AICA is hosting a timely event focused on four fund groups with favorable tax considerations for investors that prioritize after-tax income. The event will feature a variety of high-quality speakers across two days of presentations.The panels will discuss a variety of highly-relevant topics for investors given current uncertainty regarding changes in taxation, the interest rate environment, credit quality, and the general macro situation. The concept of return of capital (RoC) will be explored in-depth, including how it can potentially benefit income investors, particularly in relation to covered call and energy funds. There will also be an introductory presentation by John Cole Scott, CIO of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the founder of AICA, that will outline his approach to building high after-tax income portfolios for investors and advisors.
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| CEF Advisors & CEFData.com | Nasdaq | CAIA Association |
We appreciate your feedback
Day One: March 15th
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| John Cole Scott,CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com |
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| Presenters David LaValle, Managing Director, Global Head of ETFs – Grayscale Investments |
Presenters Marc Loughlin, Director CEF & ETF Trading Solutions -WallachBeth |
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| Moderator Rob Watson, Partner & Head of Investments – Destra Capital |
Presenters Larry Antonatos, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager – Real Asset Solutions, Brookfield |
Presenters Scott Carson, CFA , Director – Portfolio Manager – Principal |
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| Moderator Chuck Jaffe, Host – Moneylife |
Presenters Gretchen Lam, Portfolio Manager XFLT – Octagon |
Presenters Bryan Lazarus, Vice President Product Strategy Group – PIMCO |
PresentersErlend Lochen, Head of North American Fixed Income and Global High Yield – abrdn |
Day Two: March 16th
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| John Cole Scott with “Educational Session” |
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| Presenters Roxanna Islam, CFA, Associate Director of Research – Alerian |
Presenters Samantha Milner, Portfolio Manager ARDC – Ares |
Presenters Paul Blomgren, Client Portfolio Manager – Nuveen |
Presenters Cheryl Pate, Portfolio Manager – Angel Oak |
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| Moderator Michael Spatacco, Director, Cash Management – BanCroft Capital |
Presenters Matt Burdett, Portfolio Manager and Managing Director – Thornburg |
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| Moderator John Cole Scott – AICA’s Founder & Executive Chairman |
Presenters Marc Lourghlin |
Presenters Stephen O’Neill, Portfolio Manager – RiverNorth |
Presenters Ken Fincher, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager – First Trust Portfolios |
Presenters Rob Shaker, Portfolio Manager – Shaker Financial Services |
Speaker Bio:
Samantha Milner Bio:
Ms. Milner is a Partner, Portfolio Manager and Head of U.S. Liquid Credit Research in the Ares Credit Group, where she is primarily responsible for managing Ares’ U.S. bank loan credit strategies. Ms. Milner serves as a Vice President and one of four Portfolio Managers for the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ARDC). Additionally, she serves as a member of the Ares Credit Group’s U.S. Liquid Credit Investment Committee and the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Investment Committee. She also serves on the Ares Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. Prior to joining Ares in 2004, Ms. Milner was an Associate in the Financial Restructuring Group at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where she focused on providing advisory services in connection with restructurings, distressed mergers and acquisitions and private placements. Ms. Milner serves on the Board of Directors of STEAM:CODERS, a not-for-profit organization focused on underrepresented and underserved students through Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM), in preparation for academic and career opportunities. Ms. Milner holds a B.B.A., with distinction, from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Finance and Accounting.
About Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc.
Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (“ARDC”) is a closed-end management company that is externally managed by Ares Capital Management II LLC, a subsidiary of Ares Management Corporation. ARDC seeks to provide an attractive level of total return primarily through current income and, secondarily, through capital appreciation. ARDC invests in a broad, dynamically-managed portfolio of credit investments. ARDC’s net asset value may be accessed through its NASDAQ ticker symbol, XADCX. Additional information is available at http://www.arespublicfunds.com.
About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of December 31, 2021, Ares Management Corporation’s global platform had approximately $306 billion of assets under management, with approximately 2,100 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit http://www.aresmgmt.com.
Mr. Scott has worked at Closed-End Fund Advisors since 2001. He holds the FINRA 66 License and the Certified Fund Specialist designation (CFS). He is a graduate of The College of William and Mary and has been quoted and interviewed widely in the financial press and presented at conferences and for investment groups on more than 50 occasions.
In 2008 John founded CEFA’s Closed-End Fund Universe, a data service covering all US listed closed-end funds and BDCs. Currently supported by an internal 10 member analyst team with a data manager/ programmer covering the 600+ ticker universe of CEFs/BDCs/iCEFs. They regularly do consulting and projects for CEF/BDC Sponsors, Hedge Funds and Institutional Investors.
Portfolio Consultant with over $300MM+ in deposits into a fund focused on BDCs with a fund sponsor partner. He developed 35 CEF/BDC based indexes; 9 diversified portfolio objective, 9Equity and 15 Bond sector. Founder & Exec. Chairman of Active Investment Company Alliance(AICA). John is a past board member of The Richmond Association for Business Economics(RABE), and serves as Assistant Treasurer and on the Investment Committee for The New YorkState Society of The Cincinnati. Board member and Finance & InvestmentCommittees for The William & Mary NationalAlumni Board
Speaker Bio:
Gretchen Lam, Senior Portfolio Manager. Ms. Lam is a member of Octagon’s Investment Committee and serves as a Portfolio Manager across CLOs, Separately Managed Accounts and Commingled Funds. Ms. Lam oversees the Firm’s Structured Credit (CLO debt & equity) investment strategies. Ms. Lam is a member of the Octagon & Conning’s Global DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) Council and a member of the Firm’s ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) Committee.
Prior to becoming a Portfolio Manager, Ms. Lam oversaw Octagon’s investments in the software, business services, finance & insurance, paper & packaging, gaming & lodging, homebuilding and real estate industries. She was also responsible for the structured credit exposure held in Octagon’s CLO vehicles. Prior to joining Octagon in 1999, Ms. Lam attended Babson College where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Investments. She received her CFA Charter in 2006.
Octagon is a 25+ year old, $30.6B below-investment grade corporate credit investment adviser focused on leveraged loan, high yield bond and structured credit (CLO debt and equity) investments. Through fundamental credit analysis and active portfolio management, Octagon’s investment team identifies attractive relative value opportunities across below-investment grade asset classes, sectors and issuers. Octagon’s investment philosophy and methodology encourage and rely upon dynamic internal communication to manage portfolio risk. Over its history, the firm has applied a disciplined, repeatable and scalable approach in its effort to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For more information, please visit www.octagoncredit.com.
Steve O’Neill, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Steve joined RiverNorth in 2007 and serves as Portfolio Manager. Steve co-manages the firm’s closed-end fund trading strategies. Prior to joining RiverNorth, Steve was Assistant Vice President at Bank of America in the Global Investment Bank’s Portfolio Management group where he specialized in the corporate real estate, asset management and structured finance industries.
Steve graduated Magna Cum Laude from Miami University of Ohio with a B.S. in Finance and a minor in Economics. He is a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago.
About RiverNorth
RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC is an investment management firm founded in 2000. With approximately $5.8 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2021, RiverNorth specializes in opportunistic investment strategies in niche markets where the potential to exploit inefficiencies is greatest. RiverNorth is the investment manager to multiple registered and private funds.
Speaker Bio:
Mike Taggart, CFA is the founder and CEO of Taggart Fund Intelligence. Previously, he worked in the closed-end fund group at Nuveen, and before that he was the head of U.S. closed-end fund research at Morningstar. He has spent nearly half his career covering closed-end funds.
As an institutionally focused asset manager, MacKay Shields specializes in fixed income credit and less efficient segments of global equity markets where proprietary research can generate attractive client oriented outcomes. We manage 162 billion USD in AUM* across independent portfolio management teams: MacKay Municipal ManagersTM, Global Credit, Global Fixed Income, High Yield, Convertibles and Fundamental Equity.
MacKay Municipal ManagersTM manages $76 billion* in various tailored client strategies including closed end funds, open-end mutual funds, limited partnership funds and for investors such as insurance companies and pension funds. Portfolios are managed by a team of portfolio managers and analysts with an average of more than 20 years of investment experience. The team’s tenure, skill and proficiency enables it to take advantage of market inefficiencies in order to build a yield advantage while seeking attractive total returns through fundamental, in-depth credit research.
* All figures as of 6/30/21
Speaker Bio:
John joined MacKay Shields in 2016. Before joining the firm he was Vice President Equity Sales at Deutsche Bank and was previously at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. From 1997-2011, he was a senior trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. John has a broad and diverse set of skills in sales, trading, and electronic trading platforms. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Lehigh University. John graduated college in 1997. He has been in the financial services industry since 1997.
Speaker Bio:
Stephen is a portfolio manager for the municipal fixed income team at Nuveen.
Stephen started working in the investment industry in 1996 when he joined the firm’s unit trust division. Prior to his current role, he was a vice president and senior research analyst specializing in high yield sectors including land secured credits, project finance and housing. Stephen was also an assistant vice president for Nuveen’s global structured products team beginning in 2005. He also served as the manager of the fixed income unit trust product management and pricing group starting in 2001 and prior to that held positions as an equity research analyst and fixed income pricing analyst.
Stephen graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Miami University and an M.B.A., with honors and Beta Gamma Sigma, in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago.
Speaker Bio:
Brenda is a portfolio manager for Nuveen’s global fixed income team and a member of the preferred securities sector team. She is the co-manager of the Preferred Securities and Income strategy. She joined the preferred securities sector team in 2011. Brenda has been a co-manager for the Real Asset Income strategy since 2015, which invests in income generating debt and equity securities from both the real estate and infrastructure segments. In 2020 she became co-manager of the Credit Income strategy.
Prior to her portfolio management roles, Brenda was a member of the high-grade credit sector team, responsible for trading corporate bonds. Previously, she was a member of the securitized debt sector team, trading mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities.
Brenda graduated with a B.B.A. in Finance and International Business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and the CFA Institute.
Flaherty & Crumrine Incorporated specializes in the management of preferred and related securities. It has focused on preferred and income securities portfolios for institutional clients and investment funds since its inception in 1983.
Flaherty & Crumrine is an independent investment adviser with a dedicated credit research team that performs comprehensive analysis of the risks faced by preferred and subordinated securities holders. Specializing helps in capitalizing on the relative inefficiencies in this market. With only a relatively small number of institutional portfolios and 8 public funds (the five Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds, a sub-advised mutual fund, a Canadian closed-end investment trust and a Canadian ETF), Flaherty & Crumrine is able to offer customized portfolio strategies to best meet that client’s particular investment objectives, risk tolerances, tax position and time horizon.
Speaker Bio:
Mr. Chadwick has managed preferred securities at Flaherty & Crumrine since 1999 and is a member of the firm’s portfolio management team. As one of the firm’s traders, he shares responsibility for implementing investment strategies. Mr. Chadwick is also involved in the development of tools for managing the portfolios and developing firm-wide systems. Together with Mr. Conwell and Mr. Stone, he serves on the firm’s board of directors and is a member of the executive management committee. He also serves as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of the Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds.
Prior to joining Flaherty & Crumrine in 1999, he worked at Koch Industries Inc. where he was responsible for managing sizable portfolios of both preferred securities and corporate bonds. He was also responsible for developing analytical tools used in the management of the portfolios, and providing fundamental research on a broad range of credits.
Speaker Bio:
Mr. Sallee joined the firm in 2005 and is an Executive Committee member and a member of the Tortoise Development Committee and serves as President of the Tortoise platform. He oversees Tortoise’s energy investment team and Tortoise/Ecofin co-managed energy products. Mr. Sallee serves as president of the Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. and Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. closed-end funds, and is a member of the Investment Committee. He has more than 21 years of industry experience and regularly speaks on national media (CNBC). Previously, he served for five years as a senior financial analyst with Aquila, Inc., where he was responsible for analysis of capital allocation at the firm’s communications infrastructure subsidiary, Everest Connections. Mr. Sallee graduated magna cum laude from the University of Missouri with a degree in business administration. He is a CFA® charterholder.
https://tortoiseecofin.com/
TortoiseEcofin focuses on essential assets – those assets and services that are indispensable to the economy and society. TortoiseEcofin brings together strong legacies from Tortoise, with expertise investing across the energy value chain for more than 20 years, and from Ecofin, which unites ecology and finance and has roots back to the early 1990s. We strive to make a positive impact on clients and communities by investing in energy infrastructure and the transition to cleaner energy and by providing capital for social impact projects focused on education and seniors housing.
Bancroft Capital is service-disabled veteran-owned broker dealer specializing in Capital Markets, Debt and Equity syndication and Cash Management services to corporations, asset managers, and investors.
Michael J. Spatacco is Director of Cash Management for Bancroft Capital, where he is a founding partner. Michael helps clients find solutions for their short term liquidity needs and has a long term passion for Closed-End Funds.
Investment PhilosophyWe believe in long-term, fundamental value investing. This has been the central tenet of our philosophy since the Firm’s inception. We believe that diversified portfolios offer investors greater return opportunities and improved risk haracteristics. We focus our efforts on identifying investment opportunities across all sectors of the global fixed-income market and across the credit spectrum. We believe that active management is critical to realizing these opportunities.
Investment Management Process
Western Asset actively allocates capital across fixed-income markets based on our teams’ view of both absolute and relative value. This process is driven by both top-down macro insights and intensive, bottom-up fundamental analysis. Western Asset’s Global Investment Strategy and U.S. Broad Strategy Committees establish the top-down macro themes. Sector teams are then responsible for bottom-up research of issuers, selection of individual securities, and the determination of relative value within and across their respective sectors. Our Risk Management Team continuously analyzes our exposures and provides feedback to our portfolio management team on risk concentrations, scenario analysis, and correlations.
Team-Based Approach
Our investment team consists of 129 members made up of experienced portfolio managers, dedicated research analysts and traders with an average industry experience of over 23 years. Western Asset has investment professionals located in seven offices around the globe who lend global insights and local perspectives to our team-based investment management process.
Integrated Risk Management
Risk management is an integral part of Western Asset’s investment management process. As an active fixed-income manager, we position our portfolios to take risk that is consistent with clients’ risk targets and investment guidelines. Western Asset’s independent Risk Management Team is comprised of 41 professionals who work in partnership with our Investment Management Team to analyze and assess risk and report into the CEO. The investment management team reports into the CIO. The two teams collaboratively assess portfolio risks in a variety of market scenarios utilizing both industry standards and proprietary metrics to maximize risk-adjusted returns
Speaker Bio:
Robert Amodeo is Head of Municipals at Western Asset Management Company, LLC and has 34 years of investment experience. Mr. Amodeo began his career at The Bank of New York but soon thereafter joined Salomon Brothers Inc., where he was responsible for analyzing various private investment partnerships, including venture-capital, oil-and-gas, and real-estate, equity and bond portfolios. In 1992, Robert joined Salomon Brothers Asset Management where his role evolved into managing director, head of the municipal bond investment team and he worked with Salomon’s Yield Book department to adapt advanced technology for municipal bond and tax-efficient portfolio management. Since 2005, Robert has been part of Western Asset’s municipal bond investment team and is the sector head of that group.
Mr. Amodeo holds a Bachelor’s degree from Long Island University and a Master of Public Administration, Advanced Management and Finance from Columbia University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has written various articles regarding the public finance market.
Parametric partners with advisors to build portfolios focused on what’s important to them and their clients. A leader in custom solutions for more than 30 years, we help investors access efficient market exposures, solve implementation challenges, and design multi-asset portfolios that respond to their evolving needs. Headquartered in Seattle, Parametric has offices in Minneapolis, New York City, Boston, and Westport, Connecticut. For more information, visit parametricportfolio.com.
Speaker Bio:
Mark is responsible for supporting the continued investment success of Parametric’s systematic income product suite—with focus on dividend income and enhanced income strategies. Prior to joining Parametric in 2019, he spent seven years with US Bank’s Asset Management Group as a vice president in equity portfolio management covering domestic large-cap securities. Mark is also a firefighter for the city of Plymouth, Minnesota. He earned an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a BS in finance/information systems from Iowa State University.
Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in everything we do, Cohen & Steers is the leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, focused on delivering diversification, alpha and income.
Our teams are relentless in their drive to provide superior investment solutions and passionate about constantly innovating to meet the needs of clients today and anticipate their challenges of tomorrow.
We believe accessing investment opportunities around the world requires local knowledge and insight into specialized and regional markets. Cohen & Steers maintains a global presence through the following offices: New York, London, Dublin, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Speaker Bio:
Brian Cordes, CAIA, Senior Vice President, is the head of Cohen & Steers’ Portfolio Specialist Group, which represents the company’s investment teams in interactions with institutional and retail clients. He has 23 years of experience. Prior to joining Cohen & Steers in 2012, Mr. Cordes was a product manager at Columbia Management. Previously, he was with New York Life Investment Management and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Mr. Cordes has a BS from Rider University and is based in New York.
Amundi US is the US investment headquarters of Amundi, whose extensive network of investment and marketing offices throughout the world provides a global perspective as well as in-depth knowledge of local markets. Amundi, based in Paris, is Europe’s largest asset manager and ranks among the top 10 globally1 , with over $2.12 trillion* of assets across six main investment hubs.
Leveraging the benefits of our increased scope and size, the combined expertise and investment resources across Amundi allow us to introduce new and innovative investment solutions tailored to investor needs. We benefit from the expertise of over 4,500
Amundi team members based in 37 countries.
Speaker Bio:
Matt Cody is Vice President and Client Portfolio Manager at Amundi US. Based in Boston, he is responsible for consulting clients and their advisors on the firm’s economic outlook, current positioning, and investment philosophy, as well as giving updates on the firm’s recent investment performance and product information.
Before joining Amundi US, Matt was Senior Vice President and Head of Research and Content at REX Shares. In this role, he formulated investment strategies for institutional clients, led compliance and marketing efforts, and helped structure several investment products. Prior to that, Matt was a Senior Fixed Income Analyst at Wetherby Asset Management for 10 years. Matt’s responsibilities included covering all sub-sectors of fixed income investing, consulting client advisors on portfolio construction for private and institutional clients, developing and presenting market presentations and external webinars for clients, and maintaining firm-wide investment models. In addition, he was a voting member of the 10 person Investment Committee and chaired the Asset Allocation Committee, the firm’s fundamental and quantitative research engine.
Matt received both a B.S. in Statistics and Mathematics from University of California, Davis. He is
a CFA® charterholder.
Speaker Bio:
James Murchie co-founded Energy Income Partners (EIP) in 2003 with Linda Longville and Eva Pao. EIP is a partner-owned asset manager and is an outgrowth of his personal investing in energy infrastructure. EIP’s Funds and products concentrate their portfolios in the securities of noncyclical energy infrastructure companies in the pipeline, electric power and renewable development sectors. Between 1998 and 2003, he ran Lawhill Capital which managed a long/short equity fund that invested in energy and cyclical equities and commodities. From 1995 to 1997, he was a Managing Director at Tiger Management where his primary responsibility was investments in energy, commodities and related equities. From 1990-1995, Mr. Murchie was a Principal at Sanford C. Bernstein where he was a top-ranked energy analyst and sat on the Research Department’s Recommendation Review Committee. Before joining Bernstein, he spent 8 years at British Petroleum in 7 operating and staff positions of increasing responsibility. He has been named one of only three Hall of Fame investors by Alerian. Mr. Murchie has testified on energy policy in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, presents at the Energy Roundtable at the Aspen Institute and numerous industry conferences and events. He has often been quoted in media outlets such as Bloomberg, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. His interview with Steve Forbes is available on-line. Mr. Murchie received a B.A. from Rice University in 1979 and an M.A. in Energy Planning from Harvard University in 1982.
Speaker Bio:
From 2009-2013, Samuel Brothwell worked at Bloomberg, LP as Sector Head of Utilities and was Vice President, Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at Questar Corporation. From 2005-2009 he was Managing Director, Equity Research with Wells Fargo/Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, and Director, Equity Research with Merrill Lynch from 1997 to 2005. Prior to that he was Vice President, Credit Research with Moody’s Investors Service from 1995-1997, Senior Financial Analyst with PNM Resources from 1987 to 1995, Senior Tax and Audit Accountant with Arthur Anderson from 1983 to 1987 and has been a contributor and participant to Energy and Natural Gas Policy Forums with the Aspen Institute since 2006. He graduated with B.B.A. from University of New Mexico in 1983.
Speaker Bio:
Chuck Jaffe is a syndicated financial columnist and the host of “Money Life with Chuck Jaffe,” a one-hour weekday financial talk show (moneylifeshow.com).
Chuck’s work has been syndicated since 1995, first while based at the Boston Globe and then from MarketWatch.com; he also writes for the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. A past president of the Society of American Business Editors &and Writers, Chuck has been a frequent guest on CNBC, Nightly Business Report, Fox Business News, National Public Radio and more, and is the author of three books: “Getting Started In Finding a Financial Advisor,” “The Right Way to Hire Financial Help” and “Chuck Jaffe’s Lifetime Guide to Mutual Funds.”
In what is jokingly referred to as “spare time,” Chuck is very involved in the sport of lacrosse as a broadcaster, referee, coach, league owner and player. He lives on Boston’s South Shore with a golden retriever who sleeps under the desk while Chuck is working and whose flatulence issues sometimes explain Chuck’s demeanor.
You can follow him on Twitter @ChuckJaffe, @MoneyLifeShow and, depending on your sporting interests, @BostonBoxLax.
Website: https://www.moneylifeshow.com
Alerian is a leading independent index provider focused on building innovative, index-based investment strategies. Alerian acquired S-Network Global Indexes in 2020, expanding the firm’s index offerings and services to partners. Combined, the firm serves the global investment community through indexing, benchmarking, and calculation services. Built on a foundation of data rigor and specialty research, Alerian S-Network Global Indexes offer a comprehensive family of energy, income, and thematic indexes. Today, the firm has over $23 billion in total assets benchmarked to its indexes and over 200 customers worldwide.
Speaker Bio:
Associate Director of Research
Roxanna Islam is Associate Director of Research for Alerian S-Network Global Indexes. She has 10+ years of experience in research and product management in the financial services industry. In her current role, Islam assists the research team in creating timely and relevant research with a focus on thematics and income.
Previously, Islam was a Senior Equity Research Associate at Stifel in the freight transportation, logistics, and electric vehicle sectors. She was also a Research Associate at Wells Fargo, where she researched closed-end funds and exchange-traded products. She also held other research and product management roles at Wells Fargo. Islam holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Plan II Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a CFA charterholder.
Speaker Bio:
Matthew Kence is an Investment Director and is a Portfolio Manager on the Aberdeen Income Credit Strategies Fund and the Global High Yield strategies at Aberdeen Standard Investments. He is also responsible for covering US high yield Energy companies. Matt joined Standard Life in 2010 from Gannet Welsh & Kotler where he was a Vice President, Credit. Previously, Matt also worked for MFS Investment Management as a high yield analyst. Matt graduated with a BS Mechanical Engineering from Ohio University and received his MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Matt Burdett:
Matt Burdett is portfolio manager and managing director for Thornburg Investment Management. He rejoined the firm in 2015 as an associate portfolio manager and was promoted to portfolio manager in 2018. Matt spent several years as a senior vice president and portfolio manager at PIMCO, where he co-managed various dividend-oriented strategies. Prior to his time at PIMCO, Matt worked as an equity analyst at Thornburg.
Matt was director of healthcare investment banking at CIBC World Markets / Oppenheimer prior to joining Thornburg in 2010. Earlier in his career, he was a medicinal chemist at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals. Matt holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
About Thornburg:
Thornburg is a global investment firm delivering on strategy for institutions, financial professionals and investors worldwide. The privately held firm, founded in 1982, is an active, high-conviction manager of fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions and sustainable investments. With $48 billion in client assets (includes $46 billion in assets under management and $2 billion in assets under advisement) as of January 31 2022, the firm offers mutual funds, closed-end funds, institutional accounts, separate accounts for high-net-worth investors and UCITS funds for non-U.S. investors.
As an independent firm, Thornburg can take on a wide range of opportunities, explore ideas thoroughly and work across strategies to deliver consistent risk-adjusted outperformance over the long term. The firm attracts free-thinking professionals who are eager to pursue investment outcomes beyond the confines of popular wisdom. From nimble operational capabilities to principles and actions fitting of a global citizen, Thornburg’s world-class investment platform and team are aligned on strategy to serve investors.
Thornburg’s U.S. headquarters is in Santa Fe, New Mexico with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Rob Watson, CFP®
Partner & Head of Investments
Rob Watson is a Partner & Head of Investments for Destra. Rob also serves as President of Destra Capital Advisors, LLC and DFC Preferred Advisors LLC, both SEC registered investment advisors, as well as President of each of Destra’s mutual funds. Rob chairs the Firm’s Investment Committee, with responsibility for manager research and selection, as well as portfolio oversight and monitoring. In addition, he heads the Firm’s investment product and marketing efforts.
Rob has held numerous roles across an almost 30-year career in the financial services industry. Rob has run product units at Morgan Stanley & Aviva Investors and been responsible for business development and account management teams at Janus & Van Kampen. He has extensive experience in product design and investment implementation, as well as institutional sales and manager due diligence. He holds key industry licenses, is a CFP® certificate holder, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from North Carolina State University.
Head of North American Fixed Income and Global High Yield
Erlend Lochen is Head of North American Fixed Income and Global High Yield at abrdn. Erlend joined Standard Life Investments in 2001 as a Credit Analyst. In 2004, he became the joint fund manager of the Higher Income Fund (Pan European high yield). Erlend relocated to Boston in 2009 and was appointed head of US credit and Global High Yield. Prior to Standard Life Investments, Erlend worked with a number of companies, including Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch. Erlend earned an MSc in industrial Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
Erlend earned an MSc in industrial Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
Larry Antonatos – Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Real Asset Solutions
Larry Antonatos has 31 years of industry experience and is a Portfolio Manager for Brookfield Public Securities Group’s Real Asset Solutions team. In this role he oversees the portfolio construction process, including execution of asset allocation. Larry joined the firm in 2011 as Product Manager for the firm’s equity investment strategies. Prior to joining Brookfield, he was a portfolio manager for a U.S. REIT strategy for 10 years. He also has investment experience with direct property, CMBS, and mortgage loans. Larry earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University.
Brookfield’s Public Securities Group serves institutions and individuals seeking the investment advantages of real assets through actively managed listed equity and debt strategies. We take a high conviction, value-oriented approach that is highly attuned to understanding the risks of investing, utilizing proprietary valuation tools and fundamental,
bottom-up research to identify mispriced securities. We have been actively investing in the public markets since 1989 and currently manage over $20 billion on behalf of financial institutions, pension plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth investors.
Rob has been working with Shaker Financial Services since 2004 and currently serves as its Chief Investment Strategist. He is responsible for overseeing strategy development, trading and portfolio allocations.
Shaker Financial Services, LLC (SFS) is a boutique investment advisory firm specializing in the trading of closed-end funds. SFS first began to accept funds for investment in individual separately managed accounts in 1996. SFS’s “Discount Capture” Composite is currently rated five (5) stars by Morningstar.
Mr. Lazarus is a vice president and strategist, focusing on closed-end and interval funds as well as mortgage strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2019, he was a fixed income product manager at Voya Investment Management. Earlier in his career, he worked at Guggenheim Investments. He has 12 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University.
PIMCO is a global leader in active fixed income. With our launch in 1971 in Newport Beach, California, PIMCO introduced investors to a total return approach to fixed income investing. In the 50+ years since, we have worked relentlessly to help millions of investors pursue their objectives – regardless of shifting market conditions. As active investors, our goal is not just to find opportunities, but to create them. To this end, we remain firmly committed to the pursui t of our mission: delivering superior investment returns, solutions and service to our clients.
Ken Fincher
Senior Vice President | Closed-End Fund Management Team
Ken is Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager and leads the First Trust Closed-End Fund Management Team. Ken joined First Trust Advisors in 2008 and has over 30 years of experience in financial markets. His current responsibilities include management of Separate Managed Accounts and Exchange-Traded Funds that invest primarily in Closed-End Funds. He has also helped develop new product structures in the closed-end fund space.
Ken was named Outstanding Individual Contributor to the Closed-End Fund Sector in 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 by financial analysts and his peers in the Closed-End Fund community.
Ken received a BA in financial administration from Michigan State University and an MBA from Loyola University Graduate School of Business. He has been quoted in several business publications such as Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, Bloomberg News Service and Bond Buyer and has authored articles for Seeking Alpha. Ken also served on the Closed-End Fund committee of the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
Firm Overview
First Trust Portfolios L.P. and its affiliate, First Trust Advisors L.P., were established in 1991. The firms provide advisory services and a variety of innovative financial solutions, including UITs, ETFs, CEFs, SMAs, Structured Investments distribution, portfolios for Variable Annuities and Mutual Funds.
At First Trust, our experience, history of innovation and diversity of offerings are all part of our mission and are the only way we know to become a trusted resource. Because we consider each financial professional and his or her customer integral to our business, and truly our most valuable investment, we are committed to their best interests. We provide exceptional resources that help financial professionals define goals, solve problems and develop long-term strategies to help their clients achieve their dreams and goals. We believe that this kind of leadership will provide the most fundamentally sound investment products and financial professional support available in today’s marketplace
Scott M. Carson, CFA – Director – Portfolio Manager
Scott is a portfolio manager for Principal Real Estate Investors, the dedicated real estate unit of Principal Global Investors. He is responsible for the management of affiliated and non-affiliated CMBS portfolios and has 18 years of experience in the industry. He previously performed pricing, hedging and valuation functions for Principal Real Estate Investors’ CMBS issuance program as well as developing real estate strategies and products as part of the new business development team. Scott received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Iowa State University. Additionally, he has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute. He is also a member of the CRE Finance Council.
Principal Real Estate Investors
Principal Real Estate Investors is the dedicated real estate investment group within Principal Global Investors. As a top 10 global real estate manager, Principal Real Estate Investors has a track record of 60+ years, investing through multiple market cycles and across the risk/return spectrum. We offer customized, diverse solutions across public and private equity and debt investments from core to opportunistic, managing $105 billion in assets for our clients as of December 31, 2021. With the growing importance of ESG in real estate, we are proud to be a recognized leader in sustainable investing.
Paul is a client portfolio manager with Nuveen’s global fixed income
group. In this role, he is integrated into the portfolio management team,
helping to develop and communicate information about the markets,
process and performance to institutional, retail and defined contribution
analysts and financial professionals.
Prior to joining the firm in 2012, he was a director and fixed income
strategist for the institutional fixed income sales division at Wells Fargo
Securities. In this role, he developed investment ideas and delivered
presentations to regional and national audiences. Previously, he worked
as an institutional sales representative. Prior to that, Paul spent 12 years
on the fixed income investment management side of the business at
American Express Financial Advisors (now Columbia Management) and
Piper Capital Management as a sector manager, analyst and trader.
Paul graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Carleton College. He also
holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the
CFA Society of Minnesota.
About Nuveen
Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $1.3 trillion in assets under management as of 31 Dec 2021 and operations in 27 countries. Its investment specialists offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies. For more information, please visit www.nuveen.com.
David LaValle is Managing Director, Global Head of ETFs at Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager. LaValle has over 20 years of experience in financial services and a proven executive management track record. LaValle’s expertise covers the broad finance industry, the Indexing landscape, and the exchange- traded product (ETP) ecosystem, including extensive knowledge in trading, distribution, capital markets, stock exchanges and regulatory engagements.
Prior to joining Grayscale, LaValle was the Chief Executive Officer of Alerian and S-Network Global Indexes. In that role, LaValle was responsible for all facets of the business including leading the firm’s growth and business transformation strategy, formulating and overseeing the Executive Management Team and representing the firm as a frequent spokesperson for press engagements and events. Previously, LaValle was the US Head of SPDR ETF Capital Markets and a member of the senior leadership team at State Street Global Advisors, a $3.5 trillion-dollar global asset manager. Prior to State Street, LaValle led Nasdaq’s Exchange Traded Product Marketplace where he was responsible for all aspects of strategy and business development for Nasdaq’s ETP listing and trading businesses. Before joining Nasdaq, LaValle was a member of the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange where he managed trading businesses.
LaValle earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University, served on the Security Traders Association of New York (STANY) Board and is a current member of the Wall Street Rides FAR charity advisory board.
Grayscale enables investors to access the digital economy through a family of secure, compliant, and future-forward investment products. Founded in 2013, Grayscale has a proven track record and unrivaled expertise as the world’s largest digital currency asset manager. Investors, advisors, and allocators turn to Grayscale’s private placements, public quotations, and ETFs for single asset, diversified, and thematic exposure. Grayscale products are distributed by Genesis Global Trading, Inc. (Member FINRA/SIPC, MSRB Registered) or Foreside Fund Services, LLC. For more information, please follow @Grayscale or visit grayscale.com.
Marc Loughlin joined WallachBeth in late 2012 to launch a robust closed end fund execution platform, thus further enhancing the capabilities of WallachBeth’s ETF trading group, one of the leading ETF desks in the industry.
Prior to joining WallachBeth, Marc ran a proprietary non-standard arbitrage desk at a major European investment bank, where he focused on CEFs, ETFs, illiquid value stocks, along with options, futures and equity-linked securities as hedging instruments.
Marc brings his buy-side approach to client order execution, utilizing OTC, algo and market direction methods to maximize liquidity and price efficiency in the closed-end fund space. His deep knowledge of CEF and ETF execution strategies, coupled with his buy- and sell-side experience, make him an invaluable resource to WallachBeth’s institutional clients.
Website: https://wallachbeth.com/
Cheryl Pate, CFA®
Portfolio Manager
Cheryl is a Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Financials Income Fund, Financial Strategies Income Term Trust and the Dynamic Financial Strategies Income Term Trust. Cheryl has more than 15 years’ investment experience and primarily focuses on investment research and management across the firm’s financial sector-focused strategies.
Cheryl joined Angel Oak in 2017 from Morgan Stanley, where she was an Executive Director and Head of Consumer & Specialty Finance Equity Research. Her research coverage included a multitude of financial sectors, including consumer, specialty, mortgage, REIT, payments, fintech and banking.
Cheryl has been featured as a television guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, TD Ameritrade Network and Yahoo! Finance TV and has been quoted in various publications including American Banker, Marketwatch, DailyAlts and S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Cheryl holds a B.S. in Commerce (Finance) from the University of British Columbia and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
About Angel Oak Capital Advisors, LLC
Angel Oak Capital Advisors is an investment management firm focused on providing compelling fixed-income investment solutions for its clients. Backed by a value-driven approach, Angel Oak Capital Advisors seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns through a combination of stable current income and price appreciation. Its experienced investment team seeks the best opportunities in fixed income, with a specialization in mortgage-backed securities and other areas of structured credit.
For more information, please visit www.angeloakcapital.com.
Details
- Start: 15th March 2022 1:00 pm
- End: 16th March 2022 5:00 pm
- Event Category: Past Events
