etfLIVE North America | #1 ETF Event in 2020

Exchange traded funds and products (ETFs / ETPs) have enjoyed explosive growth over recent years. It is increasingly clear that institutional investors are interested in incorporating them into their portfolios — but where to start?

Hosted by ETF Express, this CPD®-certified live summit will discuss and debate how ETFs can be used in an institutional portfolio, in front of a specially selected audience of institutional investors and members of the ETF ecosystem.

Drawn from the best of the American ETF industry, our speakers will demonstrate:

Thomas Kuh, PhD, is Head of Index at Truvalue Labs. He was Global Head of ESG Indexes at MSCI for seven years, where he led development of ESG equity and fixed income indexes. His professional experience also includes 16 years at KLD Research & Analytics, and one year as Head of ESG Indices at RiskMetrics Group prior to its acquisition by MSCI. Thomas was a director on the boards of SIRI Company (now Morningstar Sustainalytics) and the US SIF.

Thomas has an MA and PhD in Economics from University of Massachusetts Amherst and a BA in Political Economy from Hampshire College. He was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and Professor of Economics at Simmons College.

Thomas is currently Head of Index at Truvalue Labs.

Ed Rosenberg is senior vice president and head of exchange traded funds for American Century Investments®.

Before joining American Century Investments in 2017, Ed was a senior vice president and head of ETF capital markets and analytics at Northern Trust's FlexShares. Previously, he was director and head of capital markets and analytics at Russell Investments. Prior to that, Ed was an ETF product manager at Vanguard.

Ed holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Muhlenberg College, and a master's degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Ed is currently SVP and Head of ETFs at American Century Investments.

Rick spent most of his career in senior leadership roles with The CME Group (“CME”), a leading provider of benchmark futures and options products and an innovator in futures trading.

At CME, Rick held the post of Managing Director, Products and Services. In this role he led global sales, product development, and strategic global growth initiatives. He played an integral part in the transition of CME’s ownership stake in Dow Jones Indexes to the S&P Dow Jones Indices joint venture.

He also held senior positions in CME’s index products division.

Rick is currently CEO at the Index Industry Association.

Nick is responsible for leveraging the breadth of Franklin Templeton' capabilities in the creation of new and custom investment strategies.

Nick was formerly Vice President and Investment Analyst with Transamerica Asset Management. At Transamerica he held manager selection and product development responsibilities. Previously he has worked at BNYMellon, Concord Advisory Group, and Merrill Lynch focusing on investment selection and analysis, performance analytics, and trade execution within institutional portfolios.

Nick has a BS from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

Nick is currently Head of Client Investment Solutions - Americas at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions (FTIS).

Michael brings over 20 years of industry experience to TrueMark as its new President and CEO.

Previously, Michael served as President and CEO of USA Mutuals, where he was directly responsible for executing the company’s strategic vision on a day to day basis. Michael was also a founding Principal and CEO of WaveFront Capital Management in San Francisco, an institutional investment advisor specializing in Emerging Markets and China.

Michael began his career with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and also worked as an institutional equity salesman for CIBC Oppenheimer prior to moving into the registered investment company space.

Michael is currently President & CEO at TrueMark Investments.

Dorrit Lowsen has more than 20 years of professional experience across a range of industries including IT, environment, and finance, and a range of modalities including Fortune 500, start up, government, and non-profit.

Before co-founding Change Finance, Dorrit served as a diplomat focused on energy and environmental policy at the US Embassy in Beijing, the COO of a non-profit facilitating impact investing in Latin America, and as an impact investor in her own right.

She holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Dorrit is currently President & COO at Change Finance, PBC.

Todd Rosenbluth is Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at CFRA where he leads the firm’s holdings-based research efforts.

Todd served as a member of CFRA’s Investment Policy Committee. Todd has frequently provided ETF education at Inside ETFs conferences and been quoted in media outlets, such as Barron’s, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Todd also held the position of Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research for S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Prior to joining S&P Global in 2000, Todd was managing editor of Value Line Mutual Fund Survey and Senior Large Cap and Small Cap Value Mutual Fund Analyst. He was also a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley.

Todd holds a B.G.S in Finance from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Finance from New York University.

Todd is currently Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at CFRA, Equity and Fund Research

Rochelle is Senior Director of Industry and Financial Analysis at the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, Shelly also has contributed heavily to analysis on financial systemic risks in the US and more recently in the global arena.

She also conducts economic analysis to better understand the costs, benefits, and impacts of proposed laws and regulations governing mutual funds and ETFs (e.g. summary prospectus, Rule 12(b)(1), Rule 30(e)(3), and derivatives).

Prior to joining ICI in 2005, Shelly spent 13 years as a staff economist and Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board.

She earned a BA in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego and an MS and PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Rochelle is currently Senior Director of Industry and Financial Analysis at Investment Company Institute.

Terry is a financial mathematician, experienced at developing alpha generation models to support Equity, Fixed Income and FX businesses globally.

Previously he worked for firms in both the UK and U.S., including Bank of America, WorldInvest, PanAgora Asset Management, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.

In December 2019 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Blue Tractor’s Shielded Alpha℠ exchange traded fund, a novel semi-transparent structure that facilitates actively managed portfolios within an ETF wrapper but without requisite full daily disclosure of the actual portfolio.

He is a listed inventor on numerous issued and pending patent applications concerning ETFs.

Terry has a degree in mathematics from the University of London.

Terry is currently Founder at Blue Tractor Group, LLC.

Mary Gronseth is responsible for Advisory Services for BCBS of MN and provides guidance and solutions on a range of investment services specializing in the insurance industry.

These services include delegated investment solutions, setting of investment objectives, strategic asset allocation, investment management structures, manager selection, manager monitoring, performance measurement and evaluation, investment governance, monitoring and statements of investment policies & procedures.

Her experience includes corporate level cash management and investment analysis within a family office environment. She started working for BCBS of MN in 2010.

Mary is currently Portfolio Specialist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Simon is a corporate development professional with deep experience in the financial sector. Simon co-founded Blue Tractor in 2014 with his colleague Terry Norman and focuses on the firm’s business and corporate development and intellectual property licensing activities.

Previously Simon was a vice president in the investment banking divisions of TD Securities and Credit Suisse in Toronto and New York. He also has been CFO and COO for a variety of biotechnology and medical device companies.

He has a B.Sc. (biochemistry) from Queen’s University (Canada) and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, Western University (Canada).

Simon is currently Co-Founder at Blue Tractor Group, LLC.

Linda H Zhang, Ph.D is CEO of Purview Investments, a SEC registered investment firm specializing in climate resilience and ESG investing in New York City.

Linda had served as a lead portfolio manager at Blackrock, Charles Schwab and MFS. Linda is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg News, TV and Radio, New York Times, Fund Intelligence and a speaker at industry conferences. Linda has published her research on Journal of Index Investing, Journal of Investing, ETF.com, ETFtrends.com.

Linda holds a BS from University of Regina, Canada, a MS in Economics and Ph.D in finance at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Linda is currently PhD, CEO & Founder at Purview Investments.

Bob Smith is Co-Founder, President and Chief Investment Officer of Sage Advisory Services, which has grown to manage over $14 billion in assets since it was established in 1996. Bob leads Sage’s Investment Committee and directs the firm’s ESG investment practices.

He began his career in 1970 at Moody's Investors Services, and has held senior leadership roles at Loeb, Rhodes & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Bob holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business, and he is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) and Certified Investment Management Consultant (CIMC).

Bob is currently President & CIO at Sage Advisory Services.

Adam Gould is a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Equities at Tradeweb, overseeing the Americas institutional Equities electronic trading platform for ETFs, Options and Convertible Bonds, and the Dealerweb Equity Derivatives, dealer-to-dealer platform.

He played an integral role in the launch of Tradeweb’s Americas ETF and Options platforms, and leads day-to-day operations. Previously, he served as SVP of ETF Sales and Business Development at Direxionshares, where he helped launch ETF trading. Prior to that, Adam was a Portfolio Manager and trader in the Index Fund Asset Management group at the Bank of New York.

Adam received a B.Sc. in Behavioral Science and Law from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Georgetown University.

Adam is currently Managing Director and Head of U.S. Equities at Tradeweb.

Graham joined Innovator Capital Management in 2017 and is vice president of product & research, responsible for product development, capital markets and research efforts.

Prior to joining Innovator, Graham was SVP - head of product & research at a startup ETF issuer and a Senior Strategist at Invesco PowerShares. He has been quoted in CNBC.com, TheStreet.com, FA magazine, FOX Business and Investopedia.com.

Graham is a CFA charter holder, a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and holds a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College.

Graham is currently CFA, Vice President of Product & Research at Innovator ETFs.

Rusty Vanneman serves as Chief Investment Officer at Orion Advisor Solutions in

Omaha, NE.

Rusty is responsible for leading Orion’s Portfolio Management Team and overseeing all investment operations, including investment philosophy, process, positioning, and performance.

In addition, Rusty is responsible for internal and external communications regarding market environment and current investment strategies. Orion oversees roughly $44.4B in AUM.

Rusty is currently Chief Investment Officer at Orion Advisor Solution.

Paul brings more than 19 years of ETF experience to his role as President of Defiance ETFs.

Prior to joining Defiance in 2018, Paul spent over 10 years with BlackRock/iShares, handling ETF distribution, sales leadership within the wealth advisory business, as well as mutual funds, SMA, and closed end distribution. Paul earned a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from Florida State University and M.B.A. from Saint Joseph’s University Haub School of Business.

Paul currently holds the CIMA® and CAIA designations; and the Series 7, 24, 51, 63, and 65 licenses.

Paul is currently President at Defiance ETFs, LLC.

Frank Koudelka is the Senior Vice President and Global ETF Product Specialist for State Street.

State Street is a market leader servicing over 60% of global ETF assets. In this role, Frank establishes the strategic direction for

ETF servicing, assists with the on-boarding

of new clients and drives the

product and technology strategy as it

relates to ETFs.

Frank has been with State Street for over 18 years and has 34 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Frank is currently Senior Vice President

and Global ETF Product Specialist at State Street.

Prior to founding Wilshire Phoenix, Bill Herrmann worked in corporate and investment banking for over 12 years at BNY Mellon, most recently as Vice President of Dealing and Trading where he effectively managed a credit risk portfolio of over $10Bn.

Additionally, Bill led in the successful closing of 125+ transactions, collectively exceeding $50Bn in new issuances. Throughout his tenure, he was honored with multiple awards and accolades for his contributions and achievements.

Bill completed undergraduate studies at Clarion University of Pennsylvania and graduate studies at New York University.

Bill is currently Founder and Managing Partner at Wilshire Phoenix.

Laurence Black is the founder of The Index Standard and an index advisor to Professor Robert J Shiller.

The Index Standard is an information portal providing ratings, forecasts and guides unmasking the mystique behind indices and making finance more approachable. Earlier in his career Laurence instigated the Shiller Barclays Index family with Barclays and Professor Shiller.

Prior to this, Laurence was a Managing Director at Barclays where he held the position of Global Head of QIS Origination & Development. He has also worked at ABN AMRO Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

Laurence is currently Founder at The Index Standard.

Mr. Carter is the Founder of The Emerging Markets Internet Ecommerce ETF (NYSE EMQQ) He has been a featured speaker for Columbia Business School, Bloomberg, Guggenheim Partners, Morningstar and the CFA Society.

Previously, Mr. Carter was the Founder CEO of AlphaShares an investment firm offering China focused ETFs in partnership with INVESCO Mr. Carter was also the Founder CEO of Active Index Advisors acquired by Natixis in 2005 and the Founder CEO of eInvesting acquired by ETRADE in 2000.

Mr. Carter received a degree in Economics from the University of Arizona and began his career in 1992 with Robertson Stephens Co.

Kevin is currently Founder & CIO at EMQQ.

Hector McNeil is a veteran of the ETF industry, being instrumental in establishing Susquehanna’s ETF desk in Europe as head of business development.

Hector then joined ETF Securities as Joint Managing Partner, before going on to found BoostETP with Nik Bienkowski in 2011. BoostETP was purchased by US ETF provider WisdomTree in 2014 and following the completion of this buyout in 2016 Hector stepped down as Co-CEO of WisdomTree Europe.

He has since set up Europe’s first independent ‘white label’ ETF platform, HANetf, with business partner Nik Bienkowski, which will provide asset managers with a turnkey solution to enter the European ETF market.

Hector is currently Co-Founder and Co-CEO at HANetf.

Rob leads and executes BNY Mellon’s strategy for long-term regional growth in its Exchange Traded Product investment servicing business as well as delivering enterprise-wide, full-lifecycle solutions to fund sponsors in EMEA.

Rob has more than 20 years’ experience in the funds industry and was responsible for building the asset servicing model for Europe’s first ETFs in 2000. He is also a Council member for The Irish Funds Industry Association (Irish Funds).

Rob is currently Head of ETF Servicing, EMEA at BNY Mellon.

USD6.35 trillion. That's the total recorded value of assets in the global ETF and ETP industry from early 2020, according to ETFGI.

This phenomenal growth is driven by the liquidity, transparency and low cost of the ETF, whose underlying investments can range from core vanilla indices to thematic indices in the ESG or robotics sector, or even the medical marijuana industry. Investment managers of all types can gain exposure to a basket of shares in a theme of their choice, through the purchase of the appropriate ETF.

We’ve designed this unique three day digital summit to connect investors, fund managers and issuers interested in answering the question: what can ETFs add to existing portfolios?

This panel will detail the growth of ETF industry and current trends globally; its robustness in the face of market volatility; and an examination of US ETF figures and split between the institutional and retail.

Nick Hooten, Head of Client Investment Solutions - Americas, Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions

Todd Rosenbluth, Head of ETF & Mutual Fund Research, CFRA

Rochelle Antoniewicz, Senior Director of Industry and Financial Analysis, Investment Company Institute

Johan Grahn, Vice President, Allianz Investment Management LLC

Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor, ETF Express (moderator).

See what happened at

Exploring the institutional use of ETFs

See what happened at

Exploring the institutional use of ETFs