Capital Link Forum

Anne F. Ackerley
Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer
BlackRock's Private Client Group

Anne F. Ackerley, Managing Director, is Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock's Private Client Group and a member of the Management Committee. The Private Client Group is responsible for distribution, marketing and product management for BlackRock's open-end funds, closed-end funds and managed accounts. She also serves as a Vice President for BlackRock's open and closed-end mutual funds. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2000, Ms. Ackerley spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch...more

Brendan is responsible for working with Registered Investment Advisors in the Northeastern states. Previous to this role, Brendan worked with institutional investors including ETF market makers, institutional brokers, sell-side sales, mutual funds, hedge funds, and supported efforts with pension plans and plan sponsors. Brendan joined BGI in February 2001 to help cover iShares sales to broker/dealer advisors and planners in the New York Metropolitan area...more

Tom Anderson, CFA
Vice President, State Street Global Advisors &
Head of Strategy and Research, Intermediary Business Group

Tom is a Vice President of State Street Global Advisors and Head of the Strategy and Research Group for the Intermediary Business Group. He is responsible for developing research content for the ETF marketplace, as well as developing and maintaining key relationships within the research, investment and intermediary communities. Prior to joining the Intermediary Business Group, Tom was Portfolio Manager and Investment Team Leader in the firm's Charitable Asset Management Group...more

Steven A. Baffico is a Director in the U.S. Retail Group for BlackRock. He currently serves as the Head of the Closed-End Fund business, which includes 107 funds with approximately $50 billion in assets. Closed-end responsibilities include origination, syndication, investment banking, sales management and distribution of IPO new issues and secondary marketing...more

Raymond L. Bell, 43 has been a vice president for the New York Stock Exchange since 1999. Mr. Bell is responsible for oversight of the NYSE's corporate relationships with domestic listed companies in the Central region. His responsibilities include new business development for the combined Southeast and Central region, as well as closed-end fund issuers and advisors...more

EXPERIENCE: With nearly a decade of experience in the investment industry, Jamie Block is committed to providing his clients with the highest level of personal service and investment advice. As a Wealth Advisor he has broad capa-bilities and direct access to the best that Morgan Stanley has to offer. He chooses to focus his work on asset llocation, privately managed accounts, and private wealth management services...more

Douglas R. Bond
EVP & Portfolio Manager
Cohen & Steers Closed-End Opportunity Fund, Cohen & Steers

Douglas R. Bond, executive vice president, is the portfolio manager for Cohen & Steers' Closed-End Opportunity Fund (FOF). In addition, he also leads the firm's closed-end portfolio consulting effort with Van Kampen Investments for their closed-end unit investment trust products. Before joining Cohen & Steers in 2004, Mr. Bond worked at Merrill Lynch for 23 years...more

Before founding PowerShares, Mr. Bond served as Managing Director and Vice President of Nuveen Investments. In this position, he oversaw efforts in Exchange Traded Funds, Closed End Funds, and Unit Investment Trusts with additional responsibilities in Separately Managed Accounts and Mutual Funds. His positions included Director of Product Marketing, Managing Director of Structured Investments, and National Sales Manager....more

As of 1996, founder and President of Capital Link, Inc., an international investor relations and financial advisory group assisting listed companies to develop access to European and North American investors. He also established and managed, Alexander Capital, L.P, a US broker-dealer firm focusing on the Greek, Egyptian and Russian markets; sold the company in 2003. Between 1998 and 2002, he established and managed Alexander Asset Management, Inc. handling portfolios invested in the Greek and European equity markets...more

Mariana F. Bush, CFA
Closed-End Funds & ETF Analyst, Advisory Services Group
Wachovia Securities

Mariana F. Bush is the closed-end fund and exchange-traded analyst at Wachovia Securities. She began her career at Furman Selz in New York as an associate analyst following technology companies long before the internet became a household name. Bush joined Wachovia Securities in 1991 as an analyst in Investment Strategy. In 1993, she began following closed-end funds, and in the late Nineties she also started to cover exchange-traded funds...more

Satch Chada
Managing Director, Head of New Products and Strategic Initiatives, Financial Products Group
Merrill Lynch

Satch Chada is responsible for the New Products and Strategic Initiatives Group, which includes teams for ultra high net worth risk management and third-party distribution. Previously, he was Head of Structured Products, Global Private Client Group. In that role, Satch led the development of the MITTS, HOLDRS, Accelerated Return Notes and TRAKRS programs. He began his career at Merrill in 1997 as an equity derivative trader responsible for trading Japanese index products. Satch has a BS in Computer Science from The University of Michigan, a MS in Computer Science from Michigan State University and an MBA from the The University of Chicago...more

Brian D'Anna, Senior Closed-End Fund Specialist, is a member of BlackRock's U.S. Retail Group. In his current role, Mr. D'Anna's responsibilities include elements of origination, syndication, banking, distribution and client service as they relate to BlackRock's closed-end fund franchise. While interfacing with financial advisors, shareholders, research analysts and BlackRock's distribution teams, his areas of expertise cover investment strategy, portfolio composition, performance, positioning and secondary markets...more

Amy M. Charles
Vice President, Director - Closed-End Fund Research
Raymond James

Ms. Charles, as the Vice President and Director of Closed-End Fund 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...more

Kenneth S. Fincher
Vice President
Director of Product Management & Client Advocacy

Ken Fincher serves as Product Manager and Client Advocate for the Calamos closed-end and open-end mutual funds. In this role, he works closely with Calamos strategic alliance partners, as well as Intermediary Distribution, Portfolio Attribution, CRM and Marketing teams, to ensure that Calamos funds are well supported and positioned...more

Mr. Forstl, CIMA, oversees the sales activity of a National Team of Closed-End Funds and Structured Products Consultants. Prior to his current position, Mr. Forstl served as Managing Director of the Eastern Division of Nuveen Adviser Consultants, overseeing sales and accounts relationship management. Previously in his career, Mr. Forstl served as Managing Director of Nuveen's Financial Institutions Group...more

Deborah A. Fuhr, Managing Director, heads the Investment Strategies Group at Morgan Stanley based in London. The unit consults with institutional investors and writes on the implementation and strategy on the use of Delta 1 products - including Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on equity, fixed income and commodity indices globally, OPALS (Optimised Portfolios As Listed Securities), certificates, swaps, futures, TOPAS, Index Funds...more

Benjamin Fulton
Executive Vice President - Global Product Development
PowerShares Capital Management LLC

Mario J. Gabelli, CFA
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer-Value Portfolios
GAMCO Investors, Inc.

Mario J. Gabelli is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer-Value Portfolios of GAMCO Investors, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed provider of investment advice to alternative investment vehicles, mutual funds, institutional and high-net-worth investors. Mr. Gabelli, who founded the firm as an institutional broker-dealer in 1977, has led its growth into a well-known diversified asset manager and financial services corporation. ...more

Hartmut Graf
Head of Issuer Data & Analytics
Deutsche B�rse's Market Data & Analytics

Hartmut Graf is responsible for the index business within Deutsche B�rse Group. He and his team develop, maintain and market equity, fixed income, derivative and commodity indices, among which the DAX blue chip index is the most prominent example. Prior to joining Deutsche B�rse Group in 2004, Hartmut was a consultant at Roland Berger, an international management consultancy, where he focused on the financial services industry...more

Jill Iacono is a Vice President of State Street Global Advisors and director of national accounts for the Intermediary Business Group (IBG). IBG is State Street's division dedicated to developing products and services to meet the evolving needs of financial advisors and wealth managers. Jill and her team are responsible for building and managing strategic partnerships with national financial services firms. She is also a member of the senior sales management team and product development committee. Prior to this role, Jill was a senior marketing manager for State Street Global Advisors Limited in London where she was responsible for distribution of European-based investment products...more

Jonathan G.G. Isaac is a Vice President of Eaton Vance Distributors, where he is Director of Product Management which includes oversight of all of Eaton Vance's closed-end fund products trading in the secondary market. He is responsible for the company's relationships with research analysts, specialist firms and all fund communications as well being involved in new product development. Mr. Isaac joined Eaton Vance in 1994 and has held a variety of managerial positions in the firm's Operations, Marketing and high-net-worth Investment Counsel groups...more

Michael began his career in 1985 as a credit analyst for Central Fidelity Bank, and ultimately rose to become the bank's Mortgage Backed Securities Portfolio Manager. He moved to New York in 1991, serving as MBS Portfolio Manager for Alliance Capital Management and returned to Richmond to join Ryland Capital Management, a start-up money manager that was soon acquired by Wheat First Butcher Singer...more

Dodd Kittsley, CFA
Senior Investment Strategist
Barclays Global Investors Services

As a senior investment strategist, Dodd is responsible for providing customized portfolio solutions to financial advisers, asset managers, RIAs and family offices. Prior to joining BGI, Dodd was the Head of ETF Research and Strategy at State Street Global Advisors. He was an ETF research analyst at Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for that firm�s research ratings for closed-end and exchange traded funds. He has published extensively and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and in the media. Dodd holds the CFA designation and has a Masters in Education from the University of Houston....more

Mr. Lamb, CPA, currently leads Nuveen's Financial Modeling and Analysis Group, which provides analytical and modeling support for the ongoing financial management of Nuveen Investments' closed-end funds and structured products. Nuveen is the industry's leading sponsor and manager of closed-end funds with total assets under management of approximately $50 billion...more

Sangeeta is a senior closed-end fund analyst for UBS Global Wealth Management Research. She joined the Closed-End Funds group in 2002 after serving as an associate in the paper and forest products group. Before joining UBS, Sangeeta worked at Deloitte as a senior manager in its mergers and acquisition services unit from 1998 to 2000, and earlier as a manager in the securities unit. Sangeeta Marfatia holds an M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School of Business and a B.B.A. in accounting from Baruch College, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is a Certified Public Accountant...more

Jeffrey Margolin
Vice President, Closed-End Fund Analyst
First Trust Portfolios L.P.

Mr. Margolin is Vice President, Closed-End Fund Analyst, for First Trust Portfolios L.P. Mr. Margolin joined the firm in February 2005, after 8 years at Ryan, Beck & Co., where he was a Vice President of equity research focusing on NYSE and AMEX-listed closed-end funds. While there, he produced in-depth research reports on closed-end funds, providing insights on relative performance and portfolio strengths and weaknesses...more

Karen R. McColl, CFA
Vice President
Investment Product Management, Evergreen Investments

Karen is Vice President of Investment Product Management for Evergreen Investments. Her role includes overseeing both closed end and open-end fund offerings. Karen serves as the primary contact for closed end analysts, directs after-market support efforts, and is also closely involved in new product initiatives. Prior to joining Evergreen in 2005, Karen was the Director of Portfolio Analysis at Columbia Management, where she led a team of fund analysts. She has 12 years of industry experience...more

Edward R. McRedmond
Senior Vice President, Portfolio Strategies
Invesco PowerShares

Matthew T. Moran
Vice President, Business Development
Chicago Board Options Exchange

Matthew T. Moran is Vice President, Business Development, for the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and is responsible for many of the exchange's marketing and educational efforts for pension funds, mutual funds, and other institutional investors. Mr. Moran also has served as Trust Counsel at Harris Bank and as Vice President at Chicago Mercantile Exchange...more

Dan Norman
Senior Vice President and Group Head
ING Investment Management Senior Debt Group

Dan is Senior Vice President and Group Head of the ING Investment Management Senior Debt Group. He co-manages the Group with Jeff Bakalar, and he is co-chairman of the Group�s Investment Committee and the Loan Pricing and Valuation Committee. Dan has over twenty years of investment experience. He began managing senior bank debt portfolios in 1995 when ING�s predecessor acquired the management rights to ING Prime Rate Trust. Dan became the co-head of ING�s senior bank loan business in January of 2000 and with Jeff Bakalar created and implemented the ING Senior Debt Strategy and the ING Senior Debt Group in January of 2001...more

Timothy O'Brien, CFA
Co-founder and Principal & Portfolio Manager
Crow Point Partners, LLC

Mr. O'Brien is a Principal of Crow Point Partners, LLC, a new investment advisory firm that he co-founded in 2006. Crow Point is majority owned by M.D. Sass/Macquarie Financial Strategies, L.P., a joint venture between M.D. Sass Group and the Macquarie Group. His current responsibilities include managing the Evergreen Utility & Telecommunications Fund ("EVUAX") and the Evergreen Utilities & High Income Fund ("ERH"). Mr. O'Brien was employed with Evergreen from 2002 to 2006...more

Alexander Reiss is the Senior Analyst for Closed-End Funds at Stifel Nicolaus. He joined Stifel Nicolaus in February of 2008. Previously, Mr. Reiss had been an analyst with Ryan Beck and Company and an associate analyst with Gruntal and Co., covering Closed-End Funds. Earlier in his career, he held various analyst positions focused on the media, advertising and technology industries...more

Kris Rollenhagen
Senior Vice President, Closed-End & Exchange-Traded Index Funds
Oppenheimer & Co.

Kris Rollenhagen is Senior Vice President, Closed-End & Exchange-Traded Index Funds for Oppenheimer & Co. Previously Mr. Rollenhagen was Managing Director, CEF & ETF Research & Portfolios at Claymore Securities immidiately following his 11 year tenure at Prudential Financial as SVP & Director of Closed-End & Exchange-Traded Funds.Prior to Prudential Financial Mr. Rollenhagen spent 9 years at Gruntal & Co as VP and Manager, Financial Services where his responsibilities included closed-end fund research and initiating REIT research for Gruntal...more

David Schulte has been a full time Managing Director of Tortoise Capital Advisors since 2002, and serves as CEO and President for each of its four publicly-traded, closed-end funds. Previously, he served as a general partner at Kansas City Equity Partners, where he led private equity financings for two growth MLPs. Before joining Kansas City Equity Partners in 1993, Mr. Schulte spent five years as an investment banker at the predecessor of Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and was a securities attorney for three years...more

As Director of Research for WisdomTree Investments, Luciano oversaw the creation and development of the company's proprietary index methodology and other intellectual property. Before joining WisdomTree in 1999, he was an Equity Analyst at Value Line, Inc. Prior to his career in finance, Luciano served as a Special Assistant to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and as a Special Assistant to New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo. Luciano is a graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University. ...more

Michael Temple
Vice President - Director of Fixed Income Credit Research
Pioneer Investments

Michael Temple is Director of Credit Research, responsible for purchase and sell recommendations for fixed income obligations and oversight of credit research. His duties include independent research of credits, sector analysis, and coordination of research efforts. Education / Experience. Mr. Temple began his career in investment management in 1991. Prior to joining Pioneer, he was a portfolio manager at Boston Partners and a senior credit analyst at Putnam Investments, a senior analyst...more

Mr. Williams currently directs much of Nuveen's new product development effort in connection with closed-end funds. Nuveen is the industry's leading sponsor and manager of closed-end funds with total assets under management of approximately $50 billion. Mr. Williams joined Nuveen in 1971 and has been closely associated with the development of Nuveen's asset management business since the late 1980's. He is credited with originating the leveraged municipal bond fund concept and, in recent years, has played a key role implementing the strategic diversification...more