkman Capital Management and Attalus Capital.  At both firms he was responsible for the overall management and execution of sales, marketing, and client service and was a member of the executive committee.  Prior to Attalus, Don spent seven years as the Director of Corporate Client Services for Dresdner RCM Global Investors.  Don’s previous work experience includes eight years at Bankers Trust, where he was an investment consultant working with some of the most sophisticated plan sponsors in the country in the areas of risk measurement and analysis, asset allocation, and manager search. 

Don received his bachelor’s degree from Farleigh Dickinson University and his M.B.A. from Rutgers University.  In addition, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

 

Jennifer is a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates and joined the firm in 1998.   She works with universities, foundations, public funds, retirement plans, and private clients on their investments in alternative assets and the related governance issues.  She also works with clients on their overall investment portfolio.  In addition to client work, Jennifer serves on private investments research and portfolio committees and is a regular contributor to the firm’s private investments research and fund due diligence.  Jennifer has been a frequent presenter at firm and industry conferences.

Before Jennifer joined Cambridge Associates, she spent seventeen years in the financial services industry.  Most recently, she was a senior member of the private capital group at Robertson Stephens & Co., where she was responsible for originating, structuring, and placing private equity financings for expansion stage venture-backed companies.  Prior to this, she was a vice president at JP Morgan where she had a range of responsibilities including establishing and managing client relationships; conducting corporate finance advisory work; and originating and executing debt, convertible, and equity offerings in the public and private markets as well as exposure management transactions. 

Jennifer graduated from Stanford University.

 

Dale Wallis is vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer of The Aerospace Corporation. Wallis joined Aerospace in 1996 and served in a variety of finance roles prior to being elected to his current position, which he has held since January 1, 2001. Wallis is responsible for treasury, finance, budgeting, contract administration, procurement, and risk management.  At Aerospace Wallis has responsibility for managing the company’s retirement plan trusts with over $2 billion of assets and for obtaining over $285 million of financing for construction and expansion programs.

Before joining Aerospace, Wallis was director of finance for Mycogen Corporation, a publicly held, international, agricultural biotech company where he was responsible for finance, tax, information technology, and merger and acquisition activities.

Wallis has held senior management positions at CPA firms Ernst & Young and KPMG and served as a partner in a local CPA firm in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He has also held internal audit positions at American Airlines and at Oklahoma State University.

Wallis is currently an adjunct professor at USC’s Leventhal School of Accounting, formerly was a member of the faculty at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, and has held adjunct faculty positions at Oklahoma State University and other universities.

Wallis is active in Financial Executives International (FEI), where he serves as an area director, past member of the board of directors, past chair of the Committee on Government Business, and is a member of the Committee on Benefit Financing. He also is a member of the American Institute of CPAs. In addition, Wallis serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Business at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Business at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Over the years, Wallis has served on the boards of many civic and charitable organizations. He was twice his party’s nominee for state auditor in Oklahoma.

Wallis holds bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in accounting from Oklahoma State University and has pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Manhattan Beach, California, with his wife, Louise.

The Aerospace Corporation, based in El Segundo, California, is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.