AICA

CEF / BDC / Interval Fund BootCamp and Roundtable
2022-11-16 - 2022-11-17
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.

Agenda
SponsorsInterviewsAttendee ClassificationFeedbackSponsors

CEF Advisors & CEFData.com
GranitesShares
Franklin Templeton
Brookfield

Interviews

John Cole Scott – Closed-End Fund Advisors
.

Kim Flynn – XA Investments
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Chuck Jaffe – MoneyLife
.

Milwood Hobbs Jr. – Oaktree Capital Management
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Christian Munafo – Liberty Street
.

Steve O’Neil – RiverNorth
.

Mark Milner – Parametric
.

Rob Shaker – Shaker Financial Services
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William Rhind – Granite Shares
.

David Tepper – Tepper Capital Management
.

Erin Carney – Thornburg
.

Attendee Classification

Feedback

We appreciate your feedback

Agenda8:00 AM to 8:30 AM - Registration & Breakfast8:30 AM to 8:40 AM - Welcome Remarks
Transcript

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com –

8:40 AM to 9:30 AM - Panel #1: Trends and Outlook for the CEF/BDC Interval Fund Marketplace
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Kim Flynn, Managing Director for Alternative Investments – XA Investments
Speaker #1
Tom DeCapo, Partner – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Speaker #2
John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com
Speaker #3
Steve Flantsbaum, Sr. Special Counsel Fellow, BDC – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

9:30 AM to 10:20 AM - Panel #2: Navigating Credit Risk in A Choppy Economy
Video
Transcript

Moderator
Jake Schultz, CFA, Partner & Director, Portfolio Oversight & Analytics – Destra

Speaker #1
Charles Arduini, Partner and Portfolio Manager – Ares

Speaker #2
Gretchen Lam, Portfolio Manager XFLT – Octagon

10:20 AM to 10:40 AM - Networking Break10:40 AM to 11:30 AM - Panel #3: BDC Analyst & Investor Panel – “Tips & Tricks for Accessing a Quality Manager and BDC”
Video
Transcript

Moderator
Dan Silver, Portfolio Manager – Closed-end Fund Advisors
Speaker #1
Mitchel Penn, Managing Director of Equity Research – CFA Oppenheminer

Speaker #2
John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com
Speaker #3
Jorge Solares-Parkhurst, Managing Director – JMP Securities

11:30 AM to 12:20 PM - Panel #4: Investment Grade Credit in an Inflationary Environment
Video
Transcript

Moderator
Vadim Avdeychik, Partner – Clifford Chance US LLP
Speaker #1
Cheryl Pate, Senior Portfolio Manager – Angel Oak Capital

Speaker #2
Robert Amodeo, Head of Municipals – Western Asset Management
Speaker #3
Bradford Stone, Exec VP/CFO/Portfolio Manager – Flaherty & Crumrine Inc

12:20 PM to 1:20 PM - Networking Lunch 1:20 PM to 2:10 PM - Panel #5: Diversified Equity Income Strategies
Video
Transcript

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe, Host – Moneylife
Speaker #1
Josh Duitz, Deputy Head of Global Equities & Portfolio Manager – abrdn

Speaker #2
Parth Doshi V.P., CEF Product Management and Development – Nuveen
Speaker #3
Erin Carney V.P., CFA, Head of Strategic Development – Thornburg

2:10PM to 3:00 PM - Panel #6: Retail Access to Private Credit and Equity
Video
Transcript

Moderator
Aaron Filbeck, CAIA Managing Director and Head of UniFi
Speaker #1
Christian Munafo, Chief Investment Officer – Liberty Street Funds

Speaker #2
Kevin Dockrell CFA, Institutional Portfolio Manager – RBC BlueBay
Speaker #3
Michael Grayson, Portfolio Manager – First Trust Capital Management
Speaker #4
Milwood Hobbs, Jr. Managing Director – Oaktree Capital Management

3:00 PM to 3:20 PM - Networking Break 3:20 PM to 4:10 PM - Panel #7: Listed & Non Listed BDC Options for Variable Secured Loan Access
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Kenneth Burdon, Counsel, Investment Management – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Speaker #1
Laura Stolfi, Managing Director, Private Credit Product Specialist – Nuveen

Speaker #2
Milwood Hobbs, Jr. Managing Director – Oaktree Capital Management
Speaker #3
Jason A. Mehring, Managing Director – BlackRock

4:10 PM to 5:00 PM - Panel #8: How to Analyze & Trade CEFs: An Institutional Perspective
Transcript
Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com
Speaker #1
Mark Milner, Senior Investment Strategist – Parametric

Speaker #2
Rob Shaker, Chief Investment Strategist and Partner – Shaker Financial Services
Speaker #3
Steve O’Neill, CFA, Portfolio Manager – RiverNorth

5:00 PM to 5:10 PM - Closing Remarks 5:10 PM to 6:45 PM - Networking Cocktail Reception ×

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 York State Society of The Cincinnati. Board member and Finance & Investment Committees for The William & Mary National Alumni Board.

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Jake Schultz is Director, Portfolio Oversight & Analytics for Destra Capital. He manages Destra’s open-end mutual fund products and oversees Destra’s secondary market support services for several NYSE listed closed-end funds. Jake contributes to the Firm’s product, marketing, and legal teams through product management and development efforts, data generation and investment content creation, as well as day-to-day operational support and documentation. Jake also sits on the Firm’s Investment Committee adding to portfolio oversight and monitoring in conjunction with manager & fund research, selection, and due diligence.
Jake joined Destra Capital in the summer of 2018 after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2018. He also holds the FINRA Series 7, Series 66 securities licenses and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Jake is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Chicago.

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Dan handles portfolio management, research, and trading activities for CEFA. He received his B.A. in Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation. Prior to joining CEFA, he was a portfolio manager for Zoso Capital, and previously worked for investment banks UBS, Morgan Stanley, and SunTrust performing investment research and was a senior analyst at George Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers.

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Kimberly Flynn serves as Managing Director at XA Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of XMS Capital Partners. She is a partner in the firm and responsible for all product and business development activities. Kim created the alternative registered trust platform at XA Investments working in partnership with independent subadvisers representing best-in-class alternative investment managers.Previously, Kim was Senior Vice President and Head of Product Development for Nuveen Investments’ Global Structured Products Group. In her 11 years at Nuveen, she helped developed over 40 closed-end funds raising ~$13 billion in capital. In her leadership role at Nuveen, Kim was responsible for asset raising activities through the development of new traditional and alternative investment funds including CEFs, ETFs, UITs and commodity pools.Kim received her MBA degree from Harvard University, where she was a William J. Carey scholar and President of the HBS Volunteers. Before attending Harvard Business School, Kim spent three years working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division (1999-2002) in their Chicago office.
She earned her BBA in Finance and Business Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 where she was a valedictorian candidate, Rhodes Scholar Finalist and the first recipient of the Paul F. Conway award given to a senior in the Department of Finance who embodies Notre Dame’s tradition of excellence and who enriches the ideals of the university.
Kim earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago. Kim currently serves on the Board of the Women in ETFs Chicago chapter as head of the mentorship committee and on the Advisory Board for Youth Guidance’s program Becoming A Man (BAM). Kim with her husband Leo, son Teddy (12yrs) and daughter Rose (9yrs) live in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

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Jason Mehring is a Managing Director at BlackRock. He is a voting member and a past Chairman of the investment committee for BlackRock’s US Private Capital Group (“USPC”).Mr. Mehring focuses on the team’s origination, underwriting and monitoring of middle market private investments, including those made on behalf of the Middle Market Senior Fund (“MMSF”), where he is the lead Portfolio Manager, and other public and private investment funds. These investment vehicles offer middle-market companies flexible financing solutions to meet their current and future capital needs.
Jason has over 26 years’ experience in middle market investing including his 15 years’ experience with the USPC team, joining as a Managing Director at BlackRock Capital Investment Corporation’s former advisor in 2005. Mr. Mehring previously spent more than ten years at Banc of America Capital Investors (BACI), an affiliate of Bank of America, Inc., in Chicago, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming a Principal of the firm in 2000. At BACI, Mr. Mehring focused on mezzanine and private equity investing in middle market companies. Prior to joining BACI in 1994, he worked at Firstar Bank, a predecessor to U.S. Bank.
Mr. Mehring received a B.B.A., summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, where he also graduated with University Honors, an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and he has served on a variety of private corporate boards.

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Ms. Charles, as the Managing Director and Director of Closed-End Fund and ETF Research, is responsible for setting general research policy and strategy. She joined Raymond James Financial in November 1995 and joined the Closed-End Fund Research group in September of 1998. Prior to joining Closed-End Fund Research, she spent two and a half years in the Equity Research Department. She has been the Director of Closed-End Fund Research since May of 2000. She holds a B.A. from Florida Metropolitan University. Ms. Charles has been quoted in several publications including Business Week and has been a speaker at numerous conferences throughout the year.

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Jorge Solares-Parkhurst is a Managing Director in JMP Securities’ financial services investment banking group.Prior to joining JMP, Jorge had been a Director in the global financial institutions group at Credit Suisse, where he worked with U.S. specialty lenders and regional banks. He previously served as a Managing Director at FBR Capital Markets and a Senior Managing Director at Bear, Stearns & Co. Jorge began his career in PaineWebber’s investment banking division, remaining with the firm following its acquisition by UBS and concluding his tenure there as a Director in the financial institutions group for the Americas.
Jorge holds a BSFS in international economics from The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

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Kenneth E. Burdon represents public and private investment funds, investment advisers, financial services companies and other financial institutions in connection with the structuring and distribution of investment products, and in a variety of regulatory, compliance, corporate, governance, operational and transactional matters.Serving clients in every major international financial center, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates is one of the leading law firms in the world, with 22 offices and approximately 1,700 attorneys offering solutions to the most challenging legal issues in virtually every area of corporate law.

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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.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.

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Vadim Avdeychik advises business development companies (BDCs), mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), hedge funds and their investment advisers on the full range of investment management matters. His experience spans the formation and operation of registered investment companies, alternative fund structures, fund governance, regulatory issues involving public and private funds, ERISA and investment company status issues and exemptions.Vadim also advises clients on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, including launching investment products, advising directors on ESG matters and establishing compliance programs for ESG investing. He has authored several articles on the topic and is a frequent speaker on regulatory issues dealing with ESG investing.

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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.

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Colin is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Multi-Strategy Income Fund, the UltraShort Income Fund, the Strategic Credit Fund, the Core Impact Fund, and the Strategic Mortgage Income Fund. He also focuses on security and portfolio analytics and is responsible for building and managing strategies within the residential mortgage-backed securities market.
Colin joined Angel Oak in 2012 and serves as a voting member of the firm’s public funds Investment Committee. He is also a speaker on many of the firm’s quarterly calls for both its private and public funds.
Prior to Angel Oak, Colin worked for an Atlanta-based boutique investment firm where he was responsible for the acquisition and management of their distressed debt portfolio, as well as the development of their proprietary financial technology platform. Previously, Colin worked in the Real Estate Capital Markets group for Wachovia Bank and Wells Fargo where he focused on risk management for their commercial real estate REPO lines.
Colin holds B.B.A. degrees in Banking & Finance and Real Estate from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

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Justin leads product management and development for Nuveen’s Municipal and Preferred Securities product lines. In this role, he collaborates with Nuveen’s Investment, Distribution, Marketing and Operations teams to drive the strategic growth of our Municipal and Preferred Securities business. Justin’s primary responsibilities include the development and management of investment products and strategies in an effort to thoughtfully achieve our strategic product plan.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Justin led product management and development for Destra Capital. He also served as a member of the firm’s Investment Committee, was an officer for Destra’s suite of mutual funds and led sub-advisor due diligence. Prior to joining Destra, Justin played an integral role in the product management and development of closed-end funds, mutual fund and ETFs at Guggenheim Investments.
Justin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago.
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.

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Michael Bell is a Managing Director of Primark. Prior to Primark, Michael built, and was the CEO for a $12B RIA managing more than 30 investment strategies and a $10B liquid alternative mutual fund complex that launched more than 50 alternative funds. Most recently he purchased, grew and sold a family office-backed $6B RIA. Also, he specialized as a corporate finance attorney for Latham & Watkins and was a CPA for KPMG. He holds a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and a JD from West Virginia University.
Primark is expanding access to private equity investments without the complexity of subscription documents, high investment minimums, and the complex tax treatment associated with traditional institutional private equity fund structures.

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Shiloh R. Bates joined Flat Rock Global in 2018 and is a Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to joining Flat Rock Global, Mr. Bates was a Managing Director at Benefit Street Partners where he worked on corporate acquisitions. Prior to that, Mr. Bates was the Head of Structured Products at BDCA Advisor, where he was responsible for investments in CLOs, leveraged loans, and publicly traded BDCs.
During his 20-year career, Mr. Bates worked for several CLO managers and invested over $1.3 billion in CLO securities. He is a frequent panelist at CLO conferences and has written a book on investing in CLO equity.

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Alex Condrell is a Managing Director at Cliffwater. Founded in 2004, Cliffwater provides research and investment due diligence services across the full range of private markets and alternative investments. Cliffwater also manages over $4 billion in private credit funds. Alex joined Cliffwater in 2021.
Prior to joining Cliffwater, Alex was a Managing Director at Monroe Capital, an asset management firm specializing in lower middle market direct lending. Before that, Alex was the Chief Investment Officer at Main Street Financial, with prior experience at Calamos Investments, Lotsoff Capital, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
He earned a BA in Government from Pomona College and an MBA in Finance from Georgetown University. Alex is a CFA charterholder and also holds the CAIA designation..

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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: http://www.moneylifeshow.com

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Mr. Schlemovitz is a Managing Director for Conversus, a StepStone Company.
Mr. Schlemovitz focuses on strategic relationships and product development. Prior to StepStone, Mr. Schlemovitz served as a Managing Director of CNL Financial Group, a $10 billion asset manager providing access for individual investors to the private markets. At CNL he created and oversaw the firm’s Private Equity platform and was the Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Capital. Previously Mr. Schlemovitz was an Executive Director in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan where he led equity and debt capital raising and merger and acquisition transactions for Financial Institution clients.
Mr. Schlemovitz received his BA from Emory University and is a CFA charterholder.Conversus Company Profile Blurb:
Conversus is an investment firm designed to provide individual investors the opportunity to access private markets with the goal of transforming portfolios and enhancing long-term outcomes. Conversus is a wholly-owned business of StepStone Group, a global asset management and advisory firm with over $500 billion in assets under advisement. Leveraging StepStone’s extensive experience across the private markets allows Conversus to create innovative, investor-centric products by focusing on convenience, efficiency and transparency.

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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.

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Kevin T. Hardy represents public and private funds, fund sponsors, investment advisers, broker-dealers, investment banks and other financial institutions in connection with the design and formation of investment funds and products, securities offerings, regulatory and compliance matters, transactions and other corporate matters.
In the registered investment company area, Mr. Hardy advises clients in the development, structuring, operation and regulation of mutual funds, closed-end funds and exchangetraded funds. He has represented fund sponsors and underwriters in initial public offerings of closed-end funds and secondary market financings, including rights offerings and debt and preferred securities offerings by such funds. Fund sponsors advised by Mr. Hardy have
included Guggenheim Funds, BlackRock, Northern Trust and Invesco Van Kampen. He has represented investment banks, including UBS, Merrill Lynch and A.G. Edwards, as underwriters of offerings by closed-end funds sponsored by firms such as Eaton Vance, PIMCO, Nuveen, John Hancock, Nicholas Applegate and First Trust. Mr. Hardy regularly counsels
registered investment funds and their boards of directors in connection with directors’ duties, corporate governance and regulatory matters.
Mr. Hardy represents investment advisers and other financial services firms in transactions, financings and a wide range of operational and regulatory matters, including Advisers Act registration, regulatory examinations and the structuring of employee compensation and equity participation plans. He has advised buyers and sellers in a number of significant transactions in the asset management industry, including AMVESCAP plc in its acquisition of PowerShares Capital Management and Nuveen Investments in connection with its acquisition by an investor group led by Madison Dearborn Partners and its acquisition of First American Funds Advisors.
Mr. Hardy also represents sponsors, investors and placement agents in the formation and operation of U.S. and offshore private investment funds and other unregistered investment vehicles.
Mr. Hardy has repeatedly been selected for inclusion in Chambers Global and Chambers USA.https://www.skadden.com/about/overview

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Bill has been a leader on the sales and marketing side of the financial services industry for more than 35 years. He joined Wildermuth Securities in March of 2022 and serves as the company’s field representative throughout the eastern US. He earned his MBA from the University of Notre Dame and his BA from Middlebury College. He currently lives in suburban Chicago.
THE WILDERMUTH FUND provides investors with access to early-stage private equity that has traditionally been reserved for institutional investors. The Fund offers portfolio diversification among early-stage private equity positions in various asset classes including technology, real estate, healthcare, energy, and hedge funds that would be difficult for individual investors to achieve because of typically high minimum investments.
Daniel Wildermuth is the Fund’s portfolio manager. With over 25 years of investment experience, he has been a pioneer in adapting the endowment investment approach to the needs of individual investors. Mr. Wildermuth is CEO and CIO of Wildermuth Advisory and Asteria Wealth, a money management firm that administers more than 20 equity and fixed income portfolio strategies for retail and institutional investors.

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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.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.

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Robert Shaker, 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.

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Steve joined RiverNorth in 2007 and serves as Portfolio Manager. Steve co-manages the firm’s closed-end fund trading strategies and helps to oversee the firm’s closed-end fund investment analysts.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.
RiverNorth is an investment management firm founded in 2000 that specializes in opportunistic strategies in niche markets where the potential to exploit inefficiencies is greatest. RiverNorth is the manager to multiple registered and private funds.

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Josh Duitz is Deputy Head of Global Equities and Head of Infrastructure (public markets) at abrdn. Josh joined Alpine Woods Capital Management in 2007, where he was a Portfolio Manager of its Global Dynamic Dividend and Global Infrastructure strategies. The management contracts of the funds he managed at Alpine Woods were acquired by abrdn in April 2018. Previously, Josh worked for Bear Stearns where he was a Managing Director, Principal and traded international equities. Prior to that, Josh worked for Arthur Andersen where he was a senior auditor. Josh continues to be responsible for managing the Global Dynamic Dividend and Global Infrastructure strategies. Josh graduated with an MBA from The Wharton School, and holds a BA from Emory University.abrdn is a global investment company that helps clients and customers plan, save and invest for their future. abrdn manages and administers $469.2 billion of assets for clients, and has over 1 million shareholders. (Figures as at 30 June 2022)
Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three vectors – Investments, Adviser and Personal – focused on their changing needs. Our investments solutions are built on the strength of our insight – generated from wide-ranging research, worldwide investment expertise and local market knowledge. Our teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives, working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs.

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Thomas A. DeCapo represents financial services firms on a broad range of investment management industry matters. Mr. DeCapo’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, U.S. and international public and private financings, regulatory and compliance matters, and a variety of general securities and corporate matters in the investment management industry, as well as developing new investment products. Mr. DeCapo has extensive experience in fund corporate governance matters, including shareholders’ activist challenges. He advises investment company clients on corporate preparedness and in proxy contests. Additionally, Mr. DeCapo has been a leader in structur- ing periodic liquidity (interval) funds, having advised on one of the first-ever continuously offered tender offer closed-end funds, and on many recent Rule 23c-3 interval funds and tender offer funds.Mr. DeCapo has represented clients such as Gabelli, Tweedy, Browne, FMR, BlackRock Funds, Franklin Square, John Hancock, Oppenheimer Funds, U.S. Trust Corporation, Massa-chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Van Kampen Funds and Raymond James & Co. Representative transactions include serving as issuer’s or underwriter’s counsel for several innovative registered alternatives strategies (liquid alts), fund of funds and for public “venture capital” funds; serving as collateral manager or deal counsel for CBOs and CLOs; serving as buyer’s or seller’s counsel in connection with the purchase or sale of investment management businesses; and counseling a variety of technology and internet-based financial services firms in connection with investment company, investment adviser and broker-dealer matters. Recently, he has structured permanent capital private equity vehicles designed to acquire control of and operate private companies, and to distribute, exchange and list their own shares without becoming required to register under the Investment Company Act.
He also counsels on a wide variety of investment company, investment advisory and broker-dealer matters. Mr. DeCapo has been listed in Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s leading mutual funds lawyers.

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Steve is a Senior Special Counsel Fellow and the SEC’s industry specialist on Business Development Companies (BDCs). Steve’s work focuses on a broad array of BDC matters, including disclosure review, examinations, enforcement, rulemaking, and exemptive relief applications, among others.
Steve joined the SEC in 2021. Prior to the SEC, Steve spent eight years at Blackstone where he was primarily focused on providing legal advice relating to formation, fundraising, co-investment transactions, corporate governance and compliance oversight of Blackstone BDCs. In addition, while at Blackstone, Steve worked on a variety of matters pertaining to private funds, CLOs, private credit, debt and equity offerings transactions, financing facilities and advisory and compliance issues. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2013, Steve was an associate in the corporate group of Bingham McCutchen LLP (now Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP). Steve earned his B.B.A., summa cum laude, from Pace University, Lubin School of Business, Pforzheimer Honors College, and his J.D., cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law.

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As Managing Director and Head of UniFi by CAIA™ , Aaron oversees content and product strategy for the UniFi by CAIA™ Program. Prior to this, Aaron was responsible for the strategic direction of CAIA Association’s content agenda, thought leadership, and member education initiatives, and supported content development for the CAIA Charter Program. His work has been published by Oxford University Press and The Journal of Investing, and covers topics such as ESG/sustainable investing, liquid alternatives, commodities, and asset pricing/factor investing. He is a frequent writer and speaker on these topics. Aaron’s practitioner experience lies in private wealth management, where he served as portfolio manager, overseeing asset allocation, portfolio construction, and manager research efforts for high-net-worth individuals and institutional retirement plans.
He earned a B.S. with distinction in Finance and a Master of Finance from Penn State University. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM), Financial Data Professional (FDP) designations, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and holds the the CFA Institute’s Certificate in ESG Investing. He is a Past President of CFA Society Columbus and serves on the CFA Society Philadelphia Programs Committee. Aaron is an adjunct professor and serves on multiple advisory boards for Penn State University.
The CAIA Association is a global professional credentialing body dedicated to creating greater alignment, transparency, and knowledge for all investors, with a specific emphasis on alternative investments. A Member-driven organization representing professionals in more than 100 countries, CAIA Association advocates for the highest ethical standards. The organization provides unbiased insight on a broad range of investment strategies and industry issues, key among them being efforts to bring greater diversification to portfolio construction decisions to achieve better long-term investor outcomes.

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Mr. Penn follows business development companies. Prior to joining Oppenheimer and Co. he followed business development companies at Janney Montgomery Scott. In addition, he was an Equity Portfolio Manager/Financial Analyst at Legg Mason Capital Management from 2001 to 2012 where he specialized in financial companies. From 1996 to 2001 he managed a $400M fixed income portfolio at Legg Mason Capital Management. Prior to joining Legg Mason Mr. Penn managed a $15B fixed income portfolio at Aetna. He also worked for Price Waterhouse from 1981 to 1985.Mr. Penn received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995 and is a member of the Baltimore CFA Society. He was President of the Baltimore Society (2001-2002) and served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Penn received his Certified Public Accounting designation in 1983, but he no longer maintains this designation. He is a graduate of Villanova University, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma (1981) and University of Chicago (MBA-1987).

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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.

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Parth is a vice president and leads product management and
development efforts for Nuveen’s closed-end fund product line. He is
responsible for developing and bringing new concepts to market, as well
as overseeing the ongoing product management of existing closed-end
funds.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Parth was a senior tax consultant at Deloitte,
where he specialized in investment company taxation.
Parth graduated with a B.S. in Accountancy and Finance from the
University of Illinois. He holds the Series 7 and 66 securities
registrations.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 $1.1 trillion in assets under management as of 30 Jun 2022 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. Nuveen is a leading sponsor of closed-end funds (CEFs) with $57 billion of assets under management across 56 CEFs as of 30 Jun 2022. The funds offer exposure to a broad range of asset classes and are designed for income-focused investors seeking regular distributions. Nuveen has more than 35 years of experience managing CEFs.

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Mr. Arduini is a Partner and Portfolio Manager in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Mr. Arduini serves as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager for the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ARDC). Additionally, he serves as a member of the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Investment Committee.Prior to joining Ares in 2011, Mr. Arduini was a Managing Director at Indicus Advisors LLP, where he focused on structured credit investment opportunities. Previously, Mr. Arduini was Director of Structured Credit in the Fixed Income Investment Group and a Manager in the Risk Management Group at TIAA-CREF. In addition, Mr. Arduini worked in the telecommunications and information technology industries in various systems, operations and management roles. Mr. Arduini holds a B.A. from Bucknell University in Mathematics and an M.S. from Stevens Institute of Technology in Mathematics.
Mr. Arduini also holds an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University in Computational Finance. Mr. Arduini is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.

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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.

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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.

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Laura is a Product Specialist within Nuveen’s Alternative Investment distribution team. She is focused on supporting business development efforts across the private credit spectrum.Laura joined Nuveen in 2021.From 2014 to 2021, she worked for Invesco’s Global Private Credit platform where she supported new business development and institutional client communications, shaping investor messaging and business strategy globally.
Previously, Laura worked in corporate finance and investor relations at CIFC Asset Management where she supported marketing efforts and was responsible for financial projections on behalf of their private equity owners. Prior to CIFC, she was an associate at Goldman Sachs, where she worked in the firm’s investment management finance division focused on credit strategies. Laura began her career at Deloitte & Touche.
She entered the investment management industry in 2003.Laura graduated with both a B.S. in Business with a major in Accounting and an M.S. in Accounting from the University of Connecticut. She is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and holds the FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 registrations.

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Christian has 21 years of experience in financial services and investment management, with the last 16 years focused on secondary investments involving venture-backed and growth equity-oriented companies and funds. During this time, he has also served on the boards of many of these companies and funds.
Prior to Liberty Street Advisors, Christian was CIO of SPIM overseeing all investment related functions. Christian still serves as one of the portfolio managers of The Private Shares Fund, formerly the SharesPost 100 Fund, and a member of the investment committee.
Prior to joining The Private Shares Fund investment management team and Liberty Street Advisors, Inc., Christian was Co-Head of the Global Private Equity Secondaries Practice at HQ Capital based in New York, a $10+ billion alternative investment firm headquartered in Germany. Prior to that, he served as Head of Secondaries at Thomas Weisel Partners. Christian started his career as an investment banker at Banc of America Securities.
In aggregate, Christian has helped raise more than $1 billion globally from institutional investors, corporations, pensions, endowments, and family offices, and has completed or overseen the completion of more than 100 secondary transactions representing over $1 billion in capital commitments.
Christian received his BA from Rutgers College.

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Michael Grayson is a Portfolio Manager at First Trust Capital Management L.P (“FTCM”). Michael focuses on FTCM´s event-driven and multi-alternative mandates as well as private market platform. Michael started his career at Vivaldi Asset Management, LLC, an independently owned, boutique alternative investment firm based in Chicago. Vivaldi was predominantly a Multi-Family Office and Advisor to several public (1940 Act) alternative products. Michael was dedicated to the firm´s investment management as well as business and product development verticals.
Michael holds a B.A from University where he studied Political Science and Economics.

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Mr. Hobbs leads Oaktree’s North American Sourcing and Origination group, which focuses on private credit sourcing and deal origination for the firm’s U.S. Private Debt, Global Private Debt, Special Situations and Global Opportunities strategies. He also serves on the investment committee for Oaktree’s Direct Lending platform. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, Mr. Hobbs was an executive director at Natixis Securities focused on building the high yield sales and trading franchise. Prior thereto, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president in leveraged finance origination and sales. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2007, Mr. Hobbs was a director in Leveraged Finance at Deutsche Bank Securities, which he joined in 2000. Additional experience includes regional account management focused on fleet financing at GE Capital Corporation and controller for Leveraged Finance at Bank of America. Mr. Hobbs received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. degree in accounting from Rutgers University. Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions partners with financial professionals around the world to connect investors to the innovative solutions, expertise and insights.

Brookfield and Oaktree. From public to private markets, and across the liquidity spectrum, we aim to be the single point of entry into the very best of Brookfield and Oaktree – with the goal of helping advisors and their clients understand how to navigate key investment decisions

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CFA (2012); BSc (Pure and Applied Mathematics) (Hons, 2008), Trinity College, Ireland.
Kevin is an institutional portfolio manager for RBC GAM-US. He specializes in a broad spectrum of global credit strategies including Investment Grade, Leveraged Finance, Emerging Markets, Multi-Asset and Alternatives.
Kevin joined RBC GAM in 2014; he moved from BlueBay Asset Management to RBC GAM-US in 2020. During his time at BlueBay, he initially worked as an institutional portfolio manager on the Emerging Markets desk, before broadening his remit to cover other areas of the global credit markets. Prior to joining BlueBay, Kevin worked for another global asset management company, where he specialized in fixed income fund manager research to feed ideas into the firm’s suite of multi-manager portfolios. Prior to this, Kevin worked as an investment consultant at a global consulting firm.
He began his career in the investment industry in 2008.

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Erin is head of strategic development for Thornburg Investment Management, leading corporate and product development initiatives across the firm. She has extensive investment and management experience, including with large and small asset management firms and most recently the financial technology industry.
Prior to joining Thornburg, Erin was chief investment officer for C2FO, a Kansas City–based financial technology company focusing on supply-chain finance solutions. She developed private investment solutions to provide working capital liquidity to small businesses, utilizing C2FO’s proprietary technology platform.
Prior to C2FO, Erin spent 11 years with Fountain Capital Management, a boutique high-yield investment firm also based in Kansas City. At Fountain, Erin held various positions, including partner, portfolio manager, head trader, and research analyst. She started her career at Strong Capital Management as an equity research analyst, focusing on small- and mid-cap value portfolios and later as a private equity analyst for McCarthy Capital.
Erin is a graduate of Indiana University with a BS in finance and is a CFA charterholder.

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Mr. Stone joined Flaherty & Crumrine in 2003 after a 20-year career on Wall Street. Based in Summit, New Jersey, he is a member of the firm’s portfolio management team. He is responsible for macroeconomic and quantitative research and analysis and directs our credit research group. Together with Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Conwell, he serves on the firm’s board of directors and is a member of the executive management committee. He also serves as Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and Treasurer of the U.S. Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds and oversees the financial reporting and tax operations for the Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds.
From 2001 until joining Flaherty & Crumrine, he was Director of U.S. Market Strategy at Barclays Capital in New York, where he advised clients on market strategies across U.S. treasuries, agencies, and interest rate derivative products. Prior to Barclays, he spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, where he most recently held the position of Director — Interest Rate Product Strategy, Americas. He was a regular member of Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed Income Research Team, earning the top ranking in Derivatives Strategy in 2001. He began his career at Salomon Brothers as an options trader and derivative salesperson.

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2022 Interval Fund Spring Manager Spotlight
2022-04-26 13:00 - 2022-04-27 17:00 (America/New_York)
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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Interval Funds, a non-listed type of closed-end fund, have experienced tremendous growth in recent years. There are now 75 Interval funds managing about $60 billion, up from 27 such funds less than 5 years ago.
The event will enable investors and their advisors to better understand the structure and how some of the top funds are using it to deliver solid results for investors.
4.5 CFP CE Credits.
Day One: April 26th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
Intro Slides
Transcript
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:20pm - Panel #1: Private Investment Opportunities in an Interval Fund
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Kim Flynn , Managing Director for Alternative Investments – XA Investments
Presenters
Michael Bell , Managing Director – Primark
Presenters
Shiloh Bates , Managing Director – Flat Rock Global, LLC

2:20pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:20pm - Panel #2: Interval Fund Real Estate Opportunities
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Mike Taggart , Executive Director – AICA
Presenters
Michael Bell , Managing Director – Primark
Presenters
Shiloh Bates , Managing Director – Flat Rock Global, LLC

3:20pm to 3:25pm - Event Closing Remarks
Video

John Cole Scott – AICA´s Founder & Executive Chairman

3:25pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow AttendeesDay two: April 27th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
Intro Slides
Transcript
Video

John Cole Scott with educational session:

1:30pm to 2:20pm - Panel #1: Credit Investing through an Interval Fund
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe , Host – Moneylife
Presenters
Colin McBurnette , Senior Portfolio Manager – Angel Oak
Presenters
Robert A. Watson, CFP, Partner & Head of Investments – Destra Capital
Presenters
Justin Pfaff , MD, Product Manager – Nuveen

2:20pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:20pm - Panel #2: Investment Comparison Between Interval & Tender Offer Funds
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Kevin Hardy , Partner, Investment Management – Skadden
Presenters
Brett Schlemovitz , Managing Director for Conversus – StepStone
Presenters
Alexander Condrell , CFA, CAIA – Managing Director – Cliffwater, LLC

3:20pm to 3:25pm - Event Closing Remarks
Video

John Cole Scott – AICA’s Founder & Executive Chairman

3:25pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×

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

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Kimberly Flynn serves as Managing Director at XA Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of XMS Capital Partners. She is a partner in the firm and responsible for all product and business development activities. Kim created the alternative registered trust platform at XA Investments working in partnership with independent subadvisers representing best-in-class alternative investment managers. Previously, Kim was Senior Vice President and Head of Product Development for Nuveen Investments’
Global Structured Products Group. In her 11 years at Nuveen, she helped developed over 40 closed-end funds raising ~$13 billion in capital. In her leadership role at Nuveen, Kim was responsible for asset raising activities through the development of new traditional and alternative investment funds including CEFs, ETFs, UITs and commodity pools.Kim received her MBA degree from Harvard University, where she was a William J. Carey scholar and President of the HBS Volunteers. Before attending Harvard Business School, Kim spent three years working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division (1999-2002) in their Chicago office. She
earned her BBA in Finance and Business Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 where she was a valedictorian candidate, Rhodes Scholar Finalist and the first recipient of the Paul F. Conway award given to a senior in the Department of Finance who embodies Notre Dame’s tradition of excellence and who enriches the ideals of the university. Kim earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago. Kim currently serves on the Board of the Women in ETFs Chicago chapter as head of the mentorship committee and on the Advisory Board for Youth Guidance’s program Becoming A Man (BAM). Kim with her husband Leo, son Teddy (12yrs) and daughter Rose (9yrs) live in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

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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.

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Colin is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Multi-Strategy Income Fund, the UltraShort Income Fund, the Strategic Credit Fund, the Core Impact Fund, and the Strategic Mortgage Income Fund. He also focuses on security and portfolio analytics and is responsible for building and managing strategies within the residential mortgage-backed securities market.
Colin joined Angel Oak in 2012 and serves as a voting member of the firm’s public funds Investment Committee. He is also a speaker on many of the firm’s quarterly calls for both its private and public funds.
Prior to Angel Oak, Colin worked for an Atlanta-based boutique investment firm where he was responsible for the acquisition and management of their distressed debt portfolio, as well as the development of their proprietary financial technology platform. Previously, Colin worked in the Real Estate Capital Markets group for Wachovia Bank and Wells Fargo where he focused on risk management for their commercial real estate REPO lines.
Colin holds B.B.A. degrees in Banking & Finance and Real Estate from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

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Justin leads product management and development for Nuveen’s Municipal and Preferred Securities product lines. In this role, he collaborates with Nuveen’s Investment, Distribution, Marketing and Operations teams to drive the strategic growth of our Municipal and Preferred Securities business. Justin’s primary responsibilities include the development and management of investment products and strategies in an effort to thoughtfully achieve our strategic product plan.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Justin led product management and development for Destra Capital. He also served as a member of the firm’s Investment Committee, was an officer for Destra’s suite of mutual funds and led sub-advisor due diligence. Prior to joining Destra, Justin played an integral role in the product management and development of closed-end funds, mutual fund and ETFs at Guggenheim Investments.
Justin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago.
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.

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Michael Bell is a Managing Director of Primark. Prior to Primark, Michael built, and was the CEO for a $12B RIA managing more than 30 investment strategies and a $10B liquid alternative mutual fund complex that launched more than 50 alternative funds. Most recently he purchased, grew and sold a family office-backed $6B RIA. Also, he specialized as a corporate finance attorney for Latham & Watkins and was a CPA for KPMG. He holds a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and a JD from West Virginia University.
Primark is expanding access to private equity investments without the complexity of subscription documents, high investment minimums, and the complex tax treatment associated with traditional institutional private equity fund structures.

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Shiloh R. Bates joined Flat Rock Global in 2018 and is a Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to joining Flat Rock Global, Mr. Bates was a Managing Director at Benefit Street Partners where he worked on corporate acquisitions. Prior to that, Mr. Bates was the Head of Structured Products at BDCA Advisor, where he was responsible for investments in CLOs, leveraged loans, and publicly traded BDCs.
During his 20-year career, Mr. Bates worked for several CLO managers and invested over $1.3 billion in CLO securities. He is a frequent panelist at CLO conferences and has written a book on investing in CLO equity.

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Alex Condrell is a Managing Director at Cliffwater. Founded in 2004, Cliffwater provides research and investment due diligence services across the full range of private markets and alternative investments. Cliffwater also manages over $4 billion in private credit funds. Alex joined Cliffwater in 2021.
Prior to joining Cliffwater, Alex was a Managing Director at Monroe Capital, an asset management firm specializing in lower middle market direct lending. Before that, Alex was the Chief Investment Officer at Main Street Financial, with prior experience at Calamos Investments, Lotsoff Capital, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
He earned a BA in Government from Pomona College and an MBA in Finance from Georgetown University. Alex is a CFA charterholder and also holds the CAIA designation..

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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

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Mr. Schlemovitz is a Managing Director for Conversus, a StepStone Company.
Mr. Schlemovitz focuses on strategic relationships and product development. Prior to StepStone, Mr. Schlemovitz served as a Managing Director of CNL Financial Group, a $10 billion asset manager providing access for individual investors to the private markets. At CNL he created and oversaw the firm’s Private Equity platform and was the Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Capital. Previously Mr. Schlemovitz was an Executive Director in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan where he led equity and debt capital raising and merger and acquisition transactions for Financial Institution clients.
Mr. Schlemovitz received his BA from Emory University and is a CFA charterholder.Conversus Company Profile Blurb:
Conversus is an investment firm designed to provide individual investors the opportunity to access private markets with the goal of transforming portfolios and enhancing long-term outcomes. Conversus is a wholly-owned business of StepStone Group, a global asset management and advisory firm with over $500 billion in assets under advisement. Leveraging StepStone’s extensive experience across the private markets allows Conversus to create innovative, investor-centric products by focusing on convenience, efficiency and transparency.

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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.

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Kevin T. Hardy represents public and private funds, fund sponsors, investment advisers, broker-dealers, investment banks and other financial institutions in connection with the design and formation of investment funds and products, securities offerings, regulatory and compliance matters, transactions and other corporate matters.
In the registered investment company area, Mr. Hardy advises clients in the development, structuring, operation and regulation of mutual funds, closed-end funds and exchangetraded funds. He has represented fund sponsors and underwriters in initial public offerings of closed-end funds and secondary market financings, including rights offerings and debt and preferred securities offerings by such funds. Fund sponsors advised by Mr. Hardy have
included Guggenheim Funds, BlackRock, Northern Trust and Invesco Van Kampen. He has represented investment banks, including UBS, Merrill Lynch and A.G. Edwards, as underwriters of offerings by closed-end funds sponsored by firms such as Eaton Vance, PIMCO, Nuveen, John Hancock, Nicholas Applegate and First Trust. Mr. Hardy regularly counsels
registered investment funds and their boards of directors in connection with directors’ duties, corporate governance and regulatory matters.
Mr. Hardy represents investment advisers and other financial services firms in transactions, financings and a wide range of operational and regulatory matters, including Advisers Act registration, regulatory examinations and the structuring of employee compensation and equity participation plans. He has advised buyers and sellers in a number of significant transactions in the asset management industry, including AMVESCAP plc in its acquisition of PowerShares Capital Management and Nuveen Investments in connection with its acquisition by an investor group led by Madison Dearborn Partners and its acquisition of First American Funds Advisors.
Mr. Hardy also represents sponsors, investors and placement agents in the formation and operation of U.S. and offshore private investment funds and other unregistered investment vehicles.
Mr. Hardy has repeatedly been selected for inclusion in Chambers Global and Chambers USA.https://www.skadden.com/about/overview

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Bill has been a leader on the sales and marketing side of the financial services industry for more than 35 years. He joined Wildermuth Securities in March of 2022 and serves as the company’s field representative throughout the eastern US. He earned his MBA from the University of Notre Dame and his BA from Middlebury College. He currently lives in suburban Chicago.
THE WILDERMUTH FUND provides investors with access to early-stage private equity that has traditionally been reserved for institutional investors. The Fund offers portfolio diversification among early-stage private equity positions in various asset classes including technology, real estate, healthcare, energy, and hedge funds that would be difficult for individual investors to achieve because of typically high minimum investments.
Daniel Wildermuth is the Fund’s portfolio manager. With over 25 years of investment experience, he has been a pioneer in adapting the endowment investment approach to the needs of individual investors. Mr. Wildermuth is CEO and CIO of Wildermuth Advisory and Asteria Wealth, a money management firm that administers more than 20 equity and fixed income portfolio strategies for retail and institutional investors.

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AICA Spring Closed-End Fund Roundtable
2022-03-15 13:00 - 2022-03-16 17:00 (America/New_York)
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.

DONATESponsorsAttendee ClassificationFeedbackSponsors

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Day One: March 15th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
Intro Slides
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John Cole Scott,CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:20pm - Panel #1: Fireside chat Accessing Crypto at a Discount
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Presenters
David LaValle, Managing Director, Global Head of ETFs – Grayscale Investments
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Marc Loughlin, Director CEF & ETF Trading Solutions -WallachBeth

2:20pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:20pm - Panel #2: Real Asset Funds as Inflation Hedges
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Moderator
Rob Watson, Partner & Head of Investments – Destra Capital
Presenters
Larry Antonatos, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager – Real Asset Solutions, Brookfield
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Scott Carson, CFA , Director – Portfolio Manager – Principal

2:20pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break3:30pm to 4:20pm - Panel #3: High Yield Income in Volatile Times
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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

4:20pm to 4:25pm - Event Closing Remarks4:25pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow AttendeesDay Two: March 16th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
Intro Slides
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John Cole Scott with “Educational Session”

1:30pm - 2:20pm Panel #1: Higher Quality Taxable Fixed Income
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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

2:30pm to 3:20pm - Panel #2: Multi-Asset Balanced Funds: Diversifying Your Way Through Uncertainty
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Moderator
Michael Spatacco, Director, Cash Management – BanCroft Capital
Presenters
Matt Burdett, Portfolio Manager and Managing Director – Thornburg

3:30pm to 4:20pm - Panel #3: Institutional Investment Strategies to Navigate Through Market Storms
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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

4:20pm to 4:25pm - Event Closing Remarks4:25pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×

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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×

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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×

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.
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Investment Philosophy
We 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.Close×
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.Close×
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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×

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.Close×
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.comClose×
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.Close×
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.Close×

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
Firm bio:
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.
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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/
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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.
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Passive Access to CEFs/ BDCs via ETF and UITs
2022-02-03 13:00 - 2022-02-04 17:00 (America/New_York)
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CEF Advisors & CEFData.com
Nasdaq

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1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
UIT and ETF Access to CEFs & BDCs
Transcript
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:15pm - Panel #1: “Opportunities for CEF and BDC Access through UITs”
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Randy Watts, Co-Founder – Advis Network
Presenters
Matthew Bryant, Director, Unit Investment Trust – Guggenheim Partners
Presenters
Kevin Mahn, Chief Investment Officer – SmartTrust Unit Investment Trusts
Presenters
Joseph O’Malley, Thematic & Specialty Strategist, ETF & Indexed Strategies – Invesco

2:15pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:15pm - Panel #2: “Gaining Access to CEFs Through the Passive ETF Structure”
Transcript
Video

We will be discussing the ETF wrapper around access to CEFs and BDCs. We will be discussing the indexes that power and the specific funds: PCEF, XMPT, YYY, VPC and BIZD. This will include perspective on index rebalancing and how the index methodology can change over time for these perpetual passive investment vehicles.

Moderator
Sal Licata, Director – ETF Global
Presenters
Roxanna Islam, CFA, Associate Director of Research – Alerian
Presenters
Herbert Blank, Senior Quantitative Analyst – ValuEngine Inc

Presenters
John Cole Scott, CIO – Close-End Fund Advisors

3:15pm to 3:20pm - Event Closing Remarks3:20pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees

Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees
Video

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Speaker Bio:
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 BoardClose×

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.

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.

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Speaker Bio:
Kevin Mahn is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management. Mr. Mahn is responsible for the Wealth and Asset Management products and services offered at the Firm including the SmartTrust® platform of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Mr. Mahn also was the Portfolio Manager of the SmartGrowth® family of Mutual Funds.
Mr. Mahn is the author of the quarterly “CEF and ETF Insights” and “Market Outlook” newsletters as well as a co-author of the book, Exchange Traded Funds: Conceptual and Practical Investment Approaches, © 2009 Riskbooks. Articles written by Mr. Mahn have been published in The Journal of Investing and The Journal of Index Investing. Mr. Mahn is a contributor to Forbes, Talk Markets and Seeking Alpha.
Prior to Hennion & Walsh, Mr. Mahn was a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers where he held several senior management positions, including CAO of the High Net Worth Product and Services group within Lehman’s Wealth and Asset Management division as well as COO of Lehman Brothers Bank.
Mr. Mahn received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Muhlenberg College and his M.B.A. in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU). Mr. Mahn has also served as an adjunct professor at FDU within the Department of Economics, Finance and International Business. In 2015, Mr. Mahn received the “50 Under 50” award from the Silberman College of Business at FDU.
Mr. Mahn currently serves on the Board of Directors of NICSA and was formerly a Co-Chair of the NICSA UIT Industry Committee, winning the 2014 and 2016 NICSA MVP Awards for his accomplishments in that role. Kevin also won the Rising Stars of Mutual Funds Award from Institutional Investor in 2009.
Mr. Mahn has appeared in/on CBS News, Fox News, CNBC, Fox Business News, Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Fortune, Forbes, New York Times, Financial Times, USA Today, Bloomberg, Reuters, Nasdaq and Yahoo! Finance.Close×
Speaker Bio:
Herb Blank is Senior Quantitative Strategist and Chief Blogger for ValuEngine, a leading provider of quantitative reports and analysis for US Equities for more than 24 years. Herb’s articles also appear in ReseachGate and on Linked-In where he is in the top 1% of influencers In the financial industry; he has more than 15,000 followers there. During the past 35 years Herb has been involved in quantitative risk management, ESG modeling, ETF product development, portfolio management, product strategy, and business development.
Additionally, Herb heads the Product Strategy consultancy at Global Finesse LLC, a 10-year consulting firm serving the FinTech and investment industries. He provides ESG, ETF, enhanced indexing and alternative data expertise and has authored three studies for DTCC Kinetics products.
Herb was the first portfolio manager of ETFs in the US, managing nine ETFs for Deutsche Bank Securities in 1996. He also assisted in the launches of iShares for Barclays Global Investors (now part of BlackRock) and GLD for the World Gold Council.
Other industry achievements include serving as product manager for ESG and Structured Solutions for S-Network Global Indexes. Since managing the Fidelity Social Principles Fund in 1987, Herb has been involved in what ESG investments for more than 30 years and provided onsite Social Research quantitative modeling services for the Calvert Investments Social Research Group. He also created industry-specific ESG models for 5,000 companies covered by Thomson Reuters Asset4 and co-authored “Best Practices in ESG Investing” article published in Journal of Investing.
Herb is a frequently published author in investment journals. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.Close×

Firm Bio:
Guggenheim Investments is the global asset management and investment advisory division of Guggenheim Partners and has more than $271 billion* in total assets across fixed income, equity and alternative strategies.
We focus on the return and risk needs of insurance companies, corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, wealth managers and high net worth investors. We have a track record of delivering results through innovative solutions.
Our history stems from Guggenheim Brothers, the Guggenheim family business dating back to the late 1800s. Guggenheim Partners began with the mission of creating exceptional value for our clients by applying the principles that made the Guggenheim family one of the most successful innovators, investors, and business managers in American history.
We engage highly talented people, challenge them to think creatively, and encourage them to achieve extraordinarily high standards in their fields of expertise.
Speaker Bio:
Matt Bryant has been a member of the Guggenheim Partners UIT portfolio construction and management team for over ten years. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Matt worked for six years for Smith Barney where he analyzed professional equity and fixed income money managers. His most recent responsibilities at GP has been the comprehensive analysis, selection, monitoring and supervision of closed-end funds for Guggenheim Funds’ UIT of closed-end fund portfolios. In addition, he has managed a sleeve of closed-end funds in one of Guggenheim’s mutual funds (Diversified Income Fund). He also has provided research support and commentary concerning closed-end funds to Guggenheim Funds’ sales team. Alongside his closed-end fund duties, Matt also covers the Energy and MLP equity sectors and selects securities for said sectors in domestic UITs. Matt received a BS degree in Economics and English from Boston College and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Finance and Accounting. Matt holds Series 7, 63 and 65 registrations. Close×
Advis Network
Firm Bio:
Advis Network is a financial technology company that focuses on developing wealth tech solutions for the asset management and wealth management industries.
Speaker Bio:
Randy Watts is currently a Co-Founder of the Advis Network. Prior to founding the Advis Network, Randy founded UIT Investing, the first dedicated research and data platform for the unit investment trust (UIT) market, which was acquired by Nasdaq in 2019. Randy continued to operate the platform under the Nasdaq brand through 2021.
Randy has a track record of over 20 years in the financial services industry, with much of his career in the UIT market. Prior to founding UIT Investing, he has held multiple positions at both large and small sponsor firms, including Van Kampen Investments, Matrix Capital Group, Incapital, and Nuveen Investments. Recognized as a UIT industry expert, Randy has deep expertise in both the management level and operational details of the UIT business. He has spent time working in UIT distribution, product development, compliance, trading, and portfolio administration.
Randy is a regular speaker at UIT industry events, trusted UIT industry consultant, and innovator of the UIT Industry.
He earned a B.S. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.Close×

Firm Bio:
ETF Global® (ETFG®) is a leading, independent provider of data, research, investment decision support applications, proprietary risk analytics and investment models for Exchange-Traded-Products. The ETFG research platform, which is driven by the ETFG Multi-Factor, Quantitative Model (ETFG Quant), supports the overall investment process with a variety of strategies and applications to pursue return, manage risk, utilize investment analysis and generate investment ideas.
Founded in 2011, the firm is headquartered in New York and also maintains offices in Pittsburgh, Toronto and London. More information about ETF Global and our services, applications and products is available throughout our site at www.etfg.com.
Speaker Bio:
Sal Licata is Director of Business Development for ETF Global. In this role, Sal is responsible for establishing the overarching strategic direction of the firm’s sales effort and inevitably fulfilling upon this vision.
Since joining the firm in 2016, Sal has been integral to the growth and development of the company’s ETF reference data business. During his tenure, ETFG has significantly expanded both its geographic data coverage, as well as, the datasets the firm offers. Sal has cultivated key partnerships with asset managers worldwide to ensure that ETF Global’s data offering continues to reflect direct sourcing and the requisite quality to which our clients have become accustomed.
Sal works from the company’s New York office and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College.Close×

Firm Bio:
Invesco is an independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life. We are privileged to manage $1,610.9 billion in assets on behalf of clients worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2021. We have specialized investment teams managing investments across a comprehensive range of asset classes, investment styles and geographies. Invesco has over 8,000 employees focused on client needs across the globe, with an on-the-ground presence in 25 countries.
Invesco is a leading sponsor in the Unit Trust market, launching its first Unit Trust more than 40 years ago. Since that time, we have deposited more than $207 billion in total issuance. Today, we offer over 60 Equity and Fixed Income product offerings, with a track record of bringing timely trusts to market backed by a disciplined investment process. Our investment research and portfolio management team averages 23 years of industry experience and has navigated through multiple equity market cycles.
Speaker Bio:
Joe O’Malley is a Thematic & Specialty Strategist at Invesco. In this role, Joe covers the entire UIT product lineup as well as Invesco’s thematic and specialty ETFs. He previously served as a Product Strategy & Development Specialist for Invesco Unit Trusts. Prior to that role, he served as a Business Development Specialist for Invesco Unit Trust. He has been with the firm for 15 years, having joined the firm as a Unit Investment Trust Syndicate and Trading Specialist.Close

Interval Fund Winter Manager Spotlight
2021-12-08 13:00 - 2021-12-09 17:00 (America/New_York)
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CEF Advisors & CEFData.com
Nasdaq
Northern Trust

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Day One: Dec 8th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
ABCs of Interval Funds

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:15pm - Panel #1: Non-Listed CEF Credit Roundtable
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe, Host – Moneylife
Presenters
Parth Doshi, Vice President, Global Product – Nuveen
Presenters
Greg Margolies, Partner – Ares

2:15pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:15pm - Panel #2: Alternative Investment Options in an Interval Fund
Transcript
Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott, CIO – Closed-End Fund Advisors
Presenters
Robert Grunewald,CEO & Founder – Flat Rock Global
Presenters
Alexander Condrell, Managing Director – Cliffwater LLC

3:15pm to 3:20pm - Event Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott – AICA’s Founder & Executive Chairman

3:20pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees

John Cole Scott – AICA’s Founder & Executive Chairman

Day Two: Dec 9th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
ABCs of Interval Funds

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:15pm - Panel #1: Unique Credit Investing in an Interval Fund
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Vadim Avdeychik, Of Counsel – Corporate Department
Presenters
Duncan Farley, Portfolio Manager – BlueBay
Presenters
Clayton Triick, Senior Portfolio Manager – Angel Oak

2:15pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:15pm - Panel #2: Real Estate Access Opportunities in Interval Funds
Transcript
Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott, CIO – Closed-End Fund Advisors
Presenters
Daniel Wildermuth, CEO – Wildermuth
Presenters
Benjamin Rotenberg, Portfolio Manager – Principal Global Asset Allocation

Presenters Collin Bell, Global Head of Client Portfolio Management – Goldman Sachs

3:15pm to 3:20pm - Event Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

3:20pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×

Speaker Bio:
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 BoardClose×

Speaker Bio:
Clayton is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the UltraShort Income Fund, the Multi-Strategy Income Fund, the Strategic Credit Fund, and the Multi-Strategy Income UCITS Fund. He is a Portfolio Manager within the non-agency and agency residential mortgage-backed securities markets and focuses on cross asset fund allocation and interest rate risk management of Angel Oak’s funds and institutional separately managed accounts.
Clayton has been in the investment management industry since 2008 and has experience across multiple sectors of fixed income. Prior to joining Angel Oak in 2011, he worked for YieldQuest Advisors, where he was a member of the investment committee focusing on the interest rate risk, currency risk, and commodity exposures of the portfolios alongside directly managing the closed-end fund allocations within the portfolios and individual accounts.
Clayton holds a B.B.A. degree in Finance from the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) designation.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Ben Rotenberg, CFA, CAIA – Portfolio Manager Ben is a Portfolio Manager at Principal Global Asset Allocation (PGAA), a specialized boutique within Principal Global Investors that engages in the creation of asset allocation solutions. He is responsible for co-managing our dynamic outcome suite of strategies. This includes all portfolio construction, asset allocation and manager optimization decisions relating to this suite of strategies. He joined Principal in 2014 and has been in the investment industry since 1993.
Previously, he was a Managing Director with Cliffwater LLC, and was responsible for investment manager due diligence and assisting clients with asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio construction. Ben was also a member of Cliffwater’s Investment Oversight and Risk Committee Prior to joining Cliffwater, Ben was Director of Research with National Fiduciary Advisors, an investment consulting firm based in Los Angeles, where he was responsible for conducting investment manager due diligence across multiple asset classes. Ben began his investment career at Wilshire Associates providing services to investment consultants in Wilshire’s Cooperative Universe Service division. He received a bachelor’s of arts from Pomona College. Ben has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations and is a member of the CFA Society of North Carolina.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Robert K. Grunewald most recently served as the President and Chief Investment Officer of Business Development Corp. of America (BDCA). During his tenure at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald grew the company from $2.5 million of assets under management to $2.5 billion. BDCA was one of the top performing non-traded BDCs during Mr. Grunewald’s tenure. Mr. Grunewald hired the investment and origination teams, established BDCA’s strategy, and chaired the investment committee. He also established the firm’s loan management systems as well as its policies and procedures. While at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald also founded Kahala Aviation, a mid-life aircraft leasing business and The AR Capital BDC Income Fund, the first open-end mutual fund dedicated to investing in the BDC sector.
Mr. Grunewald has over 30 years of experience with middle market finance, BDCs and asset management. Within the finance industry, he has participated as a lender, investment banker, M&A advisor, private equity investor and hedge fund manager. As head of Financial Services M&A at NationsBank/Montgomery Securities from 1992 through 1997, Mr. Grunewald and his team completed numerous assignments for clients throughout the specialty finance industry. In 1997, Mr. Grunewald was recruited to lead the Specialty Finance Investment Banking Practice at what became Wachovia Securities. At Wachovia, Mr. Grunewald managed a number of high profile transactions, including initial public offerings and secondary offerings for some of the largest publicly-traded BDCs and finance companies including Capital Source, Ares Capital, American Capital Strategies, Allied Capital, and Gladstone Capital.
In 2006, Mr. Grunewald joined American Capital Strategies (‘‘ACAS’’), which was one of the largest publicly-traded BDCs before it was sold to Ares Capital Corp. in 2017. As head of the Financial Services Investment Practice from 2006 through 2009, Mr. Grunewald and his team focused on investment activity in the specialty finance, insurance, and asset management sectors. In his three years at ACAS, Mr. Grunewald committed over $1 billion to debt and equity investments generating an average annual return of 9.6%. While at ACAS he founded two highly successful financial services companies: Core Financial Holdings, a diversified commercial finance company and asset based lender, and American Capital Agency Corporation (NASDAQ: ‘‘AGNC’’), a publicly traded mortgage REIT.Close×
Firm Bio:
Wildermuth Advisory, LLC is the adviser to Wildermuth Endowment Fund. Wildermuth Advisory CIO, Daniel Wildermuth and his team of experts apply their extensive investment management experience to offer extensive investment advice in categories ranging from more traditional investments, such as equities and fixed income, to various alternative investment categories, such as real estate, natural resources, private equity, absolute return, and more.
Speaker Bio:
Daniel Wildermuth is the founder and CEO of multiple financial services firms and current serves as CEO of several money management firms including Wildermuth Advisory, LLC, an institutional fund advisor; Wildermuth Asset Management, LLC an RIA managing separate accounts; and Wildermuth Securities, LLC, a distributing broker-dealer.
Mr. Wildermuth has been managing traditional and alternative assets for more than 20 years, and during that time, has he been teaching financial professionals how to most effectively utilize these different tools with their individual clients. His deep and varied public markets background was earned through managing over 25 different active and passive portfolios of equity and fixed income portfolios over different market cycles. His investment background is complemented by his pioneering the adaption of private securities within individual investor portfolios and includes his forming a mutual fund specializing in private securities. His unique combination of expertise in private and public markets gives him a special perspective that is complimented by his easy presentation style.
Daniel’s success and unique approach has garnered media coverage from Forbes Magazine, CNBC, Bravo TV, bankrate.com, Dow Jones Newswire, Senior Market Advisor, multiple trade publications, and other financial market news outlets. McGraw-Hill published two of his book outlining his approach (Wise Money: Minimizing Your Risk and Increasing Your Control & How to Keep and Grow Your Retirement Assets). He speaks frequently at industry conferences and is often quoted as an expert on various investments.
Mr. Wildermuth earned an MBA in Finance from Anderson School at UCLA and a BS in Engineering from Stanford University. Daniel lives with his wife, Carol, and their two children, Alexis and Jared, in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.Close×

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
Email: itschuckjaffe@gmail.com
Phone: 781-383-6688Close×

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Sifford joined the firm in 2018 and currently serves as Managing Director and Private Sustainable Infrastructure Team Lead. Mr. Sifford oversees and manages the Social Impact Platform and serves on the Social Impact Investment Committee. Since joining, Mr. Sifford has assisted the Social Impact platform in growing AUM to over $500 Million and becoming a reputable financier in Education, Healthcare, and Sustainable Project Finance. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sifford served as Vice President of the Education Investment Group at EPR Properties, pursuing the development and acquisition of education-based real estate across the country. With over 20 years of real estate experience, Mr. Sifford helped make EPR Properties one of the largest owners of public charter schools in the U.S. and a recognized leader in the financing of educational facilities. In his time at EPR Properties, Mr. Sifford grew the company’s total investments in their Education portfolio by more than $1 billion. Prior to joining EPR Properties, Mr. Sifford served as a Senior Vice President at PNC Real Estate Finance. During his tenure at PNC, Mr. Sifford contributed to over $4 billion in loan origination and debt restructuring. Mr. Sifford holds an M.B.A in Finance and Strategy from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. in both Business Administration and Sports Science from the University of Richmond.Close×

Firm Bio:
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a publicly traded, global alternative investment manager with approximately $282 billion of assets under management[1] (“AUM”). Ares has approximately 2,060[2] employees in over 30 global offices across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East[3]. Ares operates integrated businesses across Credit, Private Equity, Real Estate, Secondary Solutions and Strategic Initiatives. Ares was built upon the fundamental principle that each group benefits from being part of the broader platform. Ares believes the synergies resulting from collaboration across the Ares Credit platform provide its professionals with more informed decision making as a result of shared industry expertise, management relationships, and market insights, access to significant deal flow and a broader opportunity set, and the ability to assess relative value. Since our inception in 1997, we have adhered to a disciplined investment philosophy that focuses on delivering attractive risk-adjusted investment returns through market cycles. We strive to maintain a consistent and credit-quality focused approach targeting well-structured investments in franchise businesses and real estate assets.
Speaker Bio:
Mr. Margolies is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group and is Vice President of CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund. Additionally, Mr. Margolies serves as a member of the Ares Credit Group’s Alternative Credit Investment Committee, the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Investment Committee and the Ares Private Equity Group’s Special Opportunities Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2009, Mr. Margolies served as a Managing Director and Global Head of Leveraged Finance and Capital Commitments at Merrill Lynch & Co. and was a member of the Executive Committee for Merrill Lynch’s Global Investment Banking Group. Previously, Mr. Margolies was Co-Head of the DB Capital Mezzanine Fund. Mr. Margolies serves on the Board of Directors for the International Organization for Women and Development, the Advisory Council for University of Michigan’s Life Science Institute and the Board of Trustees for The Juilliard School. Mr. Margolies holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan in International Economics and Finance and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.Close×

Firm bio:
Cliffwater LLC is an independent investment adviser and asset manager that provides research, advisory, and investment services. As a leader in alternatives, we work with institutional investors and investment advisors across the alternative investment landscape. Whether as an adviser or a manager, we help clients develop customized, diversified portfolios that balance return, volatility, and liquidity most effectively.
Speaker Bio:
Alex Condrell is a Managing Director at Cliffwater. Founded in 2004, Cliffwater provides research and investment due diligence services across the full range of private markets and alternative investments. Cliffwater also manages over $4 billion in private credit funds. Alex joined Cliffwater in 2021.
Prior to joining Cliffwater, Alex was a Managing Director at Monroe Capital, an asset management firm specializing in lower middle market direct lending. Before that, Alex was the Chief Investment Officer at Main Street Financial, with prior experience at Calamos Investments, Lotsoff Capital, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
He earned a BA in Government from Pomona College and an MBA in Finance from Georgetown University. Alex is a CFA charterholder and also holds the CAIA designation.Close×

Firm bio:
Destra Capital – Founded in 2008 by long time industry executives, Destra is a small, family-oriented shop that is majority owned by employees with strong entrepreneurial spirit.
Like the asset managers we partner with, Destra is a boutique firm. We pick specific, often inefficient areas of the market where we can differentiate, specialize, and add value for our clients’ portfolios.
Destra is built as a team, not a corporate hierarchy. We are a very flat organization that is centered around delivering compelling investment solutions and servicing the needs of our clients.
Destra helps place unique asset management strategies into the right vehicles to address clients’ needs. Separate accounts, mutual funds, closed-end funds, interval funds – all are tools that Destra uses to get the right strategies into the right vehicles to help investors and their advisors pursue the right outcomes.
BlueBay Asset Management – BlueBay is a global specialist fixed income manager uniquely positioned at the convergence point between traditional and alternative asset managers. Headquartered in London with a strong European presence, BlueBay invests over US$80 billion for institutional investors and financial institutions across the fixed income on a global scale, from active benchmarked portfolios to alternative strategies and private debt.
Speaker Bio:
Duncan is a Portfolio Manager for the BlueBay Destra International Event-Driven Credit Fund. In his role as PM for BlueBay, Duncan focuses on absolute return credit strategies within BlueBay UK’s Global Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to joining BlueBay in March 2014, Duncan amassed over 16 years’ experience in the European high yield and distressed debt markets working for several leading investment firms, including King Street Capital Management, where he spent four years as a senior credit analyst. Duncan holds a BA (Hons) degree in Accounting and Computing from the University of Kent and is a qualified ACA (Association of Chartered Accountants) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).Close×

Firm bio:
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.), founded in 1869, is the principal United States broker-dealer subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. In May of 1981, GS&Co. became a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Goldman Sachs is organized into four business segments: (i) Investment Banking (ii) Global Markets (iii) Asset Management (iv) Consumer & Wealth management
Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (GSAM) a wholly owned subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GSAM provides discretionary investment advisory services to institutional investors such as pension funds, endowments, foundations, financial institutions, corporations and governments.
Speaker Bio:
Collin is global head of client portfolio management for Fundamental Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). The Fundamental Equity team manages $96B across a broad range of equity solutions on behalf of institutional and individual clients around the world.
He is a portfolio manager on two multi-asset income oriented portfolios; the Goldman Sachs Real Estate Diversified Income Fund which seeks to generate attractive yield, limited volatility, and diversification benefits versus traditional asset classes by investing in both private and listed real estate and the GS Income Builder Fund which seeks to identify attractive investments across equities and fixed income that are well suited for conservative, income-oriented investors.
Previously, he was a research analyst for the Real Estate Securities team with a focus on the office and industrial sub-sectors.
He joined Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division in 1997 and has remained there his entire career.
Collin earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College.
Collin.Bell@gs.com
212-357-4045Close×

Firm bio:
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 $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of 31 March 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
Speaker bio:
Parth is a vice president and leads product management and development efforts for Nuveen’s closed-end fund product line. He is responsible for developing and bringing new concepts to market, as well as overseeing the ongoing product management of existing closed-end
funds.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Parth was a senior tax consultant at Deloitte, where he specialized in investment company taxation.
Parth graduated with a B.S. in Accountancy and Finance from the University of Illinois. He holds the Series 7 and 66 securities registrations.Close×

Speaker bio:
Vadim Avdeychik is of counsel in the Investment Management practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s New York office. Mr. Avdeychik counsels mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), business development companies (BDCs), hedge funds, and their investment advisers. He routinely advises on the formation and operation of registered investment companies (including those implementing alternative investment strategies), alternative fund structures (including registered and unregistered master/feeder and fund-of-funds structures and BDCs), fund governance, regulatory issues involving public and private funds, and investment company status issues. Mr. Avdeychik has extensive experience assisting pre-IPO and public operating companies, specialty finance companies, investment banks, financial product sponsors, and other entities in determining their investment company status or the status of the products they sponsor, including the ability to qualify for exemptions from the Investment Company Act, in connection with securities offerings, financial product launches and other transactions. He also has transactional experience concerning funds and their advisers, including merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Avdeychik regularly advises clients with respect to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, including launching new investment products, advising board of directors on ESG matters and setting up compliance programs with a focus on ESG investing. He has authored several articles on the topic and is a frequent speaker on regulatory issues dealing with ESG investing.
Cell – 6462096679Close

Business Development Company (BDC) Fall Forum
2021-11-16 13:00 - 2021-11-17 17:00 (America/New_York)
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Day One: Nov 16th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
ABCs
Transcript

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:15pm - Panel #1: “BDC Products for Investors”
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Mike Taggart, CFA, Founder & CEO – Taggart Fund Intelligence
Presenters
David B. Miyazaki, CFA – Confluence Investment Management
PresentersJohn Cole Scott, CIO – Closed-End Fund Advisors
PresentersJames Hickey, Managing Director of Alternatives – Spearhead Capital Advisors

2:15pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:15pm - Panel #2: “Current Trends for Large Scale BDCs: Opportunities For Quality Income”
Transcript
Video

Hear from some of the largest BDCs on how they have been performing for the most recent quarter. Benefits of being a large BDC when sourcing deals and securing leverage.

Moderator: Vlad M. Bulkin, Partner – Katten
Presenters
Mitch Goldstein, Co-President – Ares Capital Corporation
PresentersErik Bissonnette, Managing Director & Co-Head of Technology Investing – Owl Rock

PresentersRajneesh Vig, Chairman and CEO – BlackRock – TCP Capital Corp.

3:15pm to 3:20pm - Event Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

3:20pm to 4:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow AttendeesDay Two: Nov 17th1:00pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
ABCs
Transcript
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:15pm - Panel #1: “BDCs from the Analyst Perspective”
Transcript
Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott, Founder & Executive Chairman – AICA
Presenters
Mitchel Penn, Managing Director of Equity Research – Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
Presenters Nicholas Marshi, BDC Reporter
Presenters Casey Alexander, Managing Director – Equity Analyst – Compass Point Research & Trading

2:15pm to 2:30pm - Networking Break2:30pm to 3:15pm - Panel #2: “Unique Use of the BDC Structure”
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Kenneth Burdon, Counsel, Investment Management – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Presenters
Chris Oberbeck, Chairman and CEO – Saratoga
PresentersMichael S. Sarner, Chief Financial Officer – Capital Southwest

3:15pm to 3:30pm - Networking Break3:30pm to 4:15pm - Panel #3: “BDC Trends from the Service Providers Perspective”
Transcript
Video

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe, Host – Moneylife
Presenters
Meghan Neenan, Managing Director – Fitch Ratings
PresentersAndrew Hall, Managing Director New Listings – Nasdaq

PresentersTerri Jordan, Branch Chief, Chief Counsel’s Office of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management

4:15pm to 4:20pm - Event Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

4:20pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×

Speaker Bio:
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 BoardClose×

Speaker Bio:
Vlad Bulkin understands the unique needs of business development companies (BDCs) and registered closed-end funds (CEFs). From fund formation to capital raising activities, he brings industry-leading experience to clients at any stage. He has extensive transactional experience for BDCs and CEFs, including public and private securities offerings and strategic transactions.
Vlad taps into his deep regulatory and transactional knowledge to advise a broad range of clients, including BDCs, CEFs, private investment funds and other financial services firms. For BDC and CEF clients, he is well positioned to counsel them on establishment and operational matters, as well as regulatory and compliance with the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. He regularly works with alternative investment managers on developing permanent capital structures for their various asset classes.
Vlad frequently works with issuers and underwriters on a broad range of public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His experience includes initial public offerings (IPOs), Rule 144A offerings, shelf offerings, at-the-market offerings (ATMs), registered direct offerings, high-yield bond offerings, convertible debt offerings and rights offerings.
Public companies rely on Vlad to help navigate corporate governance and compliance matters. He regularly advises on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting obligations and other securities laws, including Section 16 compliance, Rule 10b5-1 plans, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Rule 144 and the listing requirements of the NYSE and NASDAQ.Close×

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.Close×

Speaker Bio:

David Miyazaki manages Confluence’s specialty finance portfolios with an emphasis on business development companies, which includes co-managing the First Trust Specialty Finance & Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: FGB). David is also a member of the Asset Allocation Committee and works with the firm’s balanced portfolios, focusing on fixed income investments.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Penn follows business development companies. Prior to joining Oppenheimer and Co. he followed business development companies at Janney Montgomery Scott. In addition, he was an Equity Portfolio Manager/Financial Analyst at Legg Mason Capital Management from 2001 to 2012 where he specialized in financial companies. From 1996 to 2001 he managed a $400M fixed income portfolio at Legg Mason Capital Management. Prior to joining Legg Mason Mr. Penn managed a $15B fixed income portfolio at Aetna. He also worked for Price Waterhouse from 1981 to 1985.
Mr. Penn received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995 and is a member of the Baltimore CFA Society. He was President of the Baltimore Society (2001-2002) and served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Penn received his Certified Public Accounting designation in 1983, but he no longer maintains this designation. He is a graduate of Villanova University, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma (1981) and University of Chicago (MBA-1987).Close×

Speaker Bio:

Overview
Serving clients in every major international financial center, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates is one of the leading law firms in the world, with 22 offices and approximately 1,700 attorneys offering solutions to the most challenging legal issues in virtually every area of corporate law.
Burdon bio
Kenneth E. Burdon represents public and private investment funds, investment advisers, financial services companies and other financial institutions in connection with the structuring and distribution of investment products, and in a variety of regulatory, compliance, corporate, governance, operational and transactional matters.Close×

Firm Bio:
Fitch Ratings is a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary, and research. Dedicated to providing value beyond the rating through independent and prospective credit opinions, Fitch Ratings offers global perspectives shaped by strong local market experience and credit market expertise. The additional context, perspective, and insights we provide help investors to make important credit judgments with confidence.
Fitch Group is a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries. Fitch Group is comprised of: Fitch Ratings, a global leader in credit ratings and research; Fitch Solutions, a leading provider of credit market data, analytical tools and risk services; Fitch Learning, a preeminent training and professional development firm; and Sustainable Fitch, the first global ESG Ratings solution for all asset classes at an entity and instrument level.
With dual headquarters in London and New York, Fitch Group is owned by Hearst.
For additional information, please visit fitchratings.com.
Speaker Bio:

Meghan Neenan is a managing director in Fitch Ratings’ financial institutions group and the North American head of Non-Bank Financial Institutions. Her coverage includes alternative and traditional investment managers, hedge funds, pension funds, securities firms, business development companies, consumer and commercial finance companies, and leasing companies.
Prior to joining Fitch in June 2006, Meghan was an equity analyst at Morningstar, Inc. covering companies in the financial institutions industry. She began her career as a bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, analyzing a wide range of institutions, from small community banks to large, complex banking organizations.
Meghan graduated summa cum laude from Mount Union College with a BA in accounting and business administration and earned her MBA from the University of Notre Dame. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts.Close×

Firm Bio:
Saratoga Investment is a specialty finance company that provides customized financing solutions to U.S. middle-market businesses. The Company invests primarily in senior and unitranche leveraged loans and mezzanine debt, and, to a lesser extent, equity to provide financing for change of ownership transactions, strategic acquisitions, recapitalizations and growth initiatives in partnership with business owners, management teams and financial sponsors. Saratoga Investment’s objective is to create attractive risk-adjusted returns by generating current income and long-term capital appreciation from its debt and equity investments. Saratoga Investment has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and is externally-managed by Saratoga Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor focusing on credit-driven strategies. Saratoga Investment owns two SBIC-licensed subsidiaries and manages a $650 million collateralized loan obligation (“CLO”) fund. It also owns 52% of the Class F and 100% of the subordinated notes of the CLO. The Company’s diverse funding sources, combined with a permanent capital base, enable Saratoga Investment to provide a broad range of financing solutions.
– Best phone number for the day of the event should there be any technical issues.
Chris: 917-509-7604 or Charmane 917-364-6055
Speaker Bio:
Christian Oberbeck is Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Saratoga Partners, a New York-based private alternative investment firm and Chairman and CEO of Saratoga Investment Corp. a publicly traded (New York Stock Exchange) Business Development Company. Mr. Oberbeck has been a Trustee since 1990 of a private foundation that donates primarily to education-oriented charities and scholarships. He started the Renaissance Scholars Fund at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1997 and at Brown University in 2004. He has been a member of the World Presidents’ Organization and Chief Executives Organization for many years and serves on the Board of Visitors at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, on the PEN America Board and on the Dean’s Council at the Harvard Kennedy School.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Nicholas Marshi is a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of BDC Investment Advisors (BDCIA) www.bdcia.com – a California Registered Investment Advisor. BDCIA specializes in the Business Development Company (“BDC”) sector – investing in both common stocks and bonds. BDCIA’s principal activity is managing an investment fund: BDC Fund II, which was launched in 2009. Mr Marshi is responsible for the firm’s investment management. Mr Marshi is also the editor of the BDC Reporter (see below), the leading online publication dedicated to the BDC sector, as well as the BDC Credit Reporter.
Previously Mr. Marshi-with Mr. Hansen- was a founder and principal of Southland Capital Partners (“SCP”), a Los Angeles based private equity firm. SCP was established in 1998 in Los Angeles in order to acquire controlling interests in middle market companies in the Southern California region. Prior to forming SCP, Mr. Marshi managed Kensington Capital Corporation, another private-equity investment firm, with a similar focus. In addition, Mr. Marshi was the head of the Los Angeles office of Kleinwort Benson, a British merchant bank, from 1987-1990 and was involved in leading investment banking, lending and principal investing activities. Before joining Kleinwort’s Mr. Marshi held various positions with Citibank at locations worldwide including Athens, Dubai, Puerto Rico and London. Mr. Marshi is a graduate of Tufts University (B.A.) and Harvard University (M.A.).Close×

Speaker Bio:
Rajneesh Vig, Managing Director, is a member of BlackRock’s Global Credit Platform and Chairman and CEO of BlackRock-TCP Capital Corp (NASDAQ: TCPC). He is Co-Head of US Private Capital and is the Investment Committee Chair for BlackRock’s US Private Capital (USPC) business.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Vig was a Managing Partner at Tennenbaum Capital Partners (TCP), where he was also Chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the Management Committee. TCP with its more than $9 billion in committed capital was acquired by BlackRock in 2018. Prior to TCP, Mr. Vig held roles within Investment Banking, Debt Capital Markets and the Structured Solutions Group at Deutsche Bank Securities from 1999 through 2006.
He currently chairs the US Private Capital Investment Committee, is a member of the Credit Oversight Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of TCPC, 36th Street Capital and Edmentum. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College.
Mr. Vig earned a B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College and an M.B.A from New York University.Close×

Firm Bio:
Owl Rock, together with its subsidiaries, is a division of Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE: OWL) and a New York-based alternative asset manager with approximately $34.6 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2021. Owl Rock manages multiple investment funds and products including business development companies. Owl Rock is comprised of a team of seasoned investment professionals with significant and diverse experience from some of the world’s leading investment firms and financial institutions. Owl Rock’s relationship-oriented approach to investing seeks to provide companies with sizeable commitments to facilitate transactions and support their growth needs with certainty, speed and transparency throughout the entire investment process.
Speaker Bio:
Erik Bissonnette, Managing Director, Co-Head of Technology Investing
Erik Bissonnette is a Managing Director of Blue Owl, Portfolio Manager of Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp., and is a member of the Adviser’s Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Owl Rock in 2018, Mr. Bissonnette was a Managing Director and Head of Technology Leveraged Finance at Capital Source from 2009 to 2017. In this capacity he was responsible for investing the firm’s capital in senior and junior debt facilities used to support private equity and venture capital transactions. Preceding Capital Source, Mr. Bissonnette worked in private equity at ABS Capital Partners. Prior to that, Mr. Bissonnette worked in investment banking as an Associate at Wachovia Securities and an Analyst at Banc of America Securities.
Erik received a B.A. in Economics with a double major in English from Wake Forest University.Close×

Firm Bio:
Founded in 2004, Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a leading specialty finance company focused on providing direct loans and other investments in private middle market companies in the United States. Ares Capital’s objective is to source and invest in high-quality borrowers that need capital to achieve their business goals, which often leads to economic growth and employment. Ares Capital believes its loans and other investments in these companies can generate attractive levels of current income and potential capital appreciation for investors. Ares Capital, through its investment manager, utilizes its extensive, direct origination capabilities and incumbent borrower relationships to source and underwrite predominantly senior secured loans but also subordinated debt and equity investments. Ares Capital has elected to be regulated as a business development company (“BDC”) and is the largest BDC by market capitalization as of September 30, 2021. Ares Capital is externally managed by a subsidiary of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES), a publicly traded, leading global alternative investment manager. For more information about Ares Capital, visit www.arescapitalcorp.com.
Speaker Bio:
Mr. Goldstein is a Partner and Co-Head of the Ares Credit Group. He serves on the Ares Executive Management Committee. He additionally serves as Co-President of ARCC and Vice President and interested trustee of CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund. He is a member of the Ares Credit Group’s U.S. Direct Lending, Pathfinder Fund, Pathfinder Core Fund and Commercial Finance Investment Committees and the Ivy Hill Asset Management Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares Management in May 2005, Mr. Goldstein worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Managing Director in the Financial Sponsors Group. At CSFB, Mr. Goldstein was responsible for providing investment banking services to private equity funds and hedge funds with a focus on M&A and restructurings as well as capital raisings, including high yield, bank debt, mezzanine debt, and IPOs. Mr. Goldstein joined CSFB in 2000 at the completion of the merger with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Goldstein was at Indosuez Capital, where he was a member of the Investment Committee and a Principal, responsible for originating, structuring and executing leveraged transactions across a broad range of products and asset classes. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Goldstein worked at Bankers Trust. He also serves on the Board of Managers of Ivy Hill Asset Management GP, LLC. Mr. Goldstein graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a B.S. in Accounting and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.Close×

Firm Bio:
SPEARHEAD is a boutique financial services firm focused on providing customized solutions for Ultra High-Net Worth Individuals, Family Offices, and Asset Management firms. We strive to provide long-term value to clients on an after income tax and estate tax basis by combining balance sheet risk management techniques together with investment management strategies.
Speaker Bio:
James Hickey serves as the Managing Director of Alternative Strategies for Spearhead.
Prior to this role, Mr. Hickey served as Chief Investment Strategist for Avantax, an independent broker-dealer & registered investment advisor with over $80B in assets. In this role, Mr. Hickey oversaw investment strategy, home office portfolios, and market research.
Prior to Avantax, Mr. Hickey served as Vice President and Portfolio Manager for FDO Partners (“FDO”), a $3B quant investment firm founded by Harvard Business School Professor Ken Froot. In this role, Mr. Hickey oversaw FDO’s alternative investing.
Prior to FDO, Mr. Hickey served as the Managing Director and CIO of the RiverRock Group and as President of RiverRock Securities, LLC, a licensed broker-dealer..
Previously, Mr. Hickey served as Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Aveta, the largest privately held Medicare Advantage health insurance company in the United States. Mr. Hickey also co-founded the health insurance company Touchstone Health Partnership, which he grew from concept to $50mil in revenue. In addition, Mr. Hickey served as a management consultant at Computer Sciences Corp. where he focused on insurance and healthcare.
Mr. Hickey received his MBA with honors from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and his bachelor’s degree with high honors from Harvard University.
Mr. Hickey holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and the FINRA Series 7, 24, 27, 66 and 79 registrations.Close×
Speaker Bio:
Casey Alexander is a Managing Director – Research Analyst with Compass Point covering the Business Development Companies, which he has been following since 2009. He also covers The Golf Equipment Industry since 1996 and the Specialty Insurance industry. Prior to joining Compass Point in 2016 he was the Director of Research, a Special Situations Analyst, and a member of the Gilford Securities Board of Directors. Prior to joining Gilford Securities Inc. Mr.Alexander spent eight years with PaineWebber Inc. During his tenure at PaineWebber, Mr.Alexander filled multiple roles including Head of Over-the-Counter Marketing, Divisional Sales Manager and Branch Manager. Mr. Alexander successfully completed the PaineWebber Equity Institute portfolio management program. Mr. Alexander has also been employed by Prudential Securities and E.F. Hutton during his 40-year career in the securities business. Mr. Alexander is a tournament golfer and has been ranked as one of the top amateur tournament golfers during his career.Close×
Speaker Bio:
Terri Jordan is a Branch Chief in the Chief Counsel’s Office of the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, she was a Senior Counsel in the Rulemaking Office of the Division of Investment Management, where she participated in policy initiatives on a variety of issues concerning the investment management industry. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Jordan was Counsel at Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP, where she focused her practice on issues related to business development companies and small business investment companies.
Close×

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
Email: itschuckjaffe@gmail.com
Phone: 781-383-6688Close×

Speaker Bio:
Andy Hall, Managing Director, Nasdaq New Listings
Andy has been with Nasdaq Listing Services since 2004, and has had various positions in the areas of Issuer Services & Market Intelligence. Andy has been on the New Listings team since 2007, and works with companies that are considering a Nasdaq listing. Andy has worked with companies that are moving from being a private to a public company in an IPO, and public companies that trade on the NYSE, NYSE American, TSX or OTC and are considering transferring, dual listing or uplisting to Nasdaq. Andy is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, DC.Close×

Firm Bio:
Capital Southwest (NASDAQ: CSWC) is an internally-managed, credit-focused BDC that is an active lender to middle market companies across the capital structure. CSWC provides flexible capital that fills financing needs that traditional first lien senior lenders are unwilling to meet. In particular, CSWC is well-positioned to finance lower middle market businesses with $3 to $25 million of EBITDA.
CSWC manages investable capital of approximately $1.2 billion. As of September 30 2021, CSWC had funded over $1.7 billion in new credit investments, including the capital invested in its I-45 Senior Loan Fund.
The Company is managed by an investment team with decades of experience working with one another.
The firm and all of its employees are located in Dallas, Texas
Speaker Bio:
Mr. Sarner joined Capital Southwest in the Summer of 2015 and brings over 20 years of financial, treasury & BDC experience. Before joining the Company, he spent 15 years at American Capital, Ltd. in a variety of financial roles, most recently as Senior Vice President, Treasury. Michael is the Chief Financial Officer at Capital Southwest and is responsible for initiatives related to the refocus of its BDC activities. Mr. Sarner received a B.B.A. in Business Administration/Accounting from James Madison University, an M.B.A. in Finance from George Washington University’s School of Business and Public Management and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Sarner now lives in Dallas with his wife and three sons.Close

Tax Free & Tax Advantaged Income for Investors
2021-09-29 13:00 - 2021-09-30 17:00 (America/New_York)
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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Day One: Sep 29th1:30pm to 1:45pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables
ABCs of Interval Funds
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

2:00pm to 3:00pm - Panel #1: Tax-Free Municipal Bond Exposure Through CEFs - Update & Outlook on the Muni Market
Transcript
Video

ModeratorsJohn Cole Scott, Founder & Executive Chairman, CIO – AICA, CEFA
Presenters
Stephen Candido, Portfolio Manager – Nuveen
PresentersJohn Lawlor, Managing Director – MacKay Shields
Presenters
Robert Amodeo, Head of Municipals – Western Asset Management
PresentersMatt Cody, Client Portfolio Manager – Amundi

3:00pm to 3:20pm - Networking Break3:20pm to 4:20pm - Panel #2: Using Preferred Equity to Diversify Your Taxable Income Portfolio
Transcript
Video

Moderators Michael Spatacco, Director, Cash Management – BanCroft Capital

Presenters
Brenda Langenfeld, Portfolio Manager – Nuveen
Presenters
R. Eric Chadwick, President – Flaherty & Crumrine Incorporated

Presenters
Brian Cordes, Senior Vice President – Head of Portfolio Specialists – Cohen and Steers

4:20pm to 4:25pm - Event Closing Remarks
ABCs of Interval Funds
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

4:25pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow AttendeesDay Two: Sep 30th1:30pm to 1:45pm - Attendee Login and Networking at Virtual Tables1:45pm to 2:00pm - Welcome
ABCs of Interval Fund
Video

John Cole Scott, CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com

2:00pm to 3:00pm - Panel #1: Fireside Chat with Parametric: Building and Managing a Tax Efficient Portfolio*
Transcript
Video

Presenters
John Cole Scott, Executive Chairman – AICA
Presenters Mark Milner, Investment Strategist – Parametric

3:00pm to 3:20pm - Networking Break3:20pm to 4:20pm - Panel #2: Why Now May be the Best Time to Invest in MLP / Energy Funds?
Transcript
Video

Moderator Mike Taggart, CFA, Founder & CEO – Taggart Fund Intelligence
Presenters
James Murchie, Founder and CEO – Energy Income Partners
Presenters
Matthew Sallee, President – TortoiseEcofin
Presenters
Sam Brothwell, Director of Research – Energy Income Partners

4:20pm to 4:25pm - Event Closing Remarks
Transcript
Video

John Cole Scott, Executive Chairman – AICA

4:25pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×

Speaker Bio:
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 BoardClose×

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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×

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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×
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.

Speaker Bio:
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.Close×
Investment Philosophy
We 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.Close×
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.Close×
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.Close×
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.Close×

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.Close×

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.Close

AICA Income Spotlight Summer 2021
2021-06-17 13:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Agenda
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Agenda1:30pm to 1:45pm - Attendee Login and Network at Virtual Tables1:45pm to 2:00pm - Welcome
ABCs of CEFs

John Cole Scott
with educational session:
“The ABCs of CEF’s

2:00pm to 3:00pm - Panel #1: “Seeking Income and Potential Growth from Real Asset Investing”
Join us for a diverse and thorough discussion covering various investment strategies from leading investment managers. In an investment environment where it is possible to see significant inflationary pressures for the first time in over 30 years, how can a diversified income portfolio potentially benefit from exposure to Real Assets, Real Estate and Infrastructure?
10 minutes Q&A after prepared discussions.

Moderator
Mariana Fariña Bush,
Managing Director,
Global Manager
Research – Wells Fargo
Presenter #1
Josh Duitz,
Senior Vice President,
Global Equities
Team – Aberdeen Standard Investments
ASGI / AWP
Presenter #2
Gaal Surugeon,
Director,
Portfolio Manager,
Real Asset Solutions – Brookfield
RA
Presenter #3
Matt Weyandt,
Client Portfolio
Manager – Nuveen
JRI / JRS
Presenter #4
Brian Kessens,
Managing Director
and Senior Portfolio Manager –
Tortoise
TEAF / TPZ / TYG

3:00pm to 3:20pm - Networking Break3:20pm to 4:20pm - Panel #2: “Sustainable Income from the Credit Markets”
Join us for a diverse and thorough discussion covering various investment strategies from leading investment managers. In an investment environment where it is possible to see significant inflationary pressures for the first time in over 30 years, how can a diversified income portfolio potentially benefit from credit investing that could benefit from inflationary pressures as a diversifier to equity exposure for income focused clients vs traditional fixed income strategies.
10 minutes Q&A after prepared discussions.

Moderator
Michael J. Spatacco,
Director,
Cash Management –
Bancroft Capital
Presenter #1
Matthew Kence,
Investment Director
and Portfolio Manager –
Aberdeen Standard Investments
ACP
Presenter #2
Navid Abghari,
Senior Portfolio
Manager – Angel Oak
DYFN / FINS
Presenter #3
Charles Arduini,
Partner and
Portfolio
Manager – Ares
ARDC
Presenter #4
Gretchen Lam,
Portfolio Manager –
Octagon
XFLT

4:20pm to 4:25pm - Event Closing Remarks
ABCs-of-CEFs

John Cole Scott
with educational session:
“The ABCs of CEF’s

4:25pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees×Your Content Goes Here
content goes here …Close×

Speaker Bio:
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 BoardClose×

Speaker Bio:
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.
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.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Arduini is a Partner and Portfolio Manager in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Mr. Arduini serves as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager for the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ARDC). Additionally, he serves as a member of the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2011, Mr. Arduini was a Managing Director at Indicus Advisors LLP, where he focused on structured credit investment opportunities. Previously, Mr. Arduini was Director of Structured Credit in the Fixed Income Investment Group and a Manager in the Risk Management Group at TIAA-CREF. In addition, Mr. Arduini worked in the telecommunications and information technology industries in various systems, operations and management roles. Mr. Arduini holds a B.A. from Bucknell University in Mathematics and an M.S. from Stevens Institute of Technology in Mathematics. Mr. Arduini also holds an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University in Computational Finance. Mr. Arduini is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Brian Kessens joined the firm in 2008. He is a managing director and senior portfolio manager, a member of the investment committee and serves as president of the Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. and Tortoise Power & Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. closed-end funds. Previously, Mr. Kessens was a vice president in Citigroup’s global energy investment banking practice. Prior to Citigroup, he served as a field artillery officer in the U.S. Army. Mr. Kessens earned a Bachelor of Science in economics degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School in New York. He is a CFA® charterholder. He served as Board President and nearly a decade as a board member and Treasurer for the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI), a Kansas City nonprofit preparing children with visual impairments to reach their highest potential in the sighted world.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Josh Duitz is Senior Vice President in the Global Equities Team at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Josh is responsible for managing the Aberdeen Global Infrastructure Fund, Aberdeen Total Dynamic Dividend Fund, Aberdeen Global Dynamic Dividend Fund and the Aberdeen Dynamic Dividend Fund ( AIFRX, AOD,AGD and ADVDX). Josh joined Aberdeen Standard Investments in 2018 from Alpine Woods Capital Management where he was a Portfolio Manager. Previously, Josh worked for Bear Stearns where he was a Managing Director, Principal and traded international equities. Prior to that, Josh worked for Arthur Andersen where he was a senior auditor.Close×

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.Close×
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 $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of 31 March 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
Speaker Bio:
Matt is a client portfolio manager for Nuveen’s real asset strategies. In this role, he works with portfolio managers to develop and communicate information about the products’ investment teams, process, and performance to institutional, retail, and defined contribution analysts and advisors.
He started working in the investment industry in 2008 when he joined the firm. Prior to his current role, he was a portfolio specialist supporting all of the firm’s equity strategies. Prior to that, he was an associate product manager and product analyst.
Matt graduated with a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Navid is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and a Portfolio Manager for the Financials Income Fund, Financial Strategies Income Term Trust and the Dynamic Financial Strategies Income Term Trust. He has over 15 years of experience in fixed income markets, focusing on corporate credit trading, risk management, credit derivatives and structured products.Prior to joining Angel Oak in 2015, Navid was an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Securities in New York, where he was head of Americas synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) trading. He oversaw the modeling and risk systems for the global tranche business, directed the U.S. hedging activities of the global tranche book, was market maker for synthetic CDOs, and ran the U.S. index basis book. In his time at J.P. Morgan, Navid was responsible for some of the most complex credit transactions, which included large credit portfolio buyouts, regulatory capital trades, counterparty risk-hedging trades, levered tranches, options on tranches, hybrid cash and synthetic CDOs, derivative product company equity, synthetic portfolio insurance, constant proportion debt obligations, CDO-squared transactions, forward-starting tranches, fixed recovery tranches, knock-ins/knock-outs and several other complex transactionsClose×
Wells Fargo Investment Institute is a registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company, providing investment research, strategy, manager research and thought leadership within the Wealth & Investment Management division, with the goal of supplying world-class advice to the company’s financial and wealth advisers.
Speaker Bio:
Mariana Fariña Bush is a managing director for Global Manager Research (GMR), a division of Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII). The GMR team conducts due diligence and provides research on the third-party money managers used throughout Wells Fargo’s brokerage, private banking, family wealth, and retirement businesses.
Ms. Fariña Bush began her career at Furman Selz in New York as an associate analyst following technology companies long before the Internet became a household name. She joined the firm in 1991 as an analyst in Investment Strategy and has remained steady through five legacy firms following mergers and acquisitions over almost three decades. Ms. Fariña Bush began following closed-end funds in 1993, and she assumed coverage of exchange-traded products in 1996. She has been widely quoted in publications such as Barron’s, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, while being a frequent and active participant in industry conferences.
Born and raised in Peru, Ms. Fariña Bush earned a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from Princeton University. She is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Washington DC, where she is located.Close×
Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (“PSG” or “the Firm”) is an SEC-registered investment adviser and represents the Public Securities Group of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for institutional and individual clients, including
financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth investors. PSG is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager.
Speaker Bio:
Gaal Surugeon has 11 years of industry experience and is a Director for Brookfield’s Real Asset Solutions team. He is responsible for portfolio construction and asset allocation for the firm’s diversified real asset portfolios. Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Gaal was an Executive Director at Oppenheimer Asset Management where he served as manager of the firm’s multi-asset portfolios and director of asset allocation and research. Prior to that, he was an Associate Economist at Decision Economics, Inc. Gaal holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.Close×
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.

Speaker Bio:
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.Close

BDC Investor Forum 2021
2021-05-27 13:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Agenda
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Agenda1pm to 1:15pm - Attendee Login and Network at Virtual Tables1:15pm to 1:30pm - Welcome
Slides PDFVideoABCs of BDCsTranscript

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

1:30pm to 2:30pm - Panel #1: “Traditional BDC Managers: Competition for Credit Platforms”
Review of this quarter’s earnings season and how BDC portfolio companies are handling the COVID recovery. How can BDCs benefit from inflationary pressures?
Transcript Video

Moderator
Kenneth Burdon,
Counsel,
Investment Management –
Skadden,
Arps,
Slate,
Meagher & Flom LLP
Presenter #1
Matt Pendo,
President &
Chief Operating Officer –
Oaktree OCSL
Presenter #2
Katie McGlynn, Director –
BlackRock TCPC
Presenter #3
Allison Rudary,
Head of CGBD
Shareholder Relations –
Carlyle CGBD
Presenter #4
Krishna Thiyagarajan,
Partner,
Co-Chief Risk
Officer and
Portfolio Manager –
SLR Sponsor Finance

2:30pm to 2:45pm - Networking Break

2:45pm to 3:35pm - Panel #2: “Assessing Risk & Opportunity in Public BDCs”
Looking at best practices and how BDCs are often structured differently from each other from the Service Provider’s perspective. A look at potential improvements for gaining more institutional investment ownership in the BDC sector
Transcript Video

Moderator
Mike Taggart,
CFA –
Taggart Fund Intelligence
Presenter #1
Mitchel Penn,
Managing Director
of Equity
Research –
CFA Oppenheminer
Presenter #2
Kabir Caprihan, CFA – JP Morgan
Presenter #3
Matthew Giordano,
Deputy Lead
Partner – Public
Investment Management,
KPMG
Presenter #4
Kaitlin Bottock,
Branch Chief,
Chief Counsel’s Office of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management

3:35pm to 3:50pm - Networking Break3:50pm to 4:30pm - Panel #3: “Institutional Investor Fireside Chat”
Join AICA’s Founder John Cole Scott, who as CIO of CEF Advisors is the portfolio consultant for SmartTrust UITs: CEFA Select BDC UIT Series 21. John and David will have a thorough and timely conversation on business development company analysis and how a firm like Confluence Investment works to create investment opportunities for their clients in a retail investor driven sector. This extended conversation should help educate financial advisors and institutional investors of how to research and manage risk in the BDC sector.
Transcript Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott,
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com
Presenter #1
David B. Miyazaki,
CFA –
Confluence Investment Management

4:30pm - Event Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

4:30pm to 5:00pm - Post Event Networking with Speakers, Sponsors, Members and Fellow Attendees
Slides PDFVideoABCs of BDCsTranscript

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

×Your Content Goes Here
content goes here …Close×

Speaker Bio:
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
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Speaker Bio:
Mr. Pendo is President and Chief Operating Officer of Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation and currently serves as Managing Director, Head of Corporate Development and Capital Markets for Oaktree. Mr. Pendo joined Oaktree in 2015. His prior experience includes serving as the chief investment officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award in 2013. Mr. Pendo began his career at Merrill Lynch, where he spent 18 years, starting in their investment banking division before becoming managing director of the technology industry group. Subsequently, Mr. Pendo was a managing director at Barclays Capital, first serving as co-head of U.S. Investment Banking and then co-head of Global Industrials group. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University, cum laude and is a former board member of Ally Financial and SuperValu Inc.Close×

Speaker Bio:

Overview
Serving clients in every major international financial center, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates is one of the leading law firms in the world, with 22 offices and approximately 1,700 attorneys offering solutions to the most challenging legal issues in virtually every area of corporate law.
Burdon bio
Kenneth E. Burdon represents public and private investment funds, investment advisers, financial services companies and other financial institutions in connection with the structuring and distribution of investment products, and in a variety of regulatory, compliance, corporate, governance, operational and transactional matters.Close×

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.Close×

Speaker Bio:

David Miyazaki manages Confluence’s specialty finance portfolios with an emphasis on business development companies, which includes co-managing the First Trust Specialty Finance & Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: FGB). David is also a member of the Asset Allocation Committee and works with the firm’s balanced portfolios, focusing on fixed income investments.Close×

Speaker Bio:

Katie McGlynn is head of investor relations for BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (Nasdaq: TCPC). She is also a member of the Product Strategy team supporting BlackRock’s U.S. Private Capital team. She is responsible for product development, marketing and investor relations — serving as a link between portfolio management teams and investors, including current and prospective shareholders of BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2018, Katie was a member of the investor relations team at Oaktree Capital. Earlier in her career, she held various roles at prominent financial services organizations, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and KPMG. Katie earned a BS in Accounting from Hartwick College, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.Close×

Speaker Bio:

Krishna joined SLR in 2010 and is Co-Chief Risk Officer and Portfolio Manager of SLR Sponsor Finance. Krishna is also a member of the Board of Managers of SLRC’s aircraft entities. Since joining SLR, Krishna has invested over $1.5 billion of capital in a variety of industries including aerospace, industrial, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, insurance, chemicals and business services. Prior to SLR, from 2006 to 2010, Krishna was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs Asset Management where he helped start the $1.5 billion Liberty Harbor Credit Hedge Fund and invested in both private and public credit. Prior to GSAM, in 2005 he was Vice President in the Amaranth Private Credit Group that subsequently moved to GSAM. Prior to Amaranth, from 2002-2006, Krishna was a Director in CIBC World Market’s New York Sponsor Coverage and Leveraged Finance group where he executed numerous private equity-related transactions including leveraged loans, high yield bonds and mezzanine debt.
Krishna holds a B.A. in Economics from Lawrence University, as well as an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of Business.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Allison Rudary is the Head of Shareholder Relations for TCG BDC, Inc. (NDAQ: CGBD). Prior to joining Carlyle, she worked at J.P. Morgan as an investment specialist. She spent eight years at Oppenheimer and Co., Inc. as a research analyst covering financials. Ms. Rudary received an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and received an AB from Barnard College.Close×

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Penn follows business development companies. Prior to joining Oppenheimer and Co. he followed business development companies at Janney Montgomery Scott. In addition, he was an Equity Portfolio Manager/Financial Analyst at Legg Mason Capital Management from 2001 to 2012 where he specialized in financial companies. From 1996 to 2001 he managed a $400M fixed income portfolio at Legg Mason Capital Management. Prior to joining Legg Mason Mr. Penn managed a $15B fixed income portfolio at Aetna. He also worked for Price Waterhouse from 1981 to 1985.
Mr. Penn received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995 and is a member of the Baltimore CFA Society. He was President of the Baltimore Society (2001-2002) and served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Penn received his Certified Public Accounting designation in 1983, but he no longer maintains this designation. He is a graduate of Villanova University, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma (1981) and University of Chicago (MBA-1987).
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Speaker Bio:
Kaitlin is a Branch Chief in the Chief Counsel’s Office of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Kaitlin’s work focuses on exemptive applications, no-action letters and counseling other divisions and offices at the SEC on investment management issues. Kaitlin joined the SEC in 2014.
Kaitlin received a Bachelor of Arts degree with high distinction from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to joining the SEC, Kaitlin worked at Dechert LLP.Close×
Speaker Bio:
Matt serves as an audit partner for a number of KPMG’s largest asset management clients in Boston, New York and Chicago. He also serves as the Deputy Lead Partner for KPMG’s Public Investment Management Practice. Matt has approximately 19 years of experience in the investment management industry providing professional services to the complete spectrum of investment management clients, including registered mutual funds, business development companies, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds.
Matt has recently spent two years in KPMG’s Audit Quality and Professional Practice Group, where he supported audit teams with technical accounting, audit and regulatory issues.
Prior to joining KPMG, Matt spent 5 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where he was the former Chief Accountant for the Division of Investment Management. In this position, Matt was responsible for interpreting new accounting regulations and directing the financial reporting and accounting practices of investment companies in compliance with the federal securities laws.Close×
Speaker Bio:
Kabir Caprihan is a Managing Director and the Senior Analyst covering Investment Grade and High Yield Financial Institutions within North American Credit Research. His coverage includes Global Banks, Regional Banks and Nonbank financial companies. He has been ranked within the top 3 for his sector by Institutional Investor Fixed Income Survey over the past ten years. Most recently, he was ranked #1 for Global Banks and #2 for Non – Bank Financials. Kabir has an MBA from Wake Forest University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Delhi University. He is a CFA charter holder period.Close

Interval Fund Boot Camp & Manager Spotlight
2021-03-31 13:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
INTERVAL FUND Boot Camp & Manager Spotlight: The March 31, 2021 Agenda is as follows:
Hosted on the REMO.co Platform: https://remo.co/remo-101/
Times in EST
Agenda
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CEF Advisors & CEFData.com

Agenda1pm to 1:10pm - Attendee Login Networking at Virtual Tables1:10pm to 1:25pm - Welcome
Slides PDFVideoTranscriptArticle

John Cole Scott,
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

1:25pm to 2:05pm - Panel #1: “Fixed Income Opportunities”

Moderator
Michael Hawn,
Sr. Vice President,
Business Development –
UMB Fund Services
Managers #1
Muhammad Gazi,
Vice President,
Product Specialist –
Griffin Capital
Managers #2
Julianne Woodson,
Managing Director –
BlackRock
Managers #3
Kevin Petrovcik,
Investment Specialist,
Leveraged Credit –
Invesco
Managers #4
Andrew Fox,
Investment Strategist –
Lord Abbett

2:05pm to 2:15pm - Networking Break

2:15pm to 2:55pm - Panel #2: Alternative Fixed Income Opportunities

Moderator
Benjamin McCulloch,
Managing Director &
General Counsel –
XA Investments
Managers #1
Christian Aymond,
Founder,
Principal –
A3 Financial Investments
Managers #2
Clayton Triick,
Senior Portfolio Manager –
Angel Oak
Managers #3
Gary Henson,
President –
Tortoise/Ecofin

2:55pm to 3:05pm - Networking Break3:05pm to 3:45pm - Panel #3: Real Estate Opportunities

Moderator
James Thompson,
Vice President,
Institutional Business Development –
NorthernTrust
Managers #1
Timothy Ryan,
Portfolio Manager –
Goldman Sachs
Managers #2
Randy Anderson,
CEO –
Griffin Capital
Managers #3
Ben Rotenberg,
Portfolio Manager –
Principal

3:45pm to 3:50pm - Networking Break3:50pm to 4:30pm - Panel #4: Pre-IPO and Other Private Market Opportunities

Moderator
John Cole Scott,
CIO –
Closed-End Fund Advisors
Managers #1
Robert Grunewald,
CEO & Founder
– FlatRock
Managers #2
Kevin Moss,
Managing Director –
SharesPost100
Managers #3
Bob Long,
CEO – StepStone
Managers #4
Daniel Wildermuth,
CEO – Wildermuth

4:30pm - Event Closing Remarks4:30pm to 5:00pm - Networking Time For Attendees, Speakers & Sponsors×

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

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As senior vice president of business development for UMB Fund Services, Michael focuses on opportunities in the north/south central and southeastern U.S. He has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and has extensive experience with custody and fund administration services for all types of investment fund structures. Before joining UMB, he held similar positions with Phoenix American Financial Services as well as ALPS, A DST Company. He previously served as regional vice president at Fiserv Investment Support Services. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University.

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Mr. Gazi joined Griffin Capital in 2018 and serves as a Vice President, Product Specialist. Mr. Gazi is a member of the Griffin Capital Credit Advisor Investment Committee and is responsible for Griffin Capital Credit Advisor’s product placement and strategy development.
Previously, Mr. Gazi was a senior credit strategist at PIMCO, focusing on PIMCO’s Global Credit Alternatives Strategies and Private Credit Opportunities. He was responsible for product development, marketing, and servicing of credit strategies. Prior, he was a CIO associate on the PIMCO Total Return portfolio management team working alongside PIMCO’s Chief Investment Officer on the Total Return Fund and Absolute return strategies. Prior to PIMCO, he worked at Prudential Financial as an FSA, focusing on retirement investments for high net worth individuals. Mr. Gazi has 12 years of investment experience.

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Julianne R. Woodson, CFA Managing Director, is a senior member of the Product Strategy team supporting BlackRock’s Global Credit platform. As a product strategist, Ms. Woodson focuses on developing solutions for clients across BlackRock’s traditional and alternative credit platform. In this role, she is responsible for product development, marketing and investor relations, acting as a link between portfolio management teams and investors. She focuses on liquid and private credit strategies, including Global Long/Short Credit, Multi-Strategy Credit and Aviation. Ms. Woodson’s service with the firm dates back to 2008, when she joined the Fixed Income Product Specialist team as part of BlackRock’s Analyst Program. Prior to her current role she was a Product Specialist covering core bond funds, mortgage and inflation protected products. Mrs. Woodson earned a BS degree, cum laude, in finance, and a minor in International Studies from The University of Maryland in 2008.

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Kevin Petrovcik is a Senior Client Portfolio Manager for Invesco’s Global Senior Loan group. He is responsible for the ongoing product development, structuring and marketing of investment funds for senior loans and alternative credit products.
Mr. Petrovcik joined Invesco Senior Secured Management, Inc. in 1999 to establish its product management initiative and launch the organization’s first collateralized loan obligation. Previously, Mr. Petrovcik was director of Loan Pricing Corporation’s (Thomson Reuters LPC’s) public data group, responsible for Reuters’ loan and high yield market commentary and analytics, LPC’s flagship Gold Sheets publication, and the development of web-based loan and bond market analytical and research tools. While at LPC, he developed and launched Reuters’ first fee-generating internet platform for analyzing and delivering loan and high yield market news and data, and also started the first loan market pricing service. Prior to that, Mr. Petrovcik worked at Bankers Trust Company in the management consulting group, where he implemented a variety of risk control and strategic management projects, and in Salomon Brothers Inc.’s business planning department. Mr. Petrovcik began his career in 1988 as a corporate credit analyst with The First National Bank of Chicago, where he completed the company’s credit analyst and credit officer training programs.
Mr. Petrovcik earned an MBA in finance and business policy from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and a BS degree in accounting and economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He holds the Series 7, 24, and 63 registrations.

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Andrew Fox is responsible for providing Lord Abbett’s portfolio management teams with investment insight and relevant market information for the firm’s fixed income strategies. In this role, he also communicates with institutional clients and prospects regarding current portfolio positioning and the firm’s market outlook. Mr. Fox also collaborates with the consultant relations, product development, and relationship management teams as appropriate.
Mr. Fox joined Lord Abbett in 2001. Prior to his current role, he worked in various capacities at Lord Abbett, including as an Internal Wholesaler and Director of Competitive Sales Analysis. In 2004, he became a member of the Portfolio Specialist Group, a team that represents the firm’s investment strategies to retail and institutional audiences. He was later was promoted to lead the group. He began his career at Prudential Securities in the Private Client Group. He has been in the financial services industry since 1999.
Mr. Fox earned a BA in political science from Montclair State University. He also is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst®(CFA) designation and Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation.

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Daniel Wildermuth is the founder and CEO of multiple financial services firms and current serves as CEO of several money management firms including Wildermuth Advisory, LLC, an institutional fund advisor; Wildermuth Asset Management, LLC an RIA managing separate accounts; and Wildermuth Securities, LLC, a distributing broker-dealer.
Mr. Wildermuth has been managing traditional and alternative assets for more than 20 years, and during that time, has he been teaching financial professionals how to most effectively utilize these different tools with their individual clients. His deep and varied public markets background was earned through managing over 25 different active and passive portfolios of equity and fixed income portfolios over different market cycles. His investment background is complemented by his pioneering the adaption of private securities within individual investor portfolios and includes his forming a mutual fund specializing in private securities. His unique combination of expertise in private and public markets gives him a special perspective that is complimented by his easy presentation style.
Daniel’s success and unique approach has garnered media coverage from Forbes Magazine, CNBC, Bravo TV, bankrate.com, Dow Jones Newswire, Senior Market Advisor, multiple trade publications, and other financial market news outlets. McGraw-Hill published two of his book outlining his approach (Wise Money: Minimizing Your Risk and Increasing Your Control & How to Keep and Grow Your Retirement Assets). He speaks frequently at industry conferences and is often quoted as an expert on various investments.
Mr. Wildermuth earned an MBA in Finance from Anderson School at UCLA and a BS in Engineering from Stanford University. Daniel lives with his wife, Carol, and their two children, Alexis and Jared, in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

Wildermuth Advisory, LLC is the adviser to Wildermuth Endowment Fund. Wildermuth Advisory CIO, Daniel Wildermuth and his team of experts apply their extensive investment management experience to offer extensive investment advice in categories ranging from more traditional investments, such as equities and fixed income, to various alternative investment categories, such as real estate, natural resources, private equity, absolute return, and more.

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Mr. Long has three decades of experience in the private markets and has led investment teams for global firms in both the general partner and limited partner role. He has served as the CEO of two publicly-traded companies focused on expanding private market access for high net worth investors.
Prior to Conversus, Mr. Long was the CEO of OHA Investment Corporation, a publicly-traded specialty finance company. Previously, he co-founded Conversus Capital, the largest publicly traded fund of third-party private equity funds with $3 billion of AUM and served as its CEO. Previously, Mr. Long led Bank of America’s $7 billion strategic capital division. Early in his career, Mr. Long served as the lead in-house counsel for a large portion of Bank of America’s Investment Banking Division and worked as a securities lawyer for a major law firm.
A recognized industry leader, Mr. Long was named one of 50 “GameChangers” by Private Equity International, has been profiled in the WSJ, and hosted CNBC Squawk Box Europe on numerous occasions. He is a founding Director of the Defined Contribution Alternatives Association and chairs its Public Policy Committee.
Mr. Long received his BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD from the University of Virginia. Mr. Long has served on board of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina and is active supporter of adoption organizations.

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Gary Henson joined the TortoiseEcofin board in 2009 and formally began working at the firm in 2016. He is an Executive Committee member and member of the Ecofin Development Committee and serves as President of TortoiseEcofin Investments, LLC. Mr. Henson was formerly the CIO for a family office as well as the CIO of Mariner Holdings and its affiliates. Mr. Henson has over 30 years of institutional money management experience at banks, insurance companies and foundations. Mr. Henson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Westminster College (Fulton, Mo.) and is a CFA® charterholder.
In addition, he is Trustee of 1248 Holdings. He serves on the board of directors of TC Wealth Partners, a Chicago-based wealth management firm, and Shatterproof, a national organization committed to ending the stigma of addiction with a particular focus on the prescription pill crisis. He is also a board member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Champions of Character.

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Robert K. Grunewald most recently served as the President and Chief Investment Officer of Business Development Corp. of America (BDCA). During his tenure at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald grew the company from $2.5 million of assets under management to $2.5 billion. BDCA was one of the top performing non-traded BDCs during Mr. Grunewald’s tenure. Mr. Grunewald hired the investment and origination teams, established BDCA’s strategy, and chaired the investment committee. He also established the firm’s loan management systems as well as its policies and procedures. While at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald also founded Kahala Aviation, a mid-life aircraft leasing business and The AR Capital BDC Income Fund, the first open-end mutual fund dedicated to investing in the BDC sector.
Mr. Grunewald has over 30 years of experience with middle market finance, BDCs and asset management. Within the finance industry, he has participated as a lender, investment banker, M&A advisor, private equity investor and hedge fund manager. As head of Financial Services M&A at NationsBank/Montgomery Securities from 1992 through 1997, Mr. Grunewald and his team completed numerous assignments for clients throughout the specialty finance industry. In 1997, Mr. Grunewald was recruited to lead the Specialty Finance Investment Banking Practice at what became Wachovia Securities. At Wachovia, Mr. Grunewald managed a number of high profile transactions, including initial public offerings and secondary offerings for some of the largest publicly-traded BDCs and finance companies including Capital Source, Ares Capital, American Capital Strategies, Allied Capital, and Gladstone Capital.
In 2006, Mr. Grunewald joined American Capital Strategies (‘‘ACAS’’), which was one of the largest publicly-traded BDCs before it was sold to Ares Capital Corp. in 2017. As head of the Financial Services Investment Practice from 2006 through 2009, Mr. Grunewald and his team focused on investment activity in the specialty finance, insurance, and asset management sectors. In his three years at ACAS, Mr. Grunewald committed over $1 billion to debt and equity investments generating an average annual return of 9.6%. While at ACAS he founded two highly successful financial services companies: Core Financial Holdings, a diversified commercial finance company and asset based lender, and American Capital Agency Corporation (NASDAQ: ‘‘AGNC’’), a publicly traded mortgage REIT.

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Benjamin D. McCulloch is General Counsel and Managing Director at XA Investments. Previously, Ben was an attorney in the investment management practice group at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where he counseled clients regarding federal securities laws applicable to U.S. registered funds, investment advisers, boards of directors/trustees and service providers.

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Clayton is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the UltraShort Income Fund, the Multi-Strategy Income Fund, the Strategic Credit Fund, and the Multi-Strategy Income UCITS Fund. He is a Portfolio Manager within the non-agency and agency residential mortgage-backed securities markets and focuses on cross asset fund allocation and interest rate risk management of Angel Oak’s funds and institutional separately managed accounts.
Clayton has been in the investment management industry since 2008 and has experience across multiple sectors of fixed income. Prior to joining Angel Oak in 2011, he worked for YieldQuest Advisors, where he was a member of the investment committee focusing on the interest rate risk, currency risk, and commodity exposures of the portfolios alongside directly managing the closed-end fund allocations within the portfolios and individual accounts.
Clayton holds a B.B.A. degree in Finance from the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) designation.

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Christian Aymond has over 32 years of Investment management, sales and marketing experience in the securities industry. Prior to co-founding A3 Financial Investments, Aymond was a Director at SBAM, an alternative credit hedge fund. Aymond also developed one of the first multi-manager, liquid alternative strategy products in the 40 act space as a Co-founder and Principal of Absolute Investment Advisers, LLC. He has also held various marketing and sales management positions at Putnam Investments and Federated Investors, Inc. Aymond received a B.A. in Economics from Denison University.

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Randy I. AndersonPreviously, Dr. Anderson held several senior executive positions at Bluerock Real Estate LLC, including founding partner of the Bluerock TotalIncome + Real Estate Fund where he was the Portfolio Manager. Prior toBluerock, Dr. Andersonwas a founding partner of Franklin SquareCapitalPartners, the firm that pioneered the non-traded Business Development Company. Dr.Anderson also served as the Chief Economist and a DivisionPresident for CNL Real EstateAdvisors, as the Chief EconomistandDirector of Research for the Marcus and MillichapCompany where he served on the Investment Committee, and as Vice President of ResearchatPrudential Real Estate Advisors. Dr. Anderson also served as the Howard Phillips EminentScholar Chair and Professor of Real Estate at theUniversity of Central Florida where he directed the research and education institute. Dr. Anderson was the former editor of the Journal of RealEstatePortfolio Management; was awarded the Counselors of Real Estate designation, named a Kinnard Young Scholar by the American Real EstateSociety, and named both a NAIOP ResearchFoundation DistinguishedFellow and a Homer Hoyt Institute Fellow.Dr. Anderson is also known for sharing his macroeconomic insights at investment industry events and in the media. He has provided economic commentary for prominent financial news outlets, most notably BloombergRadio, CNBC, TheStreet, and Fox Business News. Dr. Anderson has also been quoted in articles featured in Financial Advisor Magazine , GlobeSt.com, and National Real Estate Investor

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Vice President, Institutional Business Development Executive
Northern Trust
Upon graduating from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in business, James has spent the majority of his career in financial services, starting as a Private Banker at JP Morgan Chase then as a Financial Advisor at ING Financial Partners.
Subsequently, James began working at Northern Trust in 2014 and has had tremendous success both in sales and leadership roles. He is now in his third role at the firm, serving as an Institutional Business Development Executive for the firm’s funds and managed accounts group. In this role, James is tasked with developing new business with Asset Managers, Hedge Funds and ETF Investment Strategists.
James resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and two young sons and is an avid golfer.

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Tim is a portfolio manager for the US Value Equity team, where he has broad research
responsibilities across the value portfolios and oversees portfolio construction and investment research for the firm’s mid cap value strategy and US real estate securities strategy. Tim joined Goldman Sachs in 2010 as a vice president and was named managing director in 2015.
Prior to joining the firm, Tim spent six years at Oppenheimer Funds, where he had research responsibility for the financial services sector across all market capitalizations. Prior to that, he was a financials research analyst at Credit Suisse Asset Management and J.P. Morgan Investment Management Company.
Tim earned a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Boston College in 1996 and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School in 2001. He is a CFA charterholder.

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Kevin is currently the Managing Director of Liberty Street Advisors overseeing the operations and trading of the SharesPost 100 funds. He is also one of the creators of the SharesPost 100 Fund, serving as the President of the fund and one of the portfolio managers and members of the investment committee.
Prior to joining the SharesPost 100 Fund investment management team and Liberty Street Advisors, Inc., Kevin was a senior portfolio manager at First New York Securities, where he managed a global macro book. With over 17 years of senior level experience in financial services, Kevin’s specific areas of expertise include the management of client relationships, investment research coverage, block and position trading, and operations management. Kevin began his career as an institutional equities sales trader working for Instinet, and later Commerzbank. His client base included hedge funds, pension funds and proprietary trading desks. Subsequently, Kevin held a series of distinguished posts at leading hedge funds and proprietary trading firms including serving as the head of international trading for Libra Advisors and Opus Trading Funds.
Kevin received his undergraduate degree in finance from Tulane University and his MBA from Columbia Business School, magna cum laude.

The Sharespost 100 Fund is a 1940 Act, closed-end interval fund that seeks to invest in a portfolio of private, late stage, growth companies. While traditionally, such access to private companies has only been available to institutional and high net worth investors through highminimum, complex and paperwork laden private placement vehicles, the Sharespost 100 Fund provides all investors access to such companies, with a daily NAV, a quarterly redemption program, no performance fees and simple 1099 tax reporting

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Ben Rotenberg, CFA, CAIA – Portfolio Manager Ben is a Portfolio Manager at Principal Global Asset Allocation (PGAA), a specialized boutique within Principal Global Investors that engages in the creation of asset allocation solutions. He is responsible for co-managing our dynamic outcome suite of strategies. This includes all portfolio construction, asset allocation and manager optimization decisions relating to this suite of strategies. He joined Principal in 2014 and has been in the investment industry since 1993.
Previously, he was a Managing Director with Cliffwater LLC, and was responsible for investment manager due diligence and assisting clients with asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio construction. Ben was also a member of Cliffwater’s Investment Oversight and Risk Committee Prior to joining Cliffwater, Ben was Director of Research with National Fiduciary Advisors, an investment consulting firm based in Los Angeles, where he was responsible for conducting investment manager due diligence across multiple asset classes. Ben began his investment career at Wilshire Associates providing services to investment consultants in Wilshire’s Cooperative Universe Service division. He received a bachelor’s of arts from Pomona College. Ben has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations and is a member of the CFA Society of North Carolina.

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Coming soon!Close

AICA's Summer Summit
2020-08-13 10:00 - 2020-08-14 17:00 (Europe/London)
Agenda – AICA’s Summer SummitWelcome
Video

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com

Keynote Presenter
Video

Collin Bell
Managing Director, Global Head of Client Portfolio Management, Fundamental Equity
Goldman Sachs Asset Management

General Session - Institutional CEF Investor Panel
Video

ModeratorJohn Cole Scott, Founder, Exec Chairman, Active Investment Company Alliance
Speaker #1Ed Keating, Portfolio Manager – Lazard Asset Managemet
Speaker #2Matt Leffler, Portfolio Manager – RMB Capital
Speaker #3Doug Bond, Senior Executive VP – Cohen & Steers
Speaker #4Jonathan Browne, Portfolio Manager, Director of Closed-End Fund Research – Robinson Capital

BDC TrackPanel #1: BDCs from a Service Providers Perspective
Video

ModeratorMark O’Brien, Head of Sales & Marketing – Advantage Data
Speaker #1Kelly Thompson, Founder & Editor – Direct Lending Deals
Speaker #2Nicole Eisenberger, Partner – Ernst & Young
Speaker #3Michael Shekel, Director – Cherry Bekaert

Panel #2: What to Look for In a Quality BDC and Sector Outlook form Institutional Investors
Video

Moderator
Nicholas Marshi, Editor – The BDC Reporter moderated
Speaker #1
Troy Ward, Managing Director – Ares Management (not ARCC)
Speaker #2
Mike Petro, Portfolio Manager – Putnam Investments
Speaker #3
Dave Miyazaki, MPortfolio Manager – Confluence Investment Management

Panel #3: Learn the Shared and Unique Traits of The Premium (to NAV) BDCs
Video

Moderator
Bryce Rowe, Senior Equity Research Analyst – National Securities
Speaker #1
Scott Bluestein, President, Chairman & CEO – Newtek
Speaker #2
Barry Sloane, Managing Director – XA Investments
Speaker #3
Dwayne Hyzak, CEO – Main Street Capital
Speaker #4
Bowen Diehl, President & CEO – Capital Southwest

CEF Track 1Panel #1: Recent Developments in Activist & Governance Trends for CEFs
Video

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe, Host of The NAVigator – Money Life
Speaker #1
Phil Goldstein, Principal & Co-Founder – Bull Dog Investors
Speaker #2
Brian Schaffer, Managing Director – Prosek Partners
Speaker #3
Tom DeCapo, Partner – Skadden, ARPS, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Speaker #4
Peter Kimball, Executive Director – ISS Corporate Solutions

Panel #2 - Future of the CEF Structure: From Creation to How They Trade In The Secondary Market
Video

ModeratorKimberly Flynn, Managing Director – XA Investments
Speaker #1Neil Sullivan, Managing Director – Vision 4
Speaker #2Bill Meyers, Senior Managing Director – Nuveen Global Product Group
Speaker #3Andy Hall, Managing Director – NASDAQ
Speaker #4Marc Loughlin, Director – WallachBeth

CEF Track 2Panel #1 – Equity Access Through Closed-End Funds
Video

Moderator
Russel Robinson, Account Executive – CAPIS
Speaker #1
Peter Maletis, Portfolio Manager – Merk Investments
Speaker #2
Martin Connaghan Investment Director, Global Equities – Aberdeen Asset Management
Speaker #3
Peter Vanderlee, Manager – Clearbridge Investments

Panel #2: Taxable Fixed Income Options
Video

Moderator
Michael Spatacco, Director of Cash Management – Bancroft Vets
Speaker #1
Sanjai Bhonsle, Chairman & CEO – StoneCastle Financial
Speaker #2
Larry Holzenthaler, Investment Strategist, Analyst – Symphony/Nuveen
Speaker #3
Navid Abghari, Senior Portfolio Manager – Angel Oak
Speaker #3
Gretchen Lam, Portfolio Manager – Octagon

Panel #3 – Municipal Bond CEF Investing
Video

Moderator
Patrick Shaddow, Director of Index Operations – S-Network
Speaker #1
Paul Brennan, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager – Nuveen
Speaker #2
Samuel Weitzman, Product Specialist – Western Asset Management

Interval Fund TrackPanel #1 – Real Estate Investing in Interval & Listed CEFs
Video

Moderator
Joshua Deringer, Partner – Drinker Biddle & Reath
Speaker #1
Randy Anderson, Portfolio Manager – Griffin
Speaker #2
Svitlana Gubriy, Head of Global REIT Funds – Aberdeen Asset Management
Speaker #3
Sean Morris, Managing Director, Private Wealth Partners – CIM Group

Panel #2: Attractive Use of the Interval Fund for Investors
Video

Moderator
James Thompson, Vice President – Northern Trust
Speaker #1
Gregg Bell, Founder & Portfolio Manager – A3 Financial
Speaker #3
Christian Munafo, CIO – SharesPost Investment Management
Speaker #3
Jeremy Goff, Managing Director – Tortoise Advisors

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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 York State Society of The Cincinnati. Board member and Finance & Investment Committees for The William & Mary National Alumni Board.

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Patrick K. Thomson works on Virtu’s expansive ETF desk and focuses on Equites, Fixed Income ETF’s and bonds. Patrick’s responsibilities include block market making and transition trades in ETF’s, working with issuers on developing new and managing existing ETFs, while trading an ETF’s for a firm that see’s 20% of retail ETF volume in the United States.
Over the last 7 years, Patrick and Rich Mauro have built a Fixed Income ETP franchise, providing transparent trading solutions for clients with an emphasis on total cost of execution. Patrick was Europe the last 3yrs helping expand the businesses there. Known for its global scale, competitive liquidity, and transparent execution service, Virtu’s disclosed and customized offerings are built on the quality of its liquidity and accountability to the relationship. Over the past decade, Virtu has become one of the largest global liquidity providers in equities, ETPs, foreign exchange, fixed income, and commodities such as energy, metals, and softs.
Patrick started his career in ETP’s at their “birthplace” on American Stock Exchange in 2000. Over the next 11 years at Goldman Sachs, Patrick participated in the rapid expansion of ETP’s as a trader on both the AMEX and NYSE. During that time, his initial focus on domestic and international equities shifted to the fixed income and commodity space as his role evolved from low-latency, principal trading to client facilitation.

Virtu is a leading provider of financial services and products that leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver liquidity to the global markets and innovative, transparent trading solutions to its clients. Leveraging its global market making expertise and infrastructure, Virtu provides a robust product suite including offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. Virtu’s product offerings allow clients to trade on hundreds of venues across 50+ countries and in multiple asset classes, including global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, futures, fixed income and a myriad of other commodities. In addition, Virtu’s integrated, multi-asset analytics platform provides a range of pre and post-trade services, data products and compliance tools that clients rely upon to invest, trade and manage risk across global markets.

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Mr. Pines is a Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Bramshill Investments where he co-manages their flagship Income Performance Strategy with Bramshill’s CIO. Prior to joining Bramshill Investments in 2012, Mr. Pines spent over a decade as a Proprietary Trader and Portfolio Manager leading a multi-asset class strategy which specialized in quantitative modeling techniques and utilized fundamental research to determine relative value. The bulk of that time was with Assent (Sungard Financial) and Chimera Securities. He also spent a year with Accenture in their Core Trading Services Group. He has over 20 years of investment experience in fixed income and exchange traded securities within both long-only and long-short investment vehicles. Mr. Pines has been involved in charitable organizations such as NextStep, The Hoya Diamond Club, and Party with Purpose where he spent several years on the board. He holds a Masters Graduate Certificate in Algorithmic Trading from Stevens University. Mr. Pines graduated cum laude with a B.S. in finance from Georgetown University.

Bramshill Investments, LLC is an employee owned alternative asset management firm that specializes in investment opportunities across the fixed income universe in sectors such as corporate bonds, preferred securities, municipal bonds, structured credit and credit-themed equities. The firm was founded in 2012, however, Bramshill strategies have over fourteen year track records with a core absolute return approach. Our investments are designed with the intent to preserve and grow our investors’ capital utilizing our fundamental value-based approach. Bramshill’s investment professionals provide portfolio management and strategy specific solutions across both liquid and illiquid asset classes. We approach risk management with a probability of loss analysis of individual securities combined with both macro and quantitative inputs. Our clients consist of institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. Strategies are managed in co-mingled vehicles, SMAs, and through sub-advisory mandates. Bramshill’s team-oriented approach and firm philosophy have been the core reasons for our success in investing, client relationships, and risk management.

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Phillip Goldstein

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Adam Sparkman is a client portfolio manager for Thornburg Investment Management. He works with Thornburg’s investment team and serves as a liaison for the team and key investment decision makers, communicating process and results of the firm’s investment strategies.
Adam joined Thornburg in 2014 and was previously a member of the firm’s business development group. Prior to Thornburg, he worked as a business analyst at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Adam graduated cum laude with a BBA in finance from The Sam M. Walton College of Business at University of Arkansas and holds an MBA from New Mexico State University. He is a CFA charterholder.

Founded in 1982, Thornburg Investment Management is a privately owned global investment firm that offers a range of multi-strategy solutions for institutions and financial advisors. A recognized leader in equity, fixed income, and multi-asset solutions, the firm oversees $42 billion (Includes $40.9 billion in assets under management and $1 billion in assets under advisement as of June 30, 2023) across mutual funds, closed-end funds, institutional accounts, separate accounts for high-net-worth investors and UCITS funds for non-U.S. investors. Thornburg is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with additional offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
At Thornburg, we believe unconstrained investing leads to better outcomes for our clients. Our culture is collaborative, and our investment solutions are highly active, high conviction and benchmark agnostic. When it comes to finding value for our clients, it’s more than what we do, it’s how we do it: how we think, how we invest and how we’re structured.

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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.

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Sara Levin serves as a Director of ETF and Derivative Trading Solutions at WallachBeth’s Cross Asset Solutions team, providing institutional clients guidance on the complex and evolving exchange-listed space. Sara brings a deep understanding of the institutional investment landscape with particular expertise in fund structuring, business strategy and distribution across asset classes, with an emphasis on Derivatives and ETFs.

WallachBeth Capital is a leading provider of institutional execution services, offering our clients a full spectrum of solutions to help them navigate increasingly complex markets. We employ a holistic process for developing and implementing sophisticated trading strategies, leveraging a combination of deep product knowledge, extensive market insight and a consultative approach. Our areas of expertise include trading solutions within ETFs, equities, derivatives, mergers and acquisitions, and CEFs.

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Steve joined RiverNorth in 2007 and serves as Portfolio Manager. Steve co-manages the firm’s closed-end fund trading strategies and helps to oversee the firm’s closed-end fund investment analysts.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.

RiverNorth is an investment management firm founded in 2000 that specializes in opportunistic strategies in niche markets where the potential to exploit inefficiencies is greatest. RiverNorth is the manager to multiple registered and private funds.

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Chirag Goyanka is a seasoned expert in alternative investments, bringing a unique perspective from both the product and fundraising sides of the industry. With over two decades of experience spanning Asia and the United States, Chirag has successfully navigated the ever-evolving landscape of private and public markets. His entrepreneurial mindset and a proven track record in fundraising, business development, and marketing set him apart.
Chirag embarked on his career as a Wealth Manager in Asia and later played a pivotal role in launching his firm’s asset management business in the United States. Over the years, he has held key positions in distribution and product roles. In his current role as Head of Intermediary Solutions at Moonfare, Chirag leads the charge in launching the Intermediary business for Moonfare in the US

Moonfare offers advisors & their individual investors access to private market investment opportunities. With its digital onboarding process and asset management platform, Moonfare allows investors to register and invest directly online.* To date, Moonfare has offered more than 95 private-market funds from top general partners worldwide such as KKR, Carlyle and EQT with an emphasis on private equity buyouts, venture, growth and real asset categories like infrastructure. Moonfare’s investment team conducts ground-up due diligence on all funds. Fewer than 5% of available funds pass this process and make it onto the Moonfare platform. This focus on quality is one reason why Moonfare has won the trust of 4,000 clients who have invested more than $2.9 billion on its platform. Headquartered in Berlin, Moonfare operates in 23 countries across Europe, Asia, America and has offices in New York, Hong Kong, London, Zürich, Singapore, Paris and Luxembourg. For further information, please visit www.moonfare.com and LinkedIn

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Shane Klein is the Head of the Financial Institutions Group (Americas) at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation having joined the bank in July 2013. Prior to SMBC, Mr. Klein was the U.S. Head of Funds at Lloyds Bank responsible for coverage of a variety of Financial Institutions including Asset Managers, Regulated Closed End Funds, Private Equity Funds, BDCs and Insurance companies. In 2008, Mr. Klein established the Private Equity Fund Finance (Subscription Financing & Hybrid Financing) in the U.S. while cross selling the various products of the firm. Additionally, Shane oversaw and managed over $300m of LP interests in 17 Private Equity Funds.

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 150 offices and 86,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and ADRs on the New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.
In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities Canada, Ltd., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC Rail Services LLC, Manufacturers Bank, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

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Mr. Pritchett is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Prior to joining Ares in 2011, Mr. Pritchett was an Associate at Indicus Advisors. Mr. Pritchett holds an M.Eng. from Imperial College London in Mechanical Engineering.

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.
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 June 30, 2023, Ares Management Corporation’s global platform had approximately $378 billion of assets under management, with over 2,600 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.

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Ryan Crewe | Vice President, Institutional Relationship ManagerPrior to joining Liberty Street Advisors, Inc., Ryan was Head of Australia & New Zealand at Altive, a venture-backed investment platform providing access to alternative products across pre-IPO, venture capital, private equity and credit. Prior to Altive, he was a Head of Wholesale, HNW and Family Office Distribution at GAM Investments (Australia). His experience has focused on the distribution of alternative investment products to qualified and institutional investors.
Ryan graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a BBA in Finance and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

The Private Shares Fund seeks capital appreciation by focusing on investments in late-stage, venture-backed private companies. As compared to startups and earlier-stage venture companies, these companies have more established product lines and customer bases, and typically have displayed revenue growth. The Private Shares Fund’s strategy is to participate in the potential appreciation of these dynamic pre-lPO companies.
The Private Shares Fund investment management team monitors an extensive universe of private technology and innovation companies across multiple sectors while staying attuned to significant trends in the marketplace. By utilizing proprietary databases and deep relationships across the venture ecosystem, we look to identify opportunities involving high-performing companies with strong investor syndicates. Each of these companies will undergo an in-depth analysis of many factors that are likely to influence both capital appreciation and the ultimate exit outcome. Once the evaluation process is complete, the investment team will negotiate terms and determine the appropriate allocation based on portfolio construction modeling.

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Jonathan Mondillo is Head of US Fixed Income at abrdn. He is responsible for overseeing all public and private markets fixed income teams in the region, which include IG Credit, HY Credit, Municipals, and USPP. He is further responsible for five municipal bond and infrastructure debt funds that invest in both investment grade and high yield credits. Jonathan joined the firm in 2018 from Alpine Woods Capital Investors, LLC, when two mutual funds he managed were acquired by Aberdeen Standard Investments. Prior to that, Jonathan worked for Fidelity Capital Markets. Jonathan graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Bentley University.
Qualifications
BSc
BS in Finance. Jonathan holds both Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three vectors – Investments, Adviser and Personal – focused on their changing needs. Our investments solutions are built on the strength of our insight – generated from wide-ranging research, worldwide investment expertise and local market knowledge. Our teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives, working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs.

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George Westervelt is Head of Global High Yield and Head of US High Yield Research. He is one of the Portfolio Managers on the team that manages the Global High Yield strategies and is also a member of the North American Fixed Income Leadership team. George joined Aberdeen Standard Investments in 2009 as a Credit Analyst and joined the portfolio management group in 2011. Prior to joining abrdn, George worked at MFS Investment Management in Boston and Citigroup in New York. He earned a BA in English from the University of Vermont and is a CFA charterholder.
Qualifications:
BA, CFA
George earned a BA in English from the University of Vermont and is a CFA charterholder.

Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three vectors – Investments, Adviser and Personal – focused on their changing needs. Our investments solutions are built on the strength of our insight – generated from wide-ranging research, worldwide investment expertise and local market knowledge. Our teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives, working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs.

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Josh Duitz is Deputy Head of Global Income and Infrastructure at abrdn. Josh joined Alpine Woods Capital Management in 2007, where he was a Portfolio Manager of its Global Dynamic Dividend and Global Infrastructure strategies. The management contracts of the funds he managed at Alpine Woods were acquired by abrdn in April 2018. Previously, Josh worked for Bear Stearns where he was a Managing Director, Principal and traded international equities. Prior to that, Josh worked for Arthur Andersen where he was a senior auditor. Josh continues to be responsible for managing the Global Dynamic Dividend and Global Infrastructure strategies.Qualifications:Josh graduated with an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA from Emory University.

Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three vectors – Investments, Adviser and Personal – focused on their changing needs. Our investments solutions are built on the strength of our insight – generated from wide-ranging research, worldwide investment expertise and local market knowledge. Our teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives, working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs.

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James Ryan is responsible for leading the distribution strategies of Destra’s investment offerings. Mr. Ryan brings more than 40 years of broad experience in sales management, asset management and client development to the role. He is accomplished in strategic planning and analysis & business-to-business development, and has fostered long-standing relationships and successful practices across all distribution channels, business platforms and product structures including IPOs, Mutual Funds, Structured Products, Closed-End Funds, Retirement Offerings, UITs and SMA/UMA.

Founded in 2008, Destra Capital was purpose-built to help independent thought leaders achieve better wealth outcomes by sourcing the next generation of investment solutions.To achieve these goals, Destra selects experienced partners with unique investment strategies or services. Mutual funds, interval funds, closed-end funds, separate accounts, and investment services – all are tools that the team uses to help investors intentionally grow their wealth outcomes over time.
More than 15 years later, the firm has helped thousands of investors break away from the pack and blaze their own investing trail. We continue to encourage our clients to challenge the conventional and explore new ways of delivering financial freedom.

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Kevin T. Hardy represents public and private funds, fund sponsors, investment advisers, broker-dealers, investment banks and other financial institutions in connection with the design and formation of investment funds and products, securities offerings, regulatory and compliance matters, transactions and other corporate matters.
Mr. Hardy has been repeatedly selected for inclusion in Chambers Global and Chambers USA, in addition to being named one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2022 Notable Gen X Leaders in Law.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates delivers the highest quality advice and novel solutions to legal challenges, enabling clients to achieve their business goals. We are known for the innovative and creative thinking we rely on to handle the most complex transactions, litigation/controversy issues, and regulatory matters, as well as the open, collaborative relationships we build with clients, including corporations; financial and governmental entities; small, entrepreneurial companies; and cultural, educational and charitable institutions.

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Jake manages Destra’s mutual fund products and oversees Destra’s secondary market support services for several NYSE listed closed-end funds. Jake contributes to the Firm’s product, marketing, and legal teams through product management and development efforts, data generation and investment content creation, as well as day-today operational support and documentation. Jake also sits on the Firm’s Investment Committee adding to portfolio oversight and monitoring in conjunction with manager & fund research, selection, and due diligence. Jake received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds the FINRA Series 7 and 66 securities licenses and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Jake is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Chicago.

Founded in 2008, Destra Capital was purpose-built to help independent thought leaders achieve better wealth outcomes by sourcing the next generation of investment solutions.
To achieve these goals, Destra selects experienced partners with unique investment strategies or services. Mutual funds, interval funds, closed-end funds, separate accounts, and investment services – all are tools that the team uses to help investors intentionally grow their wealth outcomes over time.
More than 15 years later, the firm has helped thousands of investors break away from the pack and blaze their own investing trail. We continue to encourage our clients to challenge the conventional and explore new ways of delivering financial freedom.

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Elliot J. Gluck is a partner in the Asset Management Department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Mr. Gluck’s practice focuses on representing mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), their investment advisers and their boards. He has extensive experience in counseling on the organization and operation of registered investment companies, including with respect to a broad range of innovative and novel products and structures. Mr. Gluck counsels clients with respect to trending investment products, such as interval funds, trending investments and investment strategies, such as digital assets and ESG. He regularly advises registered funds and their boards on a wide range of compliance, corporate governance and complex regulatory matters. Mr. Gluck also represents closed-end funds in capital markets transactions, including initial and secondary public offerings of common and preferred stock and rights offerings, and counsels closed-end fund and their boards on strategic matters, such as addressing share price discounts and dealing with activist investors.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP provides leading-edge legal solutions on complex, business critical issues spanning markets and industries. Our approximately 1,200 attorneys across 13 offices worldwide deliver innovative, pragmatic and sophisticated legal services across more than 45 practice areas.

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Michael is a senior market strategist at Nuveen. In this role, he supports sales and marketing activity related to all of the firm’s municipal managed money products: open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds and managed accounts. He serves as one of the company’s chief spokespersons on economic issues and investment philosophy, especially related to municipal bond investments and tactical asset allocation. Michael brings a unique perspective as a long-time direct participant in the financial markets.

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 $1.1 trillion in assets under management as of 30 Jun 2022 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. Nuveen is a leading sponsor of closed-end funds (CEFs) with $57 billion of assets under management across 56 CEFs as of 30 Jun 2022. The funds offer exposure to a broad range of asset classes and are designed for income-focused investors seeking regular distributions. Nuveen has more than 35 years of experience managing CEFs.

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Scott is responsible for senior loan-focused portfolio management. When Scott joined Nuveen affiliate Symphony Asset Management in 2002, he was a gaming and industrials analyst providing long and short credit ideas to the investment team up and down the capital structure. Scott began trading loans for the platform in 2003 and in 2005 was named an associate portfolio manager on the firm’s loan strategies. He became the lead portfolio manager on the firm’s loan strategies in 2008. Prior to joining the firm, Scott was an investment banking analyst in the industrial group at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown in New York. Scott graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Georgetown University.

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 $1.1 trillion in assets under management as of 30 Jun 2022 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. Nuveen is a leading sponsor of closed-end funds (CEFs) with $57 billion of assets under management across 56 CEFs as of 30 Jun 2022. The funds offer exposure to a broad range of asset classes and are designed for income-focused investors seeking regular distributions. Nuveen has more than 35 years of experience managing CEFs.

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Chris Janus has 16 years of industry experience and is a Director on the Public Securities Group’s Real Asset Debt team. He is responsible for covering Real Estate and CMBS. Previously, he was a Director on our Structured Products team focused on CMBS, CRE CLOs and direct lending. Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Chris began his career at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey within the Real Estate Investment Banking group. Chris earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Miami University.

At Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions, we partner with financial advisors to bring institutional-caliber alternative solutions and insights to individual investors. Our solutions are built to meet the varying needs of individual investors, and they are coupled with market and investment insights based on our unique products and portfolio expertise. We offer specialized support for financial advisors and their clients, built on a foundation of investment excellence, integrity and alignment of interests.

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James Bruno is a Managing Director and Head of Product Development and Advocacy for Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions. In this role, he leads global product development and programs aimed at helping advisors navigate the world of alternative investments and their role in client portfolios. Before joining the firm in 2023, Mr. Bruno was a Managing Director, Co-Head of Product Origination and Development for Alternative Investments at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, including private equity, private credit, real estate, hedge funds, customized solutions, and pre-IPO offerings. Over his fifteen-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Bruno held other roles within alternative investments, including Head of Product Development for all illiquid products and liquid offerings. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Bruno held alternative-focused product development roles at HSBC and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Bruno has an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, a B.S. in Accounting from Long Island University, and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

At Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions, we partner with financial advisors to bring institutional-caliber alternative solutions and insights to individual investors. Our solutions are built to meet the varying needs of individual investors, and they are coupled with market and investment insights based on our unique products and portfolio expertise. We offer specialized support for financial advisors and their clients, built on a foundation of investment excellence, integrity and alignment of interests.

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Daniil is a director in Cerulli’s Product Development practice, where he works on the identification, analysis, and reporting of asset management industry trends with a focus on the distribution of alternative investments to the private wealth segment.

For over 30 years, Cerulli has been at the forefront of the industry, delivering groundbreaking market intelligence. It is our mission to arm asset managers, wealth managers, private equity firms, and financial technology firms with data, research, and advice they need to grow.

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Carolyn Murphy-Lepore is a Portfolio Manager at City of London Investment Management Company Limited (CLIM), based in the company’s US office. Mrs. Murphy-Lepore is responsible for management of the firm’s investments in the Americas with respect to research, trading and corporate governance. She joined CLIM as a Research Analyst in 2007 and has been a Portfolio Manager since 2012. She has served as the Head of both the Dubai and Singapore offices of CLIM. Prior to joining CLIM, Mrs. Murphy-Lepore worked as a Registered Sales Assistant at Raymond James Financial, Stifel Nicolaus and Legg Mason Capital Management. She has a BA from the University of Delaware.

City of London Investment Management was formed out of the London-based operations of Olliff & Partners PLC (O&P) that had been founded by Barry Olliff in 1987. O&P was an agency stockbroker and corporate finance boutique. Mr. Olliff launched City of London Unit Trust Managers, the predecessor of City of London Investment Management, in 1991.

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Paul E. Dunn is Executive Vice President of Bluerock Capital Markets, LLC (BCM) and is responsible for building the firm’s internal/external infrastructure as the company experiences explosive growth. Since 2011, he has been a key member of the management team that has been responsible for the Bluerock Total Income+ Real Estate Fund (a ’40 Act Mutual Fund) and the Bluerock Resident Growth REIT (NYSE American: BRG).

Bluerock was founded in 2002 and is based in New York City. Today, the firm has acquired and managed over $15 billion in assets on behalf of more than 120,000 investors. Bluerock serves the growing need for alternative investments … where there is asymmetric risk and return opportunities (well off the efficient frontier). In 2022 and 2023, Bluerock was and is a finalist for Barron’s Asset Manager of the Year. Bluerock currently sponsors two interval funds: Bluerock Total Income+ Real Estate Fund, the nation’s largest real estate interval fund with $6.5 billon of AUM and an 11- year track record and the Bluerock High Income Institutional Credit Fund which invests in a $9 billion portfolio of senior secured loans. In addition, the firm is one of the most seasoned sponsors of DSTs providing tax advantaged exchanges to investors.

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Kimberly Flynn serves as Managing Director at XA Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of XMS Capital Partners. She is a partner in the firm and responsible for all product and business development activities. Kim created the alternative registered trust platform at XA Investments working in partnership with independent subadvisers representing best-in-class alternative investment managers.Previously, Kim was Senior Vice President and Head of Product Development for Nuveen Investments’ Global Structured Products Group. In her 11 years at Nuveen, she helped developed over 40 closed-end funds raising ~$13 billion in capital. In her leadership role at Nuveen, Kim was responsible for asset raising activities through the development of new traditional and alternative investment funds including CEFs, ETFs, UITs and commodity pools.Kim received her MBA degree from Harvard University, where she was a William J. Carey scholar and President of the HBS Volunteers. Before attending Harvard Business School, Kim spent three years working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division (1999-2002) in their Chicago office.

XA Investments LLC (XAI) is a Chicago-based investment manager founded by XMS Capital Partners in April 2016 to pursue a single goal: provide investors with access to institutional-caliber alternative investments. XAI has approximately $428 million in assets under management as of June 30,2023.
In offering quality alternatives that were previously inaccessible to the individual investor community, XAI not only challenges common views about liquidity, but allows individuals to better align themselves with the institutional approach to investing.

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Ms. Charles, as the Managing Director and Director of Closed-End Fund is responsible for setting general research policy and strategy. She joined Raymond James Financial in November 1995 and joined the Closed-End Fund Research group in September of 1998.
Amy also was the Director of ETF Research until June 2021. Prior to joining Closed-End Fund Research, she spent two and a half years in the Equity Research Department. She has been the Director of Closed-End Fund Research since May of 2000. She holds a B.A. from Florida Metropolitan University. Ms. Charles has been quoted in several publications including Business Week and has been a speaker at numerous conferences throughout the year.

Raymond James Financial, Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company providing financial services to individuals, corporations, and municipalities through its subsidiary companies that engage primarily in investment and financial planning, in addition to investment banking and asset management. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, Raymond James is one of the largest banking institutions in the United States.
Today, that client-focused approach has extended to serve client accounts through approximately 8,700 financial advisors in the United States, Canada and overseas. Further, the company has expanded through the years to serve corporations, institutions and municipalities through significant capital markets, banking and asset management services.

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Douglas Bond, Executive Vice President, is Head of Closed End Funds and a portfolio manager for Cohen & Steers’ Closed-End Opportunity Fund and other portfolios investing in closed-end funds. Before joining Cohen & Steers in 2004, Mr. Bond worked at Merrill Lynch for 23 years. Between 1992 and 2004, he ran their closed-end fund new origination effort and was involved in all closed-end funds underwritten by Merrill Lynch. He also headed Merrill’s Private Client Syndicate Group.
Mr. Bond holds a BA from Hamilton College and an MBA from New York University. He is based in New
York.

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Director / Trustee and Bank Executive with international finance and capital markets expertise in the North American, European and Australasian markets. Governance, Executive and Practitioner level experience leading high profile, high value banking, funds management and technology organizations.
Sample Experience: Independent Director / Trustee – abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund (ASGI). Former Chairman – Macquarie Global Infrastructure TRF (MGU), Board Risk Advisor – National Bank of Greece, Non-Executive Director – Anglo Irish Bank / IBRC Assurance Corporation, Chairman – National Australia Capital Markets (NACM), Trustee – Institute of International Bankers. Also, EVP / GM / Head of North America / Head of Energy & Utilities – National Australia Bank, Head of North American Strategy Projects – Bank of Ireland, Vice President – Mellon Bank – International, Board Advisor – Ad Fontes Media.

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Mr. Sell is the Principal of Edison Holding GmbH, which invests in and advises on commercial real estate and early-stage seed investments in Berlin.
Mr. Sell has over 25 years’ experience as an international banker. His career included stints in New York, Sydney, London, Berlin, and Luxemburg where he was active in global capital markets. While at Landesbank Berlin, in addition to managing a team of proprietary traders engaged in arbitrage strategies, Mr. Sell was an activist investor in closed-end funds. This began his parallel and subsequent career as an independent director.
Growth Fund of Spain (GSP) 1998 – 1999
France Growth Fund (FRF) 2000 – 2004
Abrdn Australia Equity Fund (IAF) 2004 – present
Singapore Fund (SGF) 2011-2018. (Chairman)
Greater China Fund (GCH) 2012-2018
Swiss Helvetia Fund (SWZ) 2017-present. (Lead Independent Director and Audit Chair)
High Income Securities Fund (PCF) 2018 – present
Abrdn Global Income Fund (FCO) 2018 – present
Abrdn Asia Pacific Income Fund (FAX) 2018 – present
He holds a BA in Economics from the George Washington University.

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Dan handles portfolio management, research, and trading activities for CEFA. He received his B.A. in Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation. Prior to joining CEFA, he was a portfolio manager for Zoso Capital, and previously worked for investment banks UBS, Morgan Stanley, and SunTrust performing investment research and was a senior analyst at George Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers.

Closed-End Fund Advisors (“CEFA”) is a fee-based Registered Investment Advisory firm founded in 1989.
Closed-End Fund Advisors has its corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.CEFA’s primary business is discretionary asset management. As a global manager of managers, we build portfolios for individual and institutional clients, through either direct work with clients or through financial advisors and planners

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Jason Mehring is a Managing Director at BlackRock. He is a voting member and a past Chairman of the investment committee for BlackRock’s US Private Capital Group (“USPC”).Mr. Mehring focuses on the team’s origination, underwriting and monitoring of middle market private investments, including those made on behalf of the Middle Market Senior Fund (“MMSF”), where he is the lead Portfolio Manager, and other public and private investment funds. These investment vehicles offer middle-market companies flexible financing solutions to meet their current and future capital needs.
Jason has over 26 years’ experience in middle market investing including his 15 years’ experience with the USPC team, joining as a Managing Director at BlackRock Capital Investment Corporation’s former advisor in 2005. Mr. Mehring previously spent more than ten years at Banc of America Capital Investors (BACI), an affiliate of Bank of America, Inc., in Chicago, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming a Principal of the firm in 2000. At BACI, Mr. Mehring focused on mezzanine and private equity investing in middle market companies. Prior to joining BACI in 1994, he worked at Firstar Bank, a predecessor to U.S. Bank.
Mr. Mehring received a B.B.A., summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, where he also graduated with University Honors, an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and he has served on a variety of private corporate boards.

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Jorge Solares-Parkhurst is a Managing Director in JMP Securities’ financial services investment banking group.Prior to joining JMP, Jorge had been a Director in the global financial institutions group at Credit Suisse, where he worked with U.S. specialty lenders and regional banks. He previously served as a Managing Director at FBR Capital Markets and a Senior Managing Director at Bear, Stearns & Co. Jorge began his career in PaineWebber’s investment banking division, remaining with the firm following its acquisition by UBS and concluding his tenure there as a Director in the financial institutions group for the Americas.
Jorge holds a BSFS in international economics from The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

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Kenneth E. Burdon represents public and private investment funds, investment advisers, financial services companies and other financial institutions in connection with the structuring and distribution of investment products, and in a variety of regulatory, compliance, corporate, governance, operational and transactional matters.Serving clients in every major international financial center, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates is one of the leading law firms in the world, with 22 offices and approximately 1,700 attorneys offering solutions to the most challenging legal issues in virtually every area of corporate law.

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Vadim Avdeychik advises business development companies (BDCs), mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), hedge funds and their investment advisers on the full range of investment management matters. His experience spans the formation and operation of registered investment companies, alternative fund structures, fund governance, regulatory issues involving public and private funds, ERISA and investment company status issues and exemptions.Vadim also advises clients on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, including launching investment products, advising directors on ESG matters and establishing compliance programs for ESG investing. He has authored several articles on the topic and is a frequent speaker on regulatory issues dealing with ESG investing.

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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.

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Colin is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Multi-Strategy Income Fund, the UltraShort Income Fund, the Strategic Credit Fund, the Core Impact Fund, and the Strategic Mortgage Income Fund. He also focuses on security and portfolio analytics and is responsible for building and managing strategies within the residential mortgage-backed securities market.
Colin joined Angel Oak in 2012 and serves as a voting member of the firm’s public funds Investment Committee. He is also a speaker on many of the firm’s quarterly calls for both its private and public funds.
Prior to Angel Oak, Colin worked for an Atlanta-based boutique investment firm where he was responsible for the acquisition and management of their distressed debt portfolio, as well as the development of their proprietary financial technology platform. Previously, Colin worked in the Real Estate Capital Markets group for Wachovia Bank and Wells Fargo where he focused on risk management for their commercial real estate REPO lines.
Colin holds B.B.A. degrees in Banking & Finance and Real Estate from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

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Justin leads product management and development for Nuveen’s Municipal and Preferred Securities product lines. In this role, he collaborates with Nuveen’s Investment, Distribution, Marketing and Operations teams to drive the strategic growth of our Municipal and Preferred Securities business. Justin’s primary responsibilities include the development and management of investment products and strategies in an effort to thoughtfully achieve our strategic product plan.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Justin led product management and development for Destra Capital. He also served as a member of the firm’s Investment Committee, was an officer for Destra’s suite of mutual funds and led sub-advisor due diligence. Prior to joining Destra, Justin played an integral role in the product management and development of closed-end funds, mutual fund and ETFs at Guggenheim Investments.
Justin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago.
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.

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Michael Bell is a Managing Director of Primark. Prior to Primark, Michael built, and was the CEO for a $12B RIA managing more than 30 investment strategies and a $10B liquid alternative mutual fund complex that launched more than 50 alternative funds. Most recently he purchased, grew and sold a family office-backed $6B RIA. Also, he specialized as a corporate finance attorney for Latham & Watkins and was a CPA for KPMG. He holds a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and a JD from West Virginia University.
Primark is expanding access to private equity investments without the complexity of subscription documents, high investment minimums, and the complex tax treatment associated with traditional institutional private equity fund structures.

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Shiloh R. Bates joined Flat Rock Global in 2018 and is a Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to joining Flat Rock Global, Mr. Bates was a Managing Director at Benefit Street Partners where he worked on corporate acquisitions. Prior to that, Mr. Bates was the Head of Structured Products at BDCA Advisor, where he was responsible for investments in CLOs, leveraged loans, and publicly traded BDCs.
During his 20-year career, Mr. Bates worked for several CLO managers and invested over $1.3 billion in CLO securities. He is a frequent panelist at CLO conferences and has written a book on investing in CLO equity.

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Alex Condrell is a Managing Director at Cliffwater. Founded in 2004, Cliffwater provides research and investment due diligence services across the full range of private markets and alternative investments. Cliffwater also manages over $4 billion in private credit funds. Alex joined Cliffwater in 2021.
Prior to joining Cliffwater, Alex was a Managing Director at Monroe Capital, an asset management firm specializing in lower middle market direct lending. Before that, Alex was the Chief Investment Officer at Main Street Financial, with prior experience at Calamos Investments, Lotsoff Capital, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
He earned a BA in Government from Pomona College and an MBA in Finance from Georgetown University. Alex is a CFA charterholder and also holds the CAIA designation..

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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: http://www.moneylifeshow.com

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Mr. Schlemovitz is a Managing Director for Conversus, a StepStone Company.
Mr. Schlemovitz focuses on strategic relationships and product development. Prior to StepStone, Mr. Schlemovitz served as a Managing Director of CNL Financial Group, a $10 billion asset manager providing access for individual investors to the private markets. At CNL he created and oversaw the firm’s Private Equity platform and was the Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Capital. Previously Mr. Schlemovitz was an Executive Director in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan where he led equity and debt capital raising and merger and acquisition transactions for Financial Institution clients.
Mr. Schlemovitz received his BA from Emory University and is a CFA charterholder.Conversus Company Profile Blurb:
Conversus is an investment firm designed to provide individual investors the opportunity to access private markets with the goal of transforming portfolios and enhancing long-term outcomes. Conversus is a wholly-owned business of StepStone Group, a global asset management and advisory firm with over $500 billion in assets under advisement. Leveraging StepStone’s extensive experience across the private markets allows Conversus to create innovative, investor-centric products by focusing on convenience, efficiency and transparency.

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Mike Taggart, CFA serves as Closed-End Fund Specialist at abrdn, where he is responsible for providing and developing the link between the company’s North American closed-end funds, their investors, advisors, and the wider marketplace.
With more than 10 years of experience covering closed-end funds, Mike has extensive experience leading and supporting product development managers with preparation of proposals and project plans related to new product and/or changes to existing product. Prior to abrdn, Mike covered exchange-traded products, including closed-end funds, at Relative Value Partners. For seven years, he worked on product strategy as Nuveen’s Director of Closed-End Fund Research. Mike started covering closed-end funds at Morningstar, where he advanced from a Senior Equity Analyst to the head of the firm’s US closed-end fund business.
Mike holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in Russian history from the University of Illinois Chicago, and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

abrdn is one of the largest closed-end fund managers globally and is dedicated to creating long-term value for our clients. As of June 30, 2023, we managed over $602 billion in assets on behalf of institutional and retail clients worldwide. We believe that our global footprint ensures that we are always close to our clients and the challenges they face. abrdn has $31.1 billion in assets under management in listed closed-end funds (U.S. and UK), making abrdn the 3rd largest closed-end fund manager in the world.

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Bill has been a leader on the sales and marketing side of the financial services industry for more than 35 years. He joined Wildermuth Securities in March of 2022 and serves as the company’s field representative throughout the eastern US. He earned his MBA from the University of Notre Dame and his BA from Middlebury College. He currently lives in suburban Chicago.
THE WILDERMUTH FUND provides investors with access to early-stage private equity that has traditionally been reserved for institutional investors. The Fund offers portfolio diversification among early-stage private equity positions in various asset classes including technology, real estate, healthcare, energy, and hedge funds that would be difficult for individual investors to achieve because of typically high minimum investments.
Daniel Wildermuth is the Fund’s portfolio manager. With over 25 years of investment experience, he has been a pioneer in adapting the endowment investment approach to the needs of individual investors. Mr. Wildermuth is CEO and CIO of Wildermuth Advisory and Asteria Wealth, a money management firm that administers more than 20 equity and fixed income portfolio strategies for retail and institutional investors.

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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.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.

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Robert Shaker, 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.

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Tom DeCapo has been an innovative leader in the closed-end fund industry for more than three decades. Tom is responsible for many of the advances in closed-end fund structuring and finance, and is recognized for his work defending the industry against activist campaigns. Tom recently retired from the practice of law after more than 25 years as a partner of Skadden, Arps. He believes that the current activist environment presents opportunities to restructure and refocus the closed-end fund asset class for the long term investment benefit of retail investors.

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Steve is a Senior Special Counsel Fellow and the SEC’s industry specialist on Business Development Companies (BDCs). Steve’s work focuses on a broad array of BDC matters, including disclosure review, examinations, enforcement, rulemaking, and exemptive relief applications, among others.
Steve joined the SEC in 2021. Prior to the SEC, Steve spent eight years at Blackstone where he was primarily focused on providing legal advice relating to formation, fundraising, co-investment transactions, corporate governance and compliance oversight of Blackstone BDCs. In addition, while at Blackstone, Steve worked on a variety of matters pertaining to private funds, CLOs, private credit, debt and equity offerings transactions, financing facilities and advisory and compliance issues. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2013, Steve was an associate in the corporate group of Bingham McCutchen LLP (now Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP). Steve earned his B.B.A., summa cum laude, from Pace University, Lubin School of Business, Pforzheimer Honors College, and his J.D., cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law.

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As Managing Director and Head of UniFi by CAIA™ , Aaron oversees content and product strategy for the UniFi by CAIA™ Program. Prior to this, Aaron was responsible for the strategic direction of CAIA Association’s content agenda, thought leadership, and member education initiatives, and supported content development for the CAIA Charter Program. His work has been published by Oxford University Press and The Journal of Investing, and covers topics such as ESG/sustainable investing, liquid alternatives, commodities, and asset pricing/factor investing. He is a frequent writer and speaker on these topics. Aaron’s practitioner experience lies in private wealth management, where he served as portfolio manager, overseeing asset allocation, portfolio construction, and manager research efforts for high-net-worth individuals and institutional retirement plans.
He earned a B.S. with distinction in Finance and a Master of Finance from Penn State University. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM), Financial Data Professional (FDP) designations, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and holds the the CFA Institute’s Certificate in ESG Investing. He is a Past President of CFA Society Columbus and serves on the CFA Society Philadelphia Programs Committee. Aaron is an adjunct professor and serves on multiple advisory boards for Penn State University.
The CAIA Association is a global professional credentialing body dedicated to creating greater alignment, transparency, and knowledge for all investors, with a specific emphasis on alternative investments. A Member-driven organization representing professionals in more than 100 countries, CAIA Association advocates for the highest ethical standards. The organization provides unbiased insight on a broad range of investment strategies and industry issues, key among them being efforts to bring greater diversification to portfolio construction decisions to achieve better long-term investor outcomes.

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Mr. Penn follows business development companies. Prior to joining Oppenheimer and Co. he followed business development companies at Janney Montgomery Scott. In addition, he was an Equity Portfolio Manager/Financial Analyst at Legg Mason Capital Management from 2001 to 2012 where he specialized in financial companies. From 1996 to 2001 he managed a $400M fixed income portfolio at Legg Mason Capital Management. Prior to joining Legg Mason Mr. Penn managed a $15B fixed income portfolio at Aetna. He also worked for Price Waterhouse from 1981 to 1985.Mr. Penn received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995 and is a member of the Baltimore CFA Society. He was President of the Baltimore Society (2001-2002) and served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Penn received his Certified Public Accounting designation in 1983, but he no longer maintains this designation. He is a graduate of Villanova University, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma (1981) and University of Chicago (MBA-1987).

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Cheryl is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital and serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Financials Income Impact Fund and the Financial Strategies Income Term Trust, as well as two ETFs and several of the firm’s private funds and separately managed accounts.
Cheryl has nearly two decades of 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 Bloomberg, CNBC, 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 has also been named one of the “Women at the Forefront of Alternative Investments” in a 2023 iConnections report.
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.

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 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.
As of 6/30/23, Angel Oak Capital had an estimated $16.5 billion in assets under management (AUM) through a combination of mutual funds, private funds and separately managed accounts. AUM represents the sum of assets managed or serviced, and committed but uncalled capital.

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Parth is a vice president and leads product management and
development efforts for Nuveen’s closed-end fund product line. He is
responsible for developing and bringing new concepts to market, as well
as overseeing the ongoing product management of existing closed-end
funds.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Parth was a senior tax consultant at Deloitte,
where he specialized in investment company taxation.
Parth graduated with a B.S. in Accountancy and Finance from the
University of Illinois. He holds the Series 7 and 66 securities
registrations.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 $1.1 trillion in assets under management as of 30 Jun 2022 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. Nuveen is a leading sponsor of closed-end funds (CEFs) with $57 billion of assets under management across 56 CEFs as of 30 Jun 2022. The funds offer exposure to a broad range of asset classes and are designed for income-focused investors seeking regular distributions. Nuveen has more than 35 years of experience managing CEFs.

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Mr. Arduini is a Partner and Portfolio Manager in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Mr. Arduini serves as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager for the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ARDC). Additionally, he serves as a member of the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund Investment Committee.Prior to joining Ares in 2011, Mr. Arduini was a Managing Director at Indicus Advisors LLP, where he focused on structured credit investment opportunities. Previously, Mr. Arduini was Director of Structured Credit in the Fixed Income Investment Group and a Manager in the Risk Management Group at TIAA-CREF. In addition, Mr. Arduini worked in the telecommunications and information technology industries in various systems, operations and management roles. Mr. Arduini holds a B.A. from Bucknell University in Mathematics and an M.S. from Stevens Institute of Technology in Mathematics.
Mr. Arduini also holds an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University in Computational Finance. Mr. Arduini is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.

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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.

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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.

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Laura is a Product Specialist within Nuveen’s Alternative Investment distribution team. She is focused on supporting business development efforts across the private credit spectrum.Laura joined Nuveen in 2021.From 2014 to 2021, she worked for Invesco’s Global Private Credit platform where she supported new business development and institutional client communications, shaping investor messaging and business strategy globally.
Previously, Laura worked in corporate finance and investor relations at CIFC Asset Management where she supported marketing efforts and was responsible for financial projections on behalf of their private equity owners. Prior to CIFC, she was an associate at Goldman Sachs, where she worked in the firm’s investment management finance division focused on credit strategies. Laura began her career at Deloitte & Touche.
She entered the investment management industry in 2003.Laura graduated with both a B.S. in Business with a major in Accounting and an M.S. in Accounting from the University of Connecticut. She is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and holds the FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 registrations.

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Christian has 21 years of experience in financial services and investment management, with the last 16 years focused on secondary investments involving venture-backed and growth equity-oriented companies and funds. During this time, he has also served on the boards of many of these companies and funds.
Prior to Liberty Street Advisors, Christian was CIO of SPIM overseeing all investment related functions. Christian still serves as one of the portfolio managers of The Private Shares Fund, formerly the SharesPost 100 Fund, and a member of the investment committee.
Prior to joining The Private Shares Fund investment management team and Liberty Street Advisors, Inc., Christian was Co-Head of the Global Private Equity Secondaries Practice at HQ Capital based in New York, a $10+ billion alternative investment firm headquartered in Germany. Prior to that, he served as Head of Secondaries at Thomas Weisel Partners. Christian started his career as an investment banker at Banc of America Securities.
In aggregate, Christian has helped raise more than $1 billion globally from institutional investors, corporations, pensions, endowments, and family offices, and has completed or overseen the completion of more than 100 secondary transactions representing over $1 billion in capital commitments.
Christian received his BA from Rutgers College.

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Michael Grayson is a Portfolio Manager at First Trust Capital Management L.P (“FTCM”). Michael focuses on FTCM´s event-driven and multi-alternative mandates as well as private market platform. Michael started his career at Vivaldi Asset Management, LLC, an independently owned, boutique alternative investment firm based in Chicago. Vivaldi was predominantly a Multi-Family Office and Advisor to several public (1940 Act) alternative products. Michael was dedicated to the firm´s investment management as well as business and product development verticals.
Michael holds a B.A from University where he studied Political Science and Economics.

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Mr. Hobbs leads Oaktree’s North American Sourcing and Origination group, which focuses on private credit sourcing and deal origination for the firm’s U.S. Private Debt, Global Private Debt, Special Situations and Global Opportunities strategies. He also serves on the investment committee for Oaktree’s Direct Lending platform. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, Mr. Hobbs was an executive director at Natixis Securities focused on building the high yield sales and trading franchise. Prior thereto, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president in leveraged finance origination and sales. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2007, Mr. Hobbs was a director in Leveraged Finance at Deutsche Bank Securities, which he joined in 2000. Additional experience includes regional account management focused on fleet financing at GE Capital Corporation and controller for Leveraged Finance at Bank of America. Mr. Hobbs received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. degree in accounting from Rutgers University. Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions partners with financial professionals around the world to connect investors to the innovative solutions, expertise and insights.

Brookfield and Oaktree. From public to private markets, and across the liquidity spectrum, we aim to be the single point of entry into the very best of Brookfield and Oaktree – with the goal of helping advisors and their clients understand how to navigate key investment decisions

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CFA (2012); BSc (Pure and Applied Mathematics) (Hons, 2008), Trinity College, Ireland.
Kevin is an institutional portfolio manager for RBC GAM-US. He specializes in a broad spectrum of global credit strategies including Investment Grade, Leveraged Finance, Emerging Markets, Multi-Asset and Alternatives.
Kevin joined RBC GAM in 2014; he moved from BlueBay Asset Management to RBC GAM-US in 2020. During his time at BlueBay, he initially worked as an institutional portfolio manager on the Emerging Markets desk, before broadening his remit to cover other areas of the global credit markets. Prior to joining BlueBay, Kevin worked for another global asset management company, where he specialized in fixed income fund manager research to feed ideas into the firm’s suite of multi-manager portfolios. Prior to this, Kevin worked as an investment consultant at a global consulting firm.
He began his career in the investment industry in 2008.

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Erin is head of strategic development for Thornburg Investment Management, leading corporate and product development initiatives across the firm. She has extensive investment and management experience, including with large and small asset management firms and most recently the financial technology industry.
Prior to joining Thornburg, Erin was chief investment officer for C2FO, a Kansas City–based financial technology company focusing on supply-chain finance solutions. She developed private investment solutions to provide working capital liquidity to small businesses, utilizing C2FO’s proprietary technology platform.
Prior to C2FO, Erin spent 11 years with Fountain Capital Management, a boutique high-yield investment firm also based in Kansas City. At Fountain, Erin held various positions, including partner, portfolio manager, head trader, and research analyst. She started her career at Strong Capital Management as an equity research analyst, focusing on small- and mid-cap value portfolios and later as a private equity analyst for McCarthy Capital.
Erin is a graduate of Indiana University with a BS in finance and is a CFA charterholder.

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Mr. Stone joined Flaherty & Crumrine in 2003 after a 20-year career on Wall Street. Based in Summit, New Jersey, he is a member of the firm’s portfolio management team. He is responsible for macroeconomic and quantitative research and analysis and directs our credit research group. Together with Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Conwell, he serves on the firm’s board of directors and is a member of the executive management committee. He also serves as Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and Treasurer of the U.S. Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds and oversees the financial reporting and tax operations for the Flaherty & Crumrine closed-end funds.
From 2001 until joining Flaherty & Crumrine, he was Director of U.S. Market Strategy at Barclays Capital in New York, where he advised clients on market strategies across U.S. treasuries, agencies, and interest rate derivative products. Prior to Barclays, he spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, where he most recently held the position of Director — Interest Rate Product Strategy, Americas. He was a regular member of Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed Income Research Team, earning the top ranking in Derivatives Strategy in 2001. He began his career at Salomon Brothers as an options trader and derivative salesperson.

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Active Investment Company Alliance CEF / BDC / Interval Fund BootCamp and Roundtable
2019-11-06 00:00 - 23:59 (America/New_York)
November 6, 2019 7:50am – 7:30pm
Location: 35 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010, US
Wifi Access “The Space at Flatiron” with no password.
If you need CE credits, please check-in with the registration desk to confirm session attendance and your CFP information

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.

Interval Funds, a non-listed type of closed-end fund, have experienced tremendous growth in recent years. There are now 75 Interval funds managing about $60 billion, up from 27 such funds less than 5 years ago.
The event will enable investors and their advisors to better understand the structure and how some of the top funds are using it to deliver solid results for investors.
4.5 CFP CE Credits.
Agenda
SponsorsInterviewsFeedbackSponsors

Be an AICA event sponsor!
Sponsorship opportunities – Download Here

CEF Advisors & CEFData.com

Interviews

Panel #1

Jerry Raio
.

Presentation #1

John Cole Scott
.

Dan Silver
.

Panel #2

Chuck Jaffe
.

Panel #3

John Cole Scott
.

Greg Drose
.

James Curry
.

Vadim Avdeychik
.

Panel #4

Vadim Avdeychik
.

Panel #5

Philip Goldstein
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Panel #6

Dan Silver
.

Panel #7

Harry Pangas
.

Nick Marshi
.

Bryce Rowe
.

John Cole Scott
.

Closing Remarks

John Cole Scott
.

Feedback

We appreciate your feedback

Agenda7:50 AM to 8:15 AM - Registration & Breakfast8:15 AM to 8:25 AM - Welcome Remarks AICA Launch II State of the CEF/BDC Universe
Video

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com,
Executive Chairman @ AICA

8:25 AM to 9:15 AM - Panel #1:Recent Trends & Future of CEF/BDC IPOs & Non-listed Funds Launch
Transcript Video

Moderator
Amy Charles,
Managing Director – Raymond James
Presenter #1
Jamie Patturelli,
The NYSE
Presenter #2
Andy Hall,
Managing Director New Listing @ NASDAQ
Presenter #3
Jerry Raio,
Arbor Lane Advisors, Inc.

9:15 AM to 9:50 AM - Presentation #1:The ABC’s of BDCs & Closed-End Funds
Deck VideoTranscript

Presenters #1
John Cole Scott,
CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com & Executive Chairman @ AICA
Presenters #2
Dan Silver,
CEF/BDC Analyst @ AICA, PM @ Zoso Capital

9:50 AM to 10:40 AM - Panel #2: Diversified Retirement Income Solutions: Balancing Economic Risk, Taxes & Interest Rates
Deck VideoTranscript

Moderator
John Duggan,
Vice President CEF & ETF Research @ Morgan Stanley
Presenters #1
Bill Meyers,
Sr. Managing Director @ Nuveen
Presenters #2
Patrick Shaddow,
Director Index Operations @ S-Network
Presenters #3
Chuck Jaffe
Host of The
NAVigator – Money Life

10:40 AM to 10:55 AM - Networking Break10:55 AM to 11:45 AM - Panel #3: Interval Closed-End Fund Bootcamp: Learn About the Tremendous Growth in the use of These Funds for Illiquid Equity & Credit Investing
Transcript Video

Moderator
John Cole Scott,
CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com & Executive Chairman @ AICA
Presenters #1
Greg Drose,
Executive Director of Business Development at UMB Fund Services
Presenters #2
James Curry,
AVP, Sr. Key Account Consultant, SS&C ALPS
Presenters #3
Vadim Avdeychik,
Counsel @ Paul Hastings

11:45 AM to 12:35 PM - Panel #4: Access to Illiquid Investments & Managing an Interval or Tender Offer Fund Structure
Transcript Video

Moderator
Vadim Avdeychik,
Counsel @ Paul Hastings
Presenters #1
Ryan Cummins,
Wildermuth Wealth
Presenters #2
Zach Forman,
SVP, Head of Investor Relations @ Griffin Capital
Presenters #3
Christian Munafo,
CIO@ SharesPost 100 Fund

12:35 PM to 1:25 PM - Networking Lunch1:25 PM to 2:00 PM - Presentation #2: Energy Investing in 2020 and Beyond
Deck VideoTranscript

Presenters
Rob Chisholm, Managing Director & Portoflio Manager at Brookfield

2:00 PM to 2:50 PM - Panel #5: How to Analyze & Trade CEFs: An Institutional Perspective
Transcript Video

Moderator
Chuck Jaffe
Host of The
NAVigator – Money Life

Presenter #1
Marc Loughlin,
ETF & CEF
Trading Solutions
Presenter #2
Eric Boughton, Director CEF & ETF Trading Solutions @ WallachBeth
Presenter #3
Rob Shaker,
Portfolio Manager, Chief Analyst at Matisse Capital
Presenter #4
Philip GoldStein,
Bull Dog Investors

2:50 PM to 3:20 PM - Presentation #3: Deep Analysis of The 70+ Active UITs Focused on CEF’s/BDCs. Which Sponsors Have More Success for Various Investment Goals?
Transcript VideoTranscript

Presenters
Randy Watts,
UIT Investing, a NASDAQ Company

3:20 PM to 3:40 PM - Networking Break3:40 PM to 4:30 PM - Panel #6: Alternative Income vs Traditional Fixed Income Solutions
Transcript Video

Moderator
Dan Silver,
CEF/BDC Analyst @ AICA, PM @ Zoso Capital
Presenter #1
Barry Sloane,
President, CEO & Founder Newtek Business Services
Presenter #2
Tony Huang,
Assistant Portfolio Manager @ Advent Capital
Presenter #3
Kim Flynn,
Managing Director of Alternative Investments @ XA Investments
Presenter #4
David Sachs,
Partner / Co-founder @ Ares

4:30 PM to 5:20 PM - Panel #7: Keys to Analyzing the Risk & Opportunties in BDCs
Transcript Video

Moderator
Harry Pangas,
Partner Dechert LLP
Presenter #1
Nick Marshi,
The BDC Reporter
Presenter #2
Bryce Rowe,
Managing Director BDC Research @ National Securities

Presenter #3
John Cole Scott,
CIO at CEF Advisors, Founder of CEFData.com & Executive Chairman @ AICA
Presenter #4
Kelly Thompson,
Founder & Editor @ Direct Lending Deals

5:20 PM to 5:30 PM - Closing Remarks, Thank You’s & Founding AICA Member Recognition
Video

John Cole Scott
CIO at CEF Advisors,
Founder of CEFData.com,
Executive Chairman @ AICA

5:30 PM to 7:30 PM - Networking Cocktail Reception×

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 700+ 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 a quarter billion deposits into a fund focused on BDCs with a fund sponsor partner. He developed 35 CEF/BDC based indexes; 9 diversified portfolio objective, 9 Equity and 15 Bond sector. 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 York State Society of The Cincinnati. Board member and Finance & Investment Committees for The William & Mary National Alumni Board.

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Amy M. Charles
Managing Director
Director Closed-End Fund and ETF Research,
Ms. Charles, as the Managing Director and Director of Closed-End Fund and ETF Research, is responsible for setting general research policy and strategy. She joined Raymond James Financial in November 1995 and joined the Closed-End Fund Research group in September of 1998. Prior to joining Closed-End Fund Research, she spent two and a half years in the Equity Research Department. She has been the Director of Closed-End Fund Research since May of 2000. She holds a B.A. from Florida Metropolitan University. Ms. Charles has been quoted in several publications including Business Week and has been a speaker at numerous conferences throughout the year.
Website: https://www.raymondjames.com/

Close×Jamie Patturelli is a Director of Exchange Traded Products at the New York Stock Exchange, where he supports the delivery of customized, full service end-to-end capabilities for ETF and Closed-end Fund Issuers. As the team is comprised of expertise across the various segments of the ETF Ecosystem, Jamie leverages his prior experiences to provide regulatory, compliance, trading, and market structure guidance to NYSE listed clients.
Prior to joining the Exchange Traded Products team, Jamie spent a combined 17 years at the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange in several roles within the regulatory and compliance divisions. He most recently was responsible for leading and managing the Exchange’s equity, ETF, and options listing programs for the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American, NYSE Arca, NYSE Amex & NYSE Arca options. He also has extensive background and experience in working with the SEC and FINRA on a variety of listing and trading issues.

Website: www.nyse.com/etfClose×
Coming soon ..
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Jerry is the President and CEO of Arbor Lane Advisors, Inc., a consulting firm focused on the financial services sector. His career on Wall Street spans over 30 years and has been mostly focused on the retail distribution of Equity Capital Market products to Financial Advisors and investors. Most recently he was Head of Retail Origination at Wells Fargo Securities where he worked closely with asset management clients to structure, market and execute new closed end fund offerings. Prior to joining Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) in 2005, he worked on the retail equity syndicate desk at both Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.
Jerry earned a B.S. from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from the Frank Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University.

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Daniel Silver, CFA manages Zoso Capital, an investment advisory firm primarily focused on long/short closed-end fund and equity strategies.
Prior to Zoso, Mr. Silver worked as an analyst at a hedge fund as well as several investment banks. He is a CFA charterholder, a member of CFA Society New York (CFANY), and a graduate of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

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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

Close×John Duggan is a vice president and analyst at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management on the Closed-End Fund (CEF) and Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Research team. The team is responsible for rating approximately 100 CEFs and provides research commentary on the ETF industry and coverage on over 550 U.S.-listed ETFs. Prior to re-joining Morgan Stanley in 2014, John was the lead CEF and ETF strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., where he also managed an income and total return-oriented strategy on the firm’s UMA platform. John graduated with a B.A. from Boston College and received an M.A. in journalism and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University.

Website: https://www.morganstanley.com/Close×

Vadim Avdeychik is of counsel in the Investment Management practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s New York office. Mr. Avdeychik counsels mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), business development companies (BDCs), hedge funds, and their investment advisers. He routinely advises on the formation and operation of registered investment companies (including those implementing alternative investment strategies), alternative fund structures (including registered and unregistered master/feeder and fund-of-funds structures and BDCs), fund governance, regulatory issues involving public and private funds, and investment company status issues. Mr. Avdeychik has extensive experience assisting pre-IPO and public operating companies, specialty finance companies, investment banks, financial product sponsors, and other entities in determining their investment company status or the status of the products they sponsor, including the ability to qualify for exemptions from the Investment Company Act, in connection with securities offerings, financial product launches and other transactions. He also has transactional experience concerning funds and their advisers, including merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Avdeychik also has significant ERISA experience, with particular focus on fiduciary issues and prohibited transaction exemption questions under Title I of ERISA. he has authored several articles dealing with the intersection of ERISA and the investment management industry.
Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Mr. Avdeychik was the Vice President and Counsel at PIMCO and Assistant Secretary to the PIMCO-Managed Closed-End Funds. Formerly, he was an associate at an international law firm and prior to that, ERISA Enforcement Advisor, Employee Benefits Security Administration.
Website: https://www.paulhastings.com/

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Chief Investment Officer, SP Investments Management
Christian has 19 years of experience in finance, with the last 14 years focused on secondary investments involving venture-backed and growth equity-oriented companies and funds. During this time, he has also served on the boards of many of these companies and funds. Before joining SharesPost, Christian was co-head of the Global Private Equity Secondary Practice at HQ Capital based in New York. Prior to that, he served as head of secondaries at Thomas Weisel Partners. In aggregate, Christian has helped raise more than $1 billion globally from institutional investors, corporations, pensions, endowments, and family offices, and has completed or overseen the completion of more than 100 secondary transactions representing over $1 billion in capital commitments. Christian holds a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Rutgers College.
Website: https://www.sharespost.com

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Janis serves as Adams Funds’ General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer. In those roles, Janis oversees all legal and compliance matters for the Funds. She is a member of the Funds’ Management Committee.
Janis’s more than 24 years of legal and compliance experience in the investment management industry includes service in-house on Wall Street, representing clients in private practice, and three years on the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She has been a frequent author and speaker on fund management and compliance matters.
Janis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Wake Forest University and earned her Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law. She is a member of the bar in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and actively represents the Funds within the Closed-end Fund Association and the Investment Company Institute.
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Eric helped develop and is the portfolio manager for the Matisse Discounted Closed-End Fund Strategy, an alpha-generating global balanced approach available via separately managed accounts and our mutual fund (launched in 2012). The core investment thesis is that the narrowing of CEF discounts, driven by shifting investor sentiment in a highly inefficient market—along with excess income when buying deeply discounted CEFs—can generate sustained alpha for investors.
With over 20 years of investment experience, Eric received a BS degree with distinction in mathematics from the University of Houston in 1997, is a Registered Investment Advisor, and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter holder.
Website: https://www.matissecap.com/closed-end-funds

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Robert Shaker, Chief Investment Strategist
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 Financials’ “Discount Capture” Composite is currently rated 5 stars by Morningstar.
Website: https://www.shakerfinancial.com/

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Phillip Goldstein – Principal / Co-Founder / Portfolio Manager
Mr. Goldstein, who co-founded Bulldog Investors in 1993, is a Principal of the firm and its lead investment strategist. Widely acclaimed as one of the foremost experts in closed-end fund investing and in using activist techniques to enhance investment returns, he has appeared on and been interviewed by numerous business shows and publications, including CNBC, Forbes and Fortune Magazine. Mr. Goldstein plays a key role in implementing the firm’s activist strategies and, in this capacity, has served as a director of a number of closed-end funds in which a Bulldog-managed fund maintains a strategic position. He is currently a director of the Mexico Equity and Income Fund Inc., MVC Capital, Inc., Special Opportunities Fund, Inc., Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor Inc., and Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc., and is a trustee of High Income Securities Fund and Crossroads Liquidating Trust. Mr. Goldstein graduated from the University of Southern California in 1966 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree and from City College, New York in 1968 with a Master of Engineering degree.

Website: https://www.bulldoginvestors.com

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BARRY SLOANE, PRESIDENT, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Mr. Sloane is the President, Chairman and CEO of Newtek Business Services Corp. Prior to joining Newtek Business Services, Mr. Sloane was a Managing Director of Smith Barney, Inc. where he directed the Commercial and Residential Real Estate Securitization Unit and, prior to that, he was national sales manager for institutional mortgage and asset backed securities sales. Mr. Sloane was founder and President of Aegis Capital Markets, a consumer loan origination and securitization business. Additionally, he was Senior Vice President of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, where he was responsible for directing sales of mortgage-backed securities and was a senior mortgage security sales person and trader for Bear Stearns, L.F. Rothschild, E.F. Hutton and Paine Webber.
Website: https://www.newtekone.com/

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Kimberly Flynn serves as Managing Director at XA Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of XMS Capital Partners. She is a partner in the firm and responsible for all product and business development activities. Kim created the alternative registered trust platform at XA Investments working in partnership with independent subadvisers representing best-in-class alternative investment managers. Previously, Kim was Senior Vice President and Head of Product Development for Nuveen Investments’ Global Structured Products Group. In her 11 years at Nuveen, she helped developed over 40 closed-end funds raising ~$13 billion in capital. In her leadership role at Nuveen, Kim was responsible for asset raising activities through the development of new traditional and alternative investment funds including CEFs, ETFs, UITs and commodity pools.
Kim received her MBA degree from Harvard University, where she was a William J. Carey scholar and President of the HBS Volunteers. Before attending Harvard Business School, Kim spent three years working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division (1999-2002) in their Chicago office. She earned her BBA in Finance and Business Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 where she was a valedictorian candidate, Rhodes Scholar Finalist and the first recipient of the Paul F. Conway award given to a senior in the Department of Finance who embodies Notre Dame’s tradition of excellence and who enriches the ideals of the university. Kim earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago. Kim currently serves on the Board of the Women in ETFs Chicago chapter as head of the mentorship committee and on the Advisory Board for Youth Guidance’s program Becoming A Man (BAM). Kim with her husband Leo, son Teddy (12yrs) and daughter Rose (9yrs) live in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

Website: https://www.xainvestments.com

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Harry S. Pangas, Partner, Dechert LLP
With more than 20 years of securities regulatory and capital markets experience, Harry has developed a deep and broad practice representing business development companies, registered closed-end funds, private investment funds, blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, and other financial services firms in connection with a range of securities regulatory and transactional matters. Harry began his career at the SEC serving in various roles in the Division of Corporation Finance. He regularly counsels BDCs and CEFs on regulatory and compliance matters under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. He advises clients on establishing and operating public and private BDCs and CEFs and assists alternative investment managers in developing permanent capital structures for their various asset classes. Prior to joining Dechert, Harry was a partner at a global law firm in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Tulane University Law School.
Website: https://www.dechert.com

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Bryce Rowe joined National Securities in July 2019 as a senior equity research analyst with a primary focus on the Business Development Company sector. Bryce has been an equity research analyst at several firms since March 2000. Most recently, he spent 13 years at Robert W. Baird & Co., covering small-cap banks and BDCs. Bryce has been recognized three times for his stock picking abilities in The Wall Street Journal’s Best On The Street Analyst Survey and by Thomson Reuters (Starmine). Bryce has a B.A. from the University of Virginia and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
Website: https://yournational.com/

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Kelly Thompson is the founder of Direct Lending Deals, a new publication catering to originators and investors in private credit. Thompson has covered capital markets for 20 years, her specialty being middle market finance. She has shared her views on industry panels, and her analysis has been featured across trade and mainstream media including Forbes and Seeking Alpha. Previously, she covered middle market for LevFin Insights and S&P LCD.

Website: https://www.dldeals.com

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Patrick is responsible for the development, production and maintenance of all S-Network indexes, including indexes that serve as the underlying for financial products holding over $8 billion in AuM. He is also responsible for the oversight of product-centered company IT. Patrick started at S-Network in 2007 and has engaged directly in every facet of the index business. He oversees development and production of domestic and international equity indexes as well as indexes that include 40-Act funds, futures and options.
Patrick has been responsible for the development of S-Network’s Benchmark Index Series and the Thomson Reuters/S-Network ESG Best Practices Indexes and Ratings, as well as a number of smart beta and thematic indexes. Patrick is a member of the IADB Sustainable Index Committee.
Prior to joining S-Network, Patrick worked as a Research Analyst for Dow Jones Indexes, where he was a member of the custom index quarterly review. Patrick earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Rutgers University School of Business.
Website: http://snetworkglobalindexes.com/

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William works within Nuveen’s Closed-End Fund Business Development Group and is responsible for raising public and private capital for Nuveen’s closed-end funds. In this role, he leads Nuveen’s new business development team on the origination and syndication of new closed-end fund IPOs.
William joined the firm in 1992 and has been involved with the successful launch of more than 100 CEF IPOs as well as the development of many innovative financing structures utilized as leverage by Nuveen funds.
William graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Marquette University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He also holds the Series 7 and 24 securities registrations.
Website: https://www.nuveen.com

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Nicholas Marshi is a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of BDC Investment Advisors “(BDCIA’), a California Registered Investment Advisor. He is responsible for the firm’s investment management, and is the editor of the BDC Reporter and its sister publication, BDC Credit Reporter. The BDC Reporter is the premier subscription publication exclusively focused on “news, views and analysis” of the $100+ billion BDC sector. The BDC Credit Reporter – still in beta – provides timely and comprehensive coverage of all under-performing BDC portfolio companies, to provide readers with early notice of change in BDC values.
Prior to forming BDCIA, Mr. Marshi was a co-founder and principal of Southland Capital Partners (“SCP”), a Los Angeles based private equity firm. SCP was established in 1998 in Los Angeles, in order to acquire controlling interests in middle market companies in the Southern California region. SCP has acquired several companies in a wide range of industries. Prior to forming SCP, Mr. Marshi managed Kensington Capital Corporation (“KCC”), another private-equity investment firm, with a similar focus. In addition, Mr. Marshi was the head of the Los Angeles office of Kleinwort Benson, a British merchant bank, from 1987-1990 and was involved in leading investment banking, lending and principal investing activities. Before joining Kleinwort’s Mr. Marshi held various positions with Citibank at locations worldwide.
Mr. Marshi is a graduate of Tufts University (B.A.) and Harvard University (M.A.). He is a California Registered Investment Adviser.
Website: https://www.bdcreporter.com

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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/

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Mr. Huang serves as an Associate Portfolio Manager for Advent’s Global Balanced Convertible Strategy and Global Phoenix Strategy, as well as an Associate Portfolio Manager for Advent’s closed-end funds, working with our CIO, Tracy Maitland. Mr. Huang has also served as Research Analyst for the Technology sector since 2007. Prior to joining Advent in 2007, Mr. Huang was at Essex Investment Management in Boston where he headed the Technology sector research coverage and managed Essex’s diversified Research Fund. Mr. Huang also had Technology and Telecommunication research responsibilities at two hedge funds and Fidelity Investments, where he began his career. Mr. Huang is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Website: https://www.adventcap.com/

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Mr. Sachs is a Partner in the Ares Strategy and Relationship Management Group, where he focuses on the Ares Credit Group’s publicly traded funds, strategic growth opportunities for Ares and facilitating the sharing of credit knowledge across the Ares platform. He serves as a Director and Chairman of the Board of Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ARDC) and is an interested trustee of CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund. Additionally, Mr. Sachs serves as a member of Ares Credit Group, Private Equity Group and Real Estate Group fund investment committees and the Ares Equity Income Opportunity Strategy Portfolio Review Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 1997, Mr. Sachs was a Principal of Onyx Partners, Inc., where he focused on merchant banking and related capital raising activities in the private equity and mezzanine debt markets. Previously, he also worked with Taylor & Co., an investment manager providing investment advisory and consulting services to members of the Bass Family of Fort Worth, Texas, and Columbia Savings and Loan Association as Executive Vice President, where he was responsible for asset-liability management and running the investment management department. Mr. Sachs serves as the Non-Executive Chairman of Terex Corporation and is on the Board of Trustees and the McCormick Advisory Council at Northwestern University. He holds a B.S. from Northwestern University in Industrial Engineering and Management Science.
Website: https://www.aresmgmt.com/

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Rob Chisholm – Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Energy Infrastructure Securities
Rob Chisholm has 20 years of industry experience and is a Portfolio Manager on the Public Securities Group’s Energy Infrastructure Securities team, responsible for research and analysis of individual MLP holdings, and provides recommendations on buy and sell activity. Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Rob worked in the Energy Investment Banking Division of Morgan Keegan and was Senior Project Analyst at Enbridge Energy Partners, LP where he analyzed midstream MLP mergers and asset acquisitions. He also worked at Koch Industries in the Capital Markets, Hydrocarbon and Midstream Groups. Rob earned a Master in Business Administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Christian University.
Website: https://publicsecurities.brookfield.com

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Andy Hall, Managing Director, Nasdaq New Listings
Andy has been with Nasdaq Listing Services since 2004, and has had various positions in the areas of Issuer Services & Market Intelligence. Andy has been on the New Listings team since 2007, and works with companies that are considering a Nasdaq listing. Andy has worked with companies that are moving from being a private to a public company in an IPO, and public companies that trade on the NYSE, NYSE American, TSX or OTC and are considering transferring, dual listing or uplisting to Nasdaq.

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James has been with SS&C/ALPS since 2006 and has over 20 years of Mutual Fund Intermediary Operations experience. James has expert knowledge of distributing both Mutual Fund and Closed-End Interval Fund Structures to key platforms and intermediaries and holds the designation of Certified Mutual Fund Specialist (CMFS).

Website: https://www.ssctech.com/

SS&C is a global provider of investment and financial software-enabled services and software for the global financial services and healthcare industries. Some 18,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world’s largest institutions to local firms, manage and account for their investments using SS&C’s products and services. visit www.ssctech.com

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Ryan Cummins is a Portfolio Analyst for Wildermuth Advisory focused on research and due diligence of alternative investments. He is a member of the Wildermuth Advisory Investment Committee. Mr. Cummins brings over a decade of experience in investment management.
Throughout his career, he has held various institutional investment and finance positions at Cliffwater (a specialist consultant in alternative investments), Cantor Fitzgerald, Blackstone and hedge fund firms in New York City. Mr. Cummins has earned the right to the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA society of Jacksonville.
Website: www.wildermuthwealth.com

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Website: https://umbfs.umb.com/
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Website: https://www.griffincapital.com/griffin-institutional-access-credit-fund
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With a successful track record of over 15 years in the financial services industry, Randy Watts has spent much of his career in the UIT market — at both large and small sponsor firms, including Van Kampen Investments, Matrix Capital Group, Incapital, and Nuveen Investments.
Recognized as a UIT industry expert, Randy has deep expertise in both the management level and operational details of the UIT business. He has spent over a decade working in UIT product development, national accounts, compliance, trading, and portfolio administration. Randy is a regular speaker at UIT industry events, trusted UIT industry consultant, and has written the most comprehensive and utilized education materials in the unit investment trust industry.
He earned a B.S. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Website: www.uitinvesting.com

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