We believe differences enrich perspective, debate fosters innovation, and teamwork fuels excellence.

Across our seven offices in the United States and through our over 360 investment professionals, we offer clients customized and enduring investment solutions culled from extensive research. As an employee-owned organization, our accomplishments are aligned with the success of our clients.

Meet Our Leadership Team

Team
AllExecutive LeadershipResearchDiscretionaryEndowments & FoundationsHealthcarePrivate WealthDefined ContributionCorporate Defined BenefitInsuranceTaft-HartleyPublic FundsHuman ResourcesInformation Technology
Headshot of Richard Charlton.
Chairman Emeritus

Richard M. Charlton

Headshot of Michael Manning.
Managing Partner

Michael P. Manning, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Samuel Austin.
Partner

Samuel M. Austin, III

Partner, Head of Private Equity Investments

Joshua Beers

Headshot of Margaret Belmondo.
Partner, Public Fund Team Leader

Margaret Belmondo

Headshot of Ross Breman.
Partner

Ross A. Bremen, CFA

Headshot of Timothy Bruce.
Partner, Head of Portfolio Construction

Timothy Bruce

Headshot of Michael Cairns.
Partner

Michael D. Cairns, CEBS

Headshot of Steven Charlton.
Partner, Head of Client Solutions

Steven F. Charlton, CFA

Rich Ciccione Headshot
Partner

Richard K. Ciccione

Headshot of KC Conners.
Partner, Chief Consulting Officer

KC Connors, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Rose Dean, Principal & Senior Consultant at NEPC
Partner

Rose Dean, CFA

Headshot of Brian Donoghue.
Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

Brian S. Donoghue

Chenae Edwards Headshot
Partner

Chenae W. Edwards, CPA

John Elliot Headshot
Partner

John M. Elliot

Oliver Fadly Headshot
Partner, Head of Private Debt Investments

Oliver Fadly

Headshot of William Forde.
Partner, Head of Marketable Equities

William Forde, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Sebastian Grzejka, Partner and Senior Consultant at NEPC, LLC
Partner

Sebastian Grzejka, CAIA

Headshot of Kristi Hanson.
Partner

Kristi Hanson, CFA

Headshot of Karen Harding.
Partner

Karen Harding, CFA

Headshot of Rhett Humphreys.
Partner

Rhett Humphreys, CFA

Kellie Kane headshot
Partner, Chief Operating Officer

Kellie Kane

Headshot of Christopher Klapinsky.
Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

Christopher J. Klapinsky, CFA

Headshot of Kevin Leonard.
Partner, Practice Group Director

Kevin M. Leonard

Tim McCusker Headshot
Partner, Chief Investment Officer

Timothy F. McCusker, FSA, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of David Moore.
Partner

David W. Moore, ARM, CEBS, CPCU

Headshot of Douglas Mosley.
Partner

Douglas W. Moseley

Headshot of Judy Murphy.
Partner, Head of Human Resources

Judy A. Murphy, SPHR

Joe Nankof headshot
Partner, Senior Consultant

Joe Nankof

Phill Nelson Headshot
Partner, Head of Asset Allocation

Phillip R. Nelson, CFA

Headshot of Dulari Pancholi, Partner, Head of Credit and Multi-Asset Investments, NEPC
Partner, Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments

Dulari Pancholi, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Kristine Pelletier.
Partner, Endowment and Foundation Team Leader

Kristine M. Pelletier

Headshot of Scott Perry.
Partner, Head of Portfolio Strategy

Scott F. Perry, CAIA

Headshot of Samuel Pollack.
Partner

Samuel J. Pollack, CAIA

Partner

Kelly A. Regan

Headshot of James Reichert.
Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

James E. Reichert, CFA

Headshot of Kristin Reynolds.
Partner, Practice Group Director

Kristin M. Reynolds, CFA, CAIA

Partner, Head of Real Assets Investments

Matthew Ritter, CAIA

Deirdre Robert headshot
Partner, Senior Consultant

Deirdre L. Robert, CFA, CAIA

Brian Roberts Headshot
Partner

Brian Roberts, CAIA

Headshot of Jay Roney.
Partner

Jay E. Roney, CTP

Partner, Senior Consultant

Daniel Runnals, CFA, CAIA

Bill Ryan headshot
Partner, Head of Defined Contribution Solutions

Bill Ryan, CAIA, SPHR

Sarah Samuels Headshot
Partner, Head of Investment Manager Research

Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA

Neil Sheth Headshot
Partner, Head of Global Research

Neil N. Sheth

Headshot of Bradley Smith.
Partner

Bradley S. Smith, CFA, CEBS

Headshot of Carolyn Smith
Partner

Carolyn Smith

Headshot of Michael "Mike" P. Sullivan, Partner at NEPC, LLC
Partner

Michael P. Sullivan

Headshot of Craig Svendsen.
Partner, Practice Group Director

Craig A. Svendsen, CFA

Headshot of Elton Thomaj, Partner, Senior Investment Director, NEPC
Partner, Senior Investment Director

Elton Thomaj, CAIA

Headshot of Gary Wyniemko.
Partner

Gary Wyniemko, CFA

Principal, Senior Consultant

David Barnes, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of NEPC Principal, Peggy Boraks
Principal, Senior Controller

Peggy L. Boraks

Principal, Senior Finance Manager

Kelly Bruns

Headshot of Jason Castonguay, Principal, Discretionary Director, NEPC
Principal, Discretionary Director

Jason Castonguay

Richard Chari Headshot
Principal, Senior Consultant

Richard T. Chari

Principal, Senior Consultant

Aaron Chastain, CFA

Headshot of Thomas Cook, Principal, Senior Consultant, NEPC
Principal, Senior Consultant

Thomas D. Cook

Headshot of team member Devan Dewey.
Principal, Chief Technology Officer

Devan Dewey

Headshot of Timothy P. Fitzgerald, CAIA, Principal, Senior Consultant, NEPC
Principal, Senior Consultant

Timothy P. Fitzgerald, CAIA

Headshot of Stacey Flier.
Principal, Senior Consultant

Stacey Flier, CFA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Daniel S. Gimbel, CIMA®

Rich Harper Headshot
Principal, Senior Consultant

Richard J. Harper, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Scott Harsh.
Principal, Senior Consultant

Scott B. Harsh

Chris Hill headshot
In Memoriam (1975-2022)
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Chris Hill, CFA, CAIA

Andy Hone Headshot
Principal, Chief Counsel

Andrew Hone

Headshot of Brandon Jones, Principal, Senior Investment Director, NEPC
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Brandon Jones

Headshot of Ashlee Lazzari, Principal, Director of Marketing and Communications, NEPC
Principal, Director of Marketing and Communications

Ashlee Lazzari

Alison Lonstein headshot
Principal, Senior Consultant

Alison Lonstein

Matt Maleri headshot
Principal, Senior Consultant

Matt Maleri

Headshot of NEPC Principal, Nick Mann
Principal, Senior Investment Director, Private Markets

Nick Mann

Principal, Senior Marketing Manager

Heather S. Martone

Headshot of Kevin Novak, Principal, Senior Consultant, Healthcare, NEPC
Principal, Senior Consultant

Kevin C. Novak

Headshot of NEPC Principal, Emma O'Brien
Principal, Senior Consultant

Emma O’Brien

Headshot of Brian Parnell, Principal, Discretionary Director, NEPC
Principal, Discretionary Director

Brian Parnell

Headshot of Alec Rapaport.
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Alec Rapaport

Terri Sacramone Headshot
Principal, Director of Human Resources

Teresa A. Sacramone

Principal, Senior Investment Director, Real Assets

Shelley R. Santulli

Principal, Senior Consultant

Keith Stronkowsky, CFA

Michael Valchine Headshot
Principal, Senior Consultant

Michael J. Valchine, CAIA, CIPM

Principal, Senior Consultant

Eric Vallo, CFA

Chairman Emeritus

Richard M. Charlton

Richard “Dick” Charlton’s investment experience dates back to 1972, when he initiated Michigan Bell’s Pension Oversight District in anticipation of the oversight requirements of ERISA. Dick also prepared financial regulatory testimony, and wrote his master’s seminar on pension fund performance evaluation. He was elected Assistant Treasurer in February 1976, overseeing the financial modeling, market research, economics, pension, and math research districts.

After an assignment at AT&T, Dick joined Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in 1981, assuming the investment consulting responsibility for over $25 billion in assets. With Merrill Lynch’s decision to leave the institutional investment consulting market at the end of 1985, Dick formed his own firm, New England Pension Consultants, now “NEPC, LLC,” converting 100% of his clients in the process. During the ensuing 35 years, NEPC has become one of the largest and most well-known investment consulting firms in the industry.

Dick has been influential in shaping NEPC’s impact investing capabilities, including mission-related and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles based on a deep understanding of the role that these factors can play in many investment programs.

Dick is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences and seminars. He also served as the Co-Chairman of the Consultants Performance Presentation Standards Task Force, a two-year effort by the investment consulting industry to develop standards for performance documentation, presentation and disclosure. He is also a past director of IMCA, the Investment Management Consultants’ Association. In 2013, Dick was honored at NASP-Detroit’s 7th Annual Encore Gala as the recipient of their “Measure of Excellence” Award.

Dick’s undergraduate degree is in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Detroit (1965), and his M.B.A., with emphasis in Statistics and Finance, is from Wayne State University (1972).

Location:Boston, MA

Managing Partner

Michael P. Manning, CFA, CAIA

Mike began his investment career in 1993 and joined NEPC in 1997.  Mike became President of NEPC, LLC in 2003 and Managing Partner in April 2011. During his time at NEPC, Mike has worked closely with a broad array of clients, covering all types that NEPC works with today, including Public, Healthcare, Private Wealth, Corporate, and Endowment/Foundation investment programs. Mike currently serves on NEPC’s Discretionary and Alternative Assets Committees. In addition, he is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences and seminars.

Prior to joining NEPC, Mike worked in a private debt management division of Prudential Insurance Company.  Prior to Prudential, Mike worked at Putnam Investments and Fidelity Investments.

Mike earned his M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, with concentrations in Finance and Accounting.  He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.  Mike is a member of the Boston Security Analyst Society and the CFA Institute.  Mike holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Samuel M. Austin, III

Sam Austin, based in San Francisco, California, manages NEPC’s Western Region public fund consulting activities.  For 34 years, Sam has offered consulting advice to public fund, corporate, multi-employer, endowment and eleemosynary clients.  Sam currently serves as Chair of NEPC’s Governing Board.  He previously chaired NEPC’s Partner Nominating Committee. Sam also is Chair of NEPC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board.

Prior to joining the Partnership at NEPC in 2017, Sam was a Senior Vice President at FIS Group (now Xponance) for five years, where he advised pension clients on the portion of their asset allocation dedicated to emerging managers.  Sam contributed to manager selection decisions as a Voting Member of the Investment Committee at FIS. Previously, Sam worked for 10 years at Virtus Investment Partners where he held the position of Executive Managing Director.  As a Member of the Virtus Executive Committee, reporting to the CEO, he was a key participant in the strategic planning and implementation for the spin-out of multiple boutique money management subsidiaries from Phoenix Insurance. Earlier in his career, Sam was a Principal and Team Leader for the Public Fund and Taft-Hartley businesses at Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock).  He also served initially as a Portfolio Strategist for Quantitative Equities and later as Principal and Co-Head of Marketing at Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank).

Sam is the founder and Board Chair of the Investment Diversity Advisory Council (IDAC), an organization with representation from all stakeholders in the investment business, dedicated to working collaboratively to implement strategies that can transform the equitable representation of all parts of the population throughout our industry. Sam was also the founding President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP-NY), where he created the NASP-NY Trustee Education Seminar in 1994. His initiative to launch the NASP Finance and Scholastic Training Track (“FAST Track”) Program in New York has been adopted by other local chapters of NASP around the country and has introduced hundreds of inner-city high school students to careers in banking, finance and asset management.  Sam was inducted into the NASP-NY Wall Street Hall of Fame in 2013. Sam earned his M.B.A. degree in Finance from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University.

Location:Redwood City, CA

Partner, Head of Private Equity Investments

Joshua Beers

Josh is a member of the Firm’s Private Markets Research Group, leading the coverage of Private Equity strategies.  He is responsible for conducting manager due diligence, providing educational overviews to clients and constructing investment plans for implementation in client portfolios.  Josh is also a member of the Firm’s Equity Beta Group and Strategic Healthcare Team.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2018, Josh spent a decade at Liberty Mutual, deeply involved in their private markets portfolio.  In his time with us, Josh has brought his outstanding expertise and vast network in Venture Capital.  He has significantly raised the bar of how we cover this important area for our clients.  Josh was promoted in January of 2024 and is someone consultants and clients across the firm rely on for his PE expertise.  Josh has been involved in fulfilling important PE mandates that help NEPC to differentiate our capabilities and win new business.  Josh has a natural leadership style and is a strong mentor to the members of the PE team.

Josh received his M.B.A. from the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and his B.S. in Finance from Quinnipiac University.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Public Fund Team Leader

Margaret Belmondo

Margaret Belmondo joined NEPC in 2016 with her investment experience dating back to 2001. Margaret is the team leader for the NEPC Public Fund Team which includes broad responsibilities in all facets of client management, team management, and strategic planning.  Margaret has extensive experience working with clients on investment policy development, asset allocation, investment manager selection, performance and risk measurement, and asset/liability studies. Margaret is a member of the Private Investment Committee, Impact Committee, and Unfavorable News Committee.  She has also co-Chaired the NEPC’s Women’s Leadership Forum and serves on the DEI Board (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Board).

Previously, Margaret was at the PFM Group of Philadelphia, PA, where she was a Director in the asset management group. There, she collaborated with trustees, investment committees and plan sponsors to develop and implement investment objectives, policies, strategies and on-going tactical portfolio moves. She was a member of the investment research team responsible for conducting due diligence on investment managers, including those running alternative strategies such as private equity and hedge funds. Margaret participated in Multi-Asset Class Investment Committee meetings and oversaw the Emerging Manager Program, which focused on selecting qualified minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE).

Prior to that she was a Senior Investment Consultant at SEI Investments in Oaks, PA. She provided private wealth management services to a group of high net worth and institutional clients including individuals, family offices, and foundations with greater than $750 million in assets under management and advisement.

Margaret is a Board Member and serves as Investment Committee Chair of Women Against Abuse, a non-profit organization serving a diverse population of survivors of domestic violence in Philadelphia. She is a 2016 graduate of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia, a non-profit organization that mobilizes and connects talent of the private sector to serve Philadelphia. Margaret earned a B.A. in Finance from Villanova University.

Location:Philadelphia, PA

Partner

Ross A. Bremen, CFA

Ross’ investment career began in 1992, and he joined NEPC in 2005. Ross works with DC plans in all aspects of plan evaluation. Ross is a regular speaker at conferences and has co-authored several pieces for NEPC, including “Stable Value on the Brink, But Surviving” and “The Automated Defined Contribution Plan.” He has also co-authored several opinion letters to the Department of Labor and testified in the Department of Labor/Securities and Exchange Commission Joint Hearings on Target-Date Funds, the Department of Labor/Treasury Joint Hearings on Lifetime Income Solutions, and the Department of Labor Definition of Fiduciary Hearings. Ross has led the effort behind NEPC’s annual Plan and Fee Survey, has been interviewed multiple times in industry publications such as PIMCO’s DC Dialogue and is frequently quoted in the press. Ross is also a founder of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and is the former Chair of the Public Policy Committee. Ross has been nominated several times for 401kWire’s Hundred Most Influential People in Defined Contribution.

Prior to joining NEPC, Ross worked at Hewitt Associates as a Senior Investment Consultant. As a Senior Investment Consultant, Ross was responsible for designing institutional retirement plan investment strategies for defined contribution Plans. Ross also managed client relationships, created investment policy statements, advised on asset allocation and selection of investment managers.

Prior to working at Hewitt Associates, Ross worked at The First National Bank of Chicago as a Portfolio Manager and Assistant Vice President.

Ross earned an M.B.A. from Northwestern University and also received his B.A. from Northwestern University. In addition, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Portfolio Construction

Timothy Bruce

Tim is the Director of Portfolio Construction. In this role Tim works with NEPC’s clients to solve portfolio construction and asset class implementation questions. Tim and his team work across all of NEPC research to incorporate the Firm’s best ideas in public and private markets. The Portfolio Construction Team works in tandem with clients to analyze their exposures through a quantitative and qualitative lens that is specific to the portfolio goals and objectives of each client.

As a research team leader, Tim is a member of multiple investment committees at NEPC. A frequent conference speaker, Tim has authored multiple white papers across a broad range of asset classes and investment strategies. Outside of his formal research responsibilities, Tim consults to all of NEPC’s client segments.

Tim received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Finance and Strategic Management. Tim received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University.

Location:Tampa, FL

Partner

Michael D. Cairns, CEBS

Mike’s investment and benefits consulting career in the Taft-Hartley market dates to 1988. Mike joined NEPC in January 2007. In addition to his work with clients, Mike is a part of the Diversified Manager Committee for NEPC and formerly served on the firm’s Marketable Investment Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Mike was a Senior Investment Consultant at The Marco Consulting Group (now Segal Marco).  Prior to The Marco Consulting Group/Segal Marco, he was an Actuarial/Benefits Consultant on both pension and welfare plans for the Taft-Hartley unit of Milliman & Robertson, Inc. (now Milliman USA), an international actuarial firm in San Francisco, CA.  Mike spent over five years as the Regional Manager for Zenith Administrators, Inc., a national third-party administrator of Taft-Hartley benefit plans.  Prior to his involvement in the Taft-Hartley arena, Mike worked in the public accounting field.  He is a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS), is a member of the ISCEBS and has been a speaker at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) Annual Conference, the IFEBP Investments Institute and the National Coordinating Committee of Multi-Employer Plans (NCCMP).

Mike received his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Client Solutions

Steven F. Charlton, CFA

Steve provides strategic leadership in multiple areas at NEPC, including design and strategic direction for NEPC’s OCIO business.  Prior to his current role Steve was the head of NEPC’s overall client-facing consulting business for four years and the head of one of NEPC’s major business lines for over ten years.  Steve is a member of NEPC’s OCIO Committee, Management Group, and is involved in many of the technical projects performed at NEPC.  Steve is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences, he is the author of multiple research and technical papers and is often quoted in the popular press.

Prior to joining NEPC in 1996, Steve worked as an Investment Specialist at Putnam Investments, where he was responsible for helping clients understand the products and performance offered through Putnam.  Steve worked with Putnam’s clients to develop cohesive plan designs and investment policy statements and help plan sponsors better evaluate their long-term objectives and plan performance.

Steve earned a B.A. with two majors, Economics and English Writing, from St. Lawrence University in 1991.  Steve is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the Boston Security Analysts Society, and the CFA Institute.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Richard K. Ciccione

Rick joined NEPC in 2017 as a senior consultant and has 18 years of experience in institutional investment consulting and financial services.  He is a senior member of our Endowment & Foundation consulting practice and serves on the Impact Investing Committee and the Discovery Platform Committee.  In 2022, Rick relocated from Chicago to Colorado in order to spearhead NEPC’s growth in the Mountain West.  Additionally, Rick is NEPC’s Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative (CIIC) representative, where he serves as co-chair of the Participation and Outreach Committee.  Prior to joining NEPC, Rick was an Investment Consultant at LCG Associates, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia where he was responsible for several endowment and foundation client relationships including faith-based organizations.  He has in-depth experience conducting investment manager research meetings across all asset classes and has specific expertise in fixed income and the alternatives space.  He was responsible for preparing asset allocation and asset/liability studies, developing investment policies and assisting clients with all aspects of portfolio construction.  Prior to LCG Associates Inc., Rick served as a Fixed Income Trader at Arbor Research & Trading, where he was responsible for sourcing and executing trade ideas within investment grade and high yield corporate issues, sovereign debt and rates across the globe. He also worked at Lehman Brothers in middle market Fixed Income sales for a range of insurance companies, health care clients and corporations.  As a Private Client Associate at Alliance Bernstein Wealth Management Rick assisted in the construction and management of client portfolios while helping to build the team’s client roster through proactive marketing efforts.

Rick has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Master of Education and B.S.B.A. in Business Management from Bucknell University.  He serves as a Bucknell University Alumni Volunteer by participating in the Bison Ambassador Program and serves on the Missions Committee of his local church.

Location:Denver, CO

Partner, Chief Consulting Officer

KC Connors, CFA, CAIA

KC joined NEPC as a Partner and has over thirty years as a business leader.  KC is responsible for the NEPC Consulting, a group of 123 professionals[1] representing all Consulting Practices – Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Insurance, Private Wealth, Endowment & Foundation, Healthcare, Taft Hartley, and Public Funds. As CCO, KC leads high level strategic goals and priorities for NEPC Consulting. KC is a member of the firm’s Executive Team and NEPC’s Management Group. She founded NEPC’s Impact Committee in 2013 and the Women’s Leadership Forum in 2017 and was instrumental in establishing NEPC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative in 2018. KC serves as one of seven Partners on NEPC’s DEI Board (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Board). She also serves on the Impact Investment Committee and the Women’s Leadership Forum.

In 2015, KC was named on CIO magazine’s ranking of the ‘World’s Most Influential Investment Consultants’ as one of the top ten Specialist consultants for her endowment/foundation and healthcare expertise. In both 2014 and 2013, KC was recognized by CIO magazine in their edition titled “The Knowledge Broker” as one of the top 25 world’s most influential investment consultants[2].

Prior to joining NEPC, KC was a Principal at Jeffrey Slocum & Associates. KC was a member of the Executive Committee responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategy and planning, hedge fund investment strategy, legal, risk management and human resources. Prior to Slocum, KC was a Consultant at Wyatt Investment Consulting and Ennis, Knupp & Associates.

KC earned her M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Decision Sciences from Indiana University. KC holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. KC also holds the ESG Designation through the CFA Organization.

KC is a Board Member, Career Development Chair, and ESG Specialist for the CFA Society Minnesota and historically served on numerous Boards in leadership roles.

[1] As of 1/1/2024

[2] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s web site at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:St. Paul, Minnesota

Partner

Rose Dean, CFA

Rose Dean is a Partner with NEPC. She joined NEPC in April 2023. Prior to joining NEPC, Ms. Dean spent 8 years as a Managing Director and senior consultant at Wilshire Advisors, providing consulting services to corporate and public pensions funds, endowments and foundations.

Rose has over 22 years of industry experience. Prior to her tenure at Wilshire, she ran a start-up consulting business, advising on opportunities focused on private credit and asset-based loan portfolios. She also spent seven years trading fixed income at Citigroup in New York, both as a market maker and as a bank treasury portfolio manager. Subsequently, she was a Director at Harcourt Alternative Investments, a Swiss Fund of Hedge Funds. Rose was in charge of hedge fund investment due diligence for multiple strategies including fixed income arbitrage, global macro and emerging markets.

Rose holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and two MBA degrees, one in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and one in International Brand Management from ESSEC (École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) in France. She is fluent in Korean and conversant in Mandarin Chinese and French. Ms. Dean holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Los Angeles, CA

Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

Brian S. Donoghue

Brian’s investment experience dates back to 1996 when he interned as a broker assistant at Cowen and Company.  He joined NEPC in 2006 and has been working with defined contribution plans in all aspects of plan design and evaluation.  Brian regularly speaks at conferences and co-authored pieces for NEPC, including “Mapping – What the New Regulations Suggest for Defined Contribution Plans,” and “Stable Value on the Brink, But Surviving.”

Prior to joining NEPC, Brian worked at Fidelity Investments as a client service manager. Brian received his M.B.A. from Clark University’s Graduate School of Management and his B.A. in Finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Chenae W. Edwards, CPA

Chenae advises healthcare organizations, endowments and foundations.  She is recognized as an asset allocation specialist and serves on NEPC’s Asset Allocation Committee, which oversees the development of asset class assumptions and the market outlook for the firm.  Chenae has authored several pieces, including, Taking Stock:  Healthcare Systems, Foundations Look to Impact Investing, highlighting how organizations are driving impact through their investment portfolios, and Nonprofit Organizations: Annual Audit Survival Guide, focused on equipping nonprofit finance and investment professionals with tools to prepare for their annual financial statement audits.  She also co-chairs the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Network.  In February 2020, Chenae led a fireside chat entitled “Is the Investment Industry Ready to Be Color BraveTM?” where she interviewed Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments, about diversity in finance.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2013, Chenae worked at Goldman Sachs in Private Wealth Management and at Sovereign’s Capital as an Analyst focused on investments in frontier markets.  Chenae also worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Senior Associate in the Financial Services Audit Practice where she focused on the banking and asset management industries.

Chenae holds an MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a B.S. from North Carolina A&T State University.  She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in North Carolina and a Level III CFA candidate.  Chenae serves as an Executive Advisory Committee member for the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics at North Carolina A&T State University.  She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Location:Washington, D.C.

Partner

John M. Elliot

John joined NEPC in August 2003, having been in the investment business since 1992.  John is the team leader for the NEPC Taft-Hartley Consulting Practice.  Prior to joining NEPC, John was the Western Regional Director for the Marco Consulting Group (MCG) from 1999 to 2003 where he succeeded in developing a west coast presence in the Taft-Hartley market for MCG.  In addition to developing new client relationships in the west coast, John also worked with clients to facilitate asset allocation studies, asset-liability studies, manager searches and performance measurement.

Before joining MCG in 1999, John was a Vice President with Weiss, Peck & Greer Investment Management.  John led the marketing and client service efforts for Taft-Hartley funds in the western region.  He also co-created the American Labor Alliance that brought together a recordkeeping capability, an administrative capability, and investment options for Taft-Hartley plans that wanted to offer their participants the ability to save additional assets and provide direction for their retirement plans.

John has spoken at most of the IFEBP conferences since 2004 and he has been on the faculty of the IFEBP Trustees Masters Program since 2012.  John and his team have worked with the National Building Trades to help create at least 6 products that utilize union contractors when any projects in the investment programs require construction.  John suggested a manager create the Union Ombudsman role which is currently utilized in 4 different funds in their construction projects.

In 2005, John was named Taft-Hartley Consultant of the Year by Money Management Letter.  John holds an A.B. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley (1992).

Location:Las Vegas, NV

Partner, Head of Private Debt Investments

Oliver Fadly

Oliver is part of the Private Markets team, leading the coverage of Private Debt strategies.  Oliver is also a member of the Impact Investing Committee and the Credit and Equity Beta Groups. He joined us in 2011 as a Research Associate, producing searchbooks for the Traditional Research team before moving to the Private Equity team and taking on increasing responsibility over the past 10 years.  At NEPC, we are proud of our early leadership in researching and allocating to Private Debt.  Oliver has been a critical leader in developing our capabilities in this space.  Oliver knows the ins and outs of the NEPC Research process, starting out as an Analyst and working his way up to Sr. Consultant before taking on this new role of Head of Private Debt in September 2022.  In this new role, Oliver is already differentiating NEPC’s knowledge and depth of expertise in the PD space and has helped us attract and retain clients looking for this expertise.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2011, Oliver was employed at State Street Corporation as a Syndicated Bank Loan Associate.  At State Street, Oliver managed multiple clients’ bank loan portfolios by processing all trade settlements, researching and resolving share breaks and interest discrepancies.  Oliver was also responsible for producing accurate portfolio valuation on a daily, monthly and quarterly basis.

Oliver earned his B.A. from Bates College and is currently pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Marketable Equities

William Forde, CFA, CAIA

Will is a Partner at NEPC and leads the firm’s marketable equity research across public market and hedged equity strategies. Will also serves as a member of the Asset Allocation Committee where he assists in developing the firm’s dynamic asset class views and implementation strategy. In addition, he Co-Chairs NEPC’s Diverse Manager Committee. Prior to overseeing Marketable Equity Research, Will was a Senior Consultant in the Public Funds Practice Group leading several client relationships.

Before joining NEPC, Will worked at Brown Brothers Harriman in their Securities Lending Operations group.  He was responsible for processing and recording the daily transfer of funds from Brown Brothers Harriman to clients, along with analyzing and reporting project payments and outstanding funds to senior management.

Will earned his B.A. in Economics from Tufts University. He holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation as well as the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Belmont Hill School, an institution focused on developing young men. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Roxbury Prep School in Boston.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Sebastian Grzejka, CAIA

Sebastian joined NEPC in 2005 and began his career in the investment industry in 2003.  Sebastian focuses primarily on Endowment and Foundation clients.  He has extensive experience carrying out asset allocation studies, manager searches, performance measurement and various technical projects to support his clients across both advisory and OCIO relationships.

In addition to his client activities, Sebastian is the Chair of the Marketable Investment Committee, which is responsible for reviewing, vetting and approving all prospective public markets and hedge fund investment strategies as well as to deciding on action following any manager due diligence events.  Additionally, Sebastian is also a member of NEPC’s OCIO Committee, which provides oversight for all NEPC’s OCIO relationships.

Prior to joining NEPC, Sebastian worked at Smith Barney in their mutual fund analytics group.  At Smith Barney, his role was to review and analyze that proper procedures were followed in the accounting of client mutual funds.   Prior to that, Sebastian worked at Putnam Investments as a client specialist.

Sebastian holds a B.S.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.  He currently holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Kristi Hanson, CFA

Kristi joined NEPC in 2017 as a Partner and is a member of the endowment and foundation practice group.  Kristi has over thirty years of investment research and advisory experience.  Kristi has extensive experience in alternative investments, investment research, portfolio management and serving as a client advisor.  She has partnered with Endowment & Foundation clients and family offices in selecting appropriate investments customized to meet their unique needs.  Kristi also serves on NEPC’s OCIO Committee, Marketable Assets Investment Committee and chairs NEPC’s Discovery Platform Committee which focuses on emerging and undiscovered investment opportunities.

Prior to joining NEPC, Kristi spent eighteen years at CTC l myCFO and its predecessor companies where she held a number of senior leadership roles.  Most recently, she was Managing Director and Director of Research overseeing a staff of 23 research professionals across a vast spectrum of investments.  She chaired the Research Directors Committee, where she directed the evaluation and recommendation for all managers included in client investment portfolios.  Additionally, Kristi was the lead portfolio manager on several hedge fund of funds and a member of the CTC | myCFO Operating Committee and the Investment Advisory Management Committee.  Previously at CTC | myCFO Consulting, she served as President and Director of Research, Director of Hedge Fund Research and Director of Alternative Research.

Prior to her roles at CTC | myCFO, Kristi was the Director of Research for Genesee Investments, and hedge fund of funds in Bellevue, Washington, and also previously worked at KPMG as an auditor in their financial services practice.

Kristi earned her B.S. with highest honors, with majors in accounting and finance, from the University of Idaho.  Kristi holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Portland, Oregon.  She serves as an Advisory Board member for Women’s Venture Capital Fund II and on the Advisory Board for the University of Idaho College of Business and Economics.  She recently finished two terms on the University of Idaho Foundation Board where she also served as the Investment Committee Chair.

Location:Portland, OR

Partner

Karen Harding, CFA

Karen is a Partner and the Team Leader of our Private Wealth Team.  In 2021, she was elected by her fellow Partners to represent them on NEPC’s Governance Board.  Karen brings thirty years of industry experience, having worked in the investment advisory industry for the majority of her career, specifically servicing wealthy families and individuals.  Karen is experienced across all facets of wealth management and works directly with clients to set strategy, develop policy and construct customized portfolios designed to meet their individual needs. In additional to her client and Team Leader responsibilities, Karen is also a member of NEPC’s Women’s Leadership Forum.

Prior to joining NEPC, Karen spent twenty-one years at CTC | myCFO and its predecessor companies, serving in a number of leadership roles.  Most recently, she served as Managing Director and co-head of the Investment Advisory Services team, chaired the Investment Advisory and Fiduciary Services Management Committee and was a key member of the executive team.  Prior to her roles at CTC | myCFO, Karen was a Senior Analyst and Investment Manager Specialist at R.V. Kuhns and Associates.

Karen earned her B.A. with highest honors in finance and minors in economics, French and Russian from Oregon State University, and an MBA with honors from Portland State University in Oregon. She is a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Society of Portland.  She previously served on the board of the CFA Society of Portland and served as the Vice-Chairman of Oregon State University Foundation Investment Committee.  She currently serves on the Investment Committee of the Oregon Community Foundation, helping to oversee nearly $2 billion in assets dedicated to improving the lives of all Oregonians. She also serves on the board for the Lake Oswego Schools Foundation.  During her free time, Karen enjoys gardening, boating, and traveling with her husband and three children.

Location:Portland, OR

Partner

Rhett Humphreys, CFA

Rhett started his investment career in 1996 and joined NEPC in 1997. His consulting responsibilities and background include servicing public pension plans, corporate pension plans, endowments, foundations, health-care entities, and Taft-Hartley pension funds.  He works out of NEPC’s Atlanta office.

While at NEPC, Rhett has served as a Research Analyst, Consultant, Practice Team Leader, and Management Group Leader.  He led NEPC’s national Public Fund Practice Team from March 2011 through August 2013, helping to ensure a singular focus by the team on issues related to US public funds.  Rhett also served as a Practice Group Director, leading the Public/Taft-Hartley teams for nearly a decade.  As an individual contributor and ‘player-coach,’ his consulting responsibilities include state-wide funds and local municipalities.

Prior to joining NEPC in 1997, Rhett worked in Portfolio Accounting with State Street Bank and Trust Company with over $1.6 billion of client assets under his responsibility.  Prior to that, he worked in the Investment Division of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) where he reported to the Chief Investment Officer.  Before that, he worked as a Policy Analyst Intern for the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, where his research was published.  He is a veteran of the United States Army.

Rhett completed three degrees from Louisiana State University; he earned a B.A. in Sociology, a Master of Science in Finance, and a Master of Public Administration.  While at LSU, he was admitted to Beta Gamma Sigma, named Who’s Who Among American College and University Students, elected as the Graduate Student Association President, and served on the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Committee.

Rhett has earned the right to use the CFA designation.  In January 2009, he was nominated as the Public Plan Consultant of the Year by Money Management Letter.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Partner, Chief Operating Officer

Kellie Kane

Kellie began her career in the investment consulting industry in 1998, and joined NEPC in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer. Her responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer include working collaboratively across the firm to define workflows and implement best practices that address the needs of consultants and their clients. Kellie oversees Investment Operations, Data Governance, Performance Reporting, and Investment Technology. Kellie is also a member of NEPC’s Executive Team.

Prior to joining NEPC, Kellie spent nearly twenty-four years at Meketa Investment Group. She assumed many roles at Meketa, including Performance Analyst, Investment Analyst, Consultant, Director of Investment Operations, and most recently, Chief Operating Officer. As COO, Kellie managed a large staff of professionals and directed the efforts of the Performance Reporting and Analytics, Technology, Transfer Operations, and Administrative Departments. She was also a member of the Board of Directors and sat on several committees.

Kellie attended Salve Regina University, where she graduated magma cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Finance.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

Christopher J. Klapinsky, CFA

Chris joined NEPC in 2001, with his investment experience dating back to 1996.  Chris is a member of the OCIO Team and spends the majority of his time strategically building, maintaining, and opportunistically adjusting OCIO portfolios, in coordination with the lead consultants, on various client accounts.  He is the consistent link between the NEPC client team and the OCIO Committee who ultimately approves initial and ongoing asset allocation changes in OCIO portfolios.  Chris continues to have a heavy focus on Endowment and Foundation clients and maintains an ongoing dialogue with NEPC’s Endowment and Foundation Group where he worked for eight years.

In addition to his client responsibilities, Chris has extensive experience in asset allocation modeling, risk budgeting, performance analysis, and investment manager research.

Prior to joining NEPC, Chris was a Vice President in product development and marketing for the fixed income department at Loomis Sayles and Company. He was responsible for creating new fixed income products and strategic positioning.  Previously at Loomis, Chris worked as a quantitative analyst and was responsible for developing foreign currency scenario analysis and building GIPS compliant composites for over $29 billion in assets. Prior to his employment at Loomis Sayles he worked at State Street Bank where he reconciled and priced mutual funds.  Other previous employers include The Vanguard Group.

Chris is a CFA charter holder and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute.  He holds a B.A. in Economics from Denison University.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Practice Group Director

Kevin M. Leonard

Kevin joined NEPC in 2007 and his career in the financial services industry began in 1991 and the investment consulting industry in 1994.  His consulting responsibilities and background include servicing public pension plans, Taft-Hartley pension funds, hospital, endowments, and foundations.  Kevin is the team leader for the NEPC Public Fund Consulting Practice and is also a member of NEPC’s Marketable Investment Committee and Large Cap Equity Research Advisory Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Kevin was a Vice President/Partner at Segal Advisors.  Prior to working at Segal Advisors, he was a Consultant at The Hannah Consulting Group, and worked at State Street Bank and Trust Company.

Kevin received his B.A. in Business Management from Assumption College.  He served on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Public Pension Forum and is a frequent speaker at educational conferences and association seminars.  Kevin was recognized as the 2012 Public Plan Consultant of the Year by Money Management Intelligence.  Kevin was also a nominee for the same award in 2011.  Kevin was named in CIO magazine’s “The Knowledge Brokers 2019” list as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants[1].

[1] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s web site at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Chief Investment Officer

Timothy F. McCusker, FSA, CFA, CAIA

Tim joined NEPC in 2006 and began his career in the investment industry in 2002.  Tim is responsible for overseeing Investment Research at NEPC, a group of 69 professionals including dedicated teams focusing on Alternative Investments, Public Markets, and Asset Allocation.  As CIO, Tim leads investment strategy development for NEPC including market assessment and outlook, communication of key themes and best ideas, as well as evaluation of investment strategies.  Tim also works closely with a wide variety of clients to construct investment portfolios to meet their long-term objectives.  Tim is a member of the Marketable Investment Committee, the Private Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.  Additionally, Tim is a member of the firm’s Management Group.  Tim was named in CIO magazine’s “The Knowledge Brokers 2016” edition as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants.  In 2015, Tim topped CIO magazine’s 2015 annual ranking of the world’s most influential investment consultants in the Generalist consultant category.  In 2014, Tim was recognized by CIO magazine in their edition titled “The Knowledge Broker” as one of the top 25 of the world’s most influential investment consultants.  Tim ranked 6th out of the 25 consultants recognized.[1]

Prior to becoming Chief Investment Officer, Tim served as NEPC’s Director of Traditional Research, overseeing long-only manager research and Asset Allocation.  Previously, Tim worked in Asset Allocation and Manager Research functions, where his responsibilities included maintaining and developing asset allocation models and frameworks used broadly by NEPC clients as well as Global Asset Allocation and Risk Parity manager research.  Before joining NEPC, Tim was an associate at Towers Perrin, where he provided actuarial consulting advice and addressed plan asset-liability issues for clients.

Tim earned his B.A. in Mathematics from Colgate University.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA) designations.

[1] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s web site at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

David W. Moore, ARM, CEBS, CPCU

Dave’s investment career began in 1997 at Ford Motor Company. He joined NEPC in January of 2006. Dave is the practice leader for NEPC’s healthcare consultants. Dave’s consulting responsibilities include servicing healthcare systems, endowments, foundations, insurance clients and corporate plans. He is also a member of the Liability-Driven Investing Advisory Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, Dave was employed for thirteen years by Ford Motor Company. While at Ford, Dave managed the Portfolio Management Department, where he led a five person team responsible for investing the firm’s global cash and fixed income investments (excess of $50 billion) and pricing Ford Credit’s global commercial paper programs. His responsibilities also included developing fixed income investment strategies (duration and sectors), reporting monthly investment returns and market overviews to the Executive Committee, and ensuring Sarbanes-Oxley compliance of the Portfolio Management Department. Dave also had oversight responsibilities of external asset managers with cash and insurance mandates ($7 billion). Dave participated on the corporate interest rate forecast committee and executed the company’s debt repurchase program.

Prior to that role, Dave was the internal consultant to Ford’s European Pensions (both defined benefit and defined contribution) in the Pension Asset Management Department. His responsibilities included advising Ford’s European affiliates’ (12 plans; 7 countries, including Ford UK, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Volvo) Trustee Boards on asset allocation, manager selection, changes in local government requirements, as well as conducting training sessions. Dave was also a member of the global investment strategy committee for the Ford pension plans.

Prior to his role in Pensions, Dave held a variety of Treasury positions while at Ford, including Corporate Business Development, Long Term Debt Issuance, Investor Relations, Balance Sheet Management and Forecasting, and Risk Management and Insurance.

Dave received an M.B.A. from the University of Detroit Mercy, graduating with Honors. Dave has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Temple University, where he graduated cum laude, with majors in Risk Management and Insurance and Finance. He is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, an Associate in Risk Management and a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist.

Location:Charlotte, NC

Partner

Douglas W. Moseley

Doug’s investment experience dates back to 1995, and he joined NEPC in 1998.  Doug works with a broad range of clients, including public funds, corporate plans and endowments.  Doug is a member of NEPC’s Management Group, NEPC’s Fixed Income Advisory Group and is a prior member of NEPC Governance Board.

Prior to joining NEPC, Doug worked for three years as a Senior Investment Analyst for the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (“PRIM”) Board, a $21 billion public fund.  While at PRIM, he assisted in asset allocation reviews and manager searches and monitored portfolio compliance.  Prior to working at PRIM, Doug worked for State Street Bank & Trust Co. as a Fund Auditor and Portfolio Accountant in their Public Funds Division.

Doug earned an M.B.A. from Bentley College in 1999, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1993. He currently serves as a Board member for the Quincy Community Action Program, a not-for-profit providing services to lower-income residents in the communities south of Boston.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Human Resources

Judy A. Murphy, SPHR

Judy joined NEPC in 2009, and has 25 plus years of Human Resources experience within the financial services sector. At NEPC, Judy is responsible for directing all Human Resources activities for the firm, leading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, overseeing employee communications, managing and implementing business process planning, developing and delivering employee recognition programs and creating quality measurement and improvement programs.

Prior to working at NEPC, Judy was the proprietor of Berkshire HR Consulting Services. At Berkshire, Judy advised several financial firms in key areas such as aligning HR business plans with company goals and objectives, overseeing and delivering talent acquisition, employee relations, training, and compensation and policy management services. Prior to founding Berkshire, Judy worked at Investors Bank & Trust Company where she was the Managing Director of Human Resources. At Investors Bank & Trust Company her responsibilities included managing and directing a staff of 50 Human Resources professionals in the staffing, training, development, compensation, benefits, employee relations and employee communications areas. Judy also had HR responsibility for all U.S. sites as well as Ireland and Canada with a total population of over 3000 employees.

Before Investors Bank & Trust Company, Judy was employed by Fidelity Investments as Vice President of Human Resources within Fidelity’s Retail, Corporate and Capital Divisions. While at Fidelity, Judy oversaw or supported the Human Resources function for a variety of Fidelity businesses including Corporate Marketing and Public Relations, Retail Marketing, Retirement, the Fidelity Advertising Agency and Fidelity Capital Businesses such as the Seaport Hotel and Boston Coach. Judy also created and implemented compensation and ER programs which drove positive employee behavior linked to key business results.

Judy’s HR experience also includes working within Fidelity’s Brokerage Services division and at BayBanks, Inc as a Staffing Officer. Judy holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Development from Villanova University. Judy graduated cum laude from Providence College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and remains active on its Alumni Board.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Consultant

Joe Nankof

Joe Nankof joined NEPC in July 2022 as a Principal and member of the Corporate practice team. Joe supports NEPC’s defined benefit, defined contribution, healthcare and insurance clients. Prior to joining the firm, Joe was a Consultant and Lead Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Joe was a founding partner of Rocaton Investment Advisors in 2002 and joined GSAM as part of the firm’s acquisition of Rocaton in 2019.  At Rocaton, Joe was a lead consultant working directly with clients and also led Rocaton’s capital markets/asset allocation research effort. Prior to Rocaton, Joe was with Barra RogersCasey for 7 years where he served as Managing Director and Head of Investment Consulting. He also spent the first 8 years of his career with Towers Perrin as a Consulting Actuary.

Joe is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and earned a B.S. in Economics and Applied Mathematics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Location:Norwalk, CT

Partner, Head of Asset Allocation

Phillip R. Nelson, CFA

Phillip leads NEPC’s asset allocation research and is responsible for the firm’s macroeconomic outlook, dynamic asset class views, and capital market assumptions. Phillip joined NEPC in 2011 having been in the investment industry since 2002. Prior to joining NEPC, Phillip was responsible for overseeing the investments of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. Phillip received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments

Dulari Pancholi, CFA, CAIA

Dulari’s investment career began in 2000 and she joined NEPC in 2006.  She is the Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments Group at NEPC. Dulari is also the Co-Head of NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee. As a research team leader, Dulari is a member of multiple investment committees and serves as the Co-Head of the Credit Beta Group. Dulari is also frequent speaker at industry conferences on the topic of Impact Investing.

Prior to joining NEPC in August of 2006, Dulari was Vice President of Operations of the Hedge Fund at Venus Capital Management.  Prior to that, Dulari was employed as a Research Associate at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Market (CISDM).  As a Research Associate, Dulari’s responsibilities included understanding various databases, statistical models, software and analytical tools used for efficient financial analysis.  While at CISDM, Dulari authored and co-authored several research papers, one of which was published in the Journal of Alternative Investments in the Spring of 2004.

Dulari received her M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds L.L.B. and B.S. degrees from the University of Mumbai.  Dulari has attained both of the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. She is also a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society. She has recently completed the Sustainable Finance program at Yale SOM Executive Education.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Endowment and Foundation Team Leader

Kristine M. Pelletier

Krissy joined NEPC in 2008 with her investment experience dating back to 2002.  Krissy is the team leader for the NEPC Endowments & Foundations Team which includes responsibilities in strategic planning, client service, and team development.  She also serves as Co-Head of NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee and is a member of NEPC’s DEI Governing Board.

Krissy works with many of NEPC’s philanthropic clients that are leading the industry on alignment of mission and money, helping those groups find investment strategies that achieve their multiple objectives. She is often featured in industry publications and a frequent speaker at conferences on the topic of Impact Investing and DEI.  At the end of 2019, Krissy published an Op-Ed in Wealth Management titled “New Decade, New Fundamentals for Investing” defining three pillars that will be the largest drivers of investment success: sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and innovation.  Krissy was named in CIO magazine’s “The Knowledge Brokers 2021” edition as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants[1]. She was also named “Top 23 in ’23 Women Leaders in ESG and Sustainable Investing” by Kayo Conference Series.

Prior to joining NEPC, Krissy worked at Wellington Management Company, LLP as a Research Associate, and served as a researcher and grant writer for Think:Kids, of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Krissy earned her M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, and her B.A. in Finance and Economics from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College).

Krissy serves as a member of NEPC’s Women’s Leadership Forum, she is also on the Board of Trustees at Cushing Academy, an active volunteer with her alma mater, Simmons University, and previously served on the board for the Student Leadership Training Program.

[1] Please see Disclosures for important disclosures related to awards and recognitions.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Portfolio Strategy

Scott F. Perry, CAIA

Scott joined NEPC in 2006, with investment experience dating back to 2001. He is the Head of Portfolio Strategy for the OCIO Team that strategically builds, maintains, and opportunistically adjusts OCIO client portfolios. Scott works with NEPC’s client teams to understand objectives and communicates these with NEPC’s OCIO Committee. Previously, Scott was a long-tenured member of the Endowment and Foundation team at NEPC and most recently was the Co-Team leader.

Scott is a member of NEPC’s Governance Board, Retirement Committee and Diversity & Inclusion Board. He has been a significant contributor to the firm’s Impact investing efforts over the years, which has included strategy development and manager research. He has helped clients assess SRI, ESG, and thematic strategies that best align with their respective missions.

Scott has authored white papers on Impact investing and the Endowment Model and was recognized in 2016 by CIO magazine in their edition titled “The Knowledge Brokers” as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants [2]. Scott is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on OCIO Industry trends, the Endowment Model, Alternative Investments, and Impact Investing.  He is frequently featured and quoted in industry publications including Bloomberg, Institutional Investor & Pensions & Investments.

Prior to joining NEPC, Scott served as an analyst at Ashton Partners and Putnam Investments.

Scott received his M.B.A. from Babson College and his B.S.B.A. in Management from Bucknell University.  Scott became a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designee in 2008.

Scott is heavily involved at Year Up Boston where has been a mentor, participated in mock interviews and organizes and annual basketball tournament fundraiser. Year Up is an organization that provides a one-year, intensive training program for talented and motivated, yet under-served young adults. Scott is also a board member of “e” Inc. an environmental science learning and action center that serves the Boston Public Schools. He is also actively involved in coaching youth sports in Charlestown.

[2] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s website at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Samuel J. Pollack, CAIA

Sam joined NEPC in 2015 and has 25 years of broadly-based experience in investment consulting and financial services. He is a partner at NEPC and a senior member of our Endowment & Foundation practice. Prior to joining NEPC, Sam served as the lead consultant to Endowments and Foundations, Healthcare systems, and Corporate retirement plans. He has also consulted to many clients on a discretionary (i.e. outsourced) basis.

Earlier in his career, Sam held the position of Vice President at Duff & Phelps (now known as Kroll). There he counseled the boards of directors of many prominent companies, while overseeing client relationships, managing internal service delivery teams and sourcing new business. He also held positions at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and T. Rowe Price.

Sam has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. in French Literature from Haverford College. Sam also holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Chicago, IL

Partner

Kelly A. Regan

Kelly’s consulting responsibilities include servicing clients comprising of corporate pension and defined contribution plans, operating funds, endowments, and foundations.  She works with clients to facilitate asset allocation studies, asset-liability studies, manager searches, investment policies, performance measurement and various technical projects.  She is also a member of the Impact Investing Committee, Global Asset Allocation Research Advisory Group and Liability Driven Investing (LDI) Research Advisory Group.

Prior to joining NEPC in the spring of 2007, Kelly was employed by Investors Bank & Trust as a Junior Associate for the Merrimac Mutual Funds.  Kelly researched and analyzed the institutional money market fund universe and supported the products at industry conferences.  She also maintained relationships with clients and provided support regarding investment in the Funds.

Kelly received her M.S.F. from Brandeis University and a B.A. in International Relations from Boston University.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy

James E. Reichert, CFA

James’ investment career began in 1999, and he joined NEPC in 2007. James is a member of the OCIO Team where he develops investment strategy and maintains and adjusts OCIO portfolios based on client objectives.  James works with the NEPC client teams to understand objectives and communicates these with the OCIO Committee who approves initial and ongoing asset allocation changes.

James is a co-chair of NEPC’s Asset Allocation Committee and a member of the Fixed Income Research Advisory Group.  James’ responsibilities in research include development of NEPC’s Key Market Themes and Current Opportunities and refinement of Asset Allocation and Risk Management tools used across the firm.

Previously, James worked with healthcare clients and endowments and foundations. In support of his client relationships, James developed investment programs incorporating results from NEPC’s proprietary Risk Models to inform development of investment policy statements, asset allocation and manager selection.

Prior to joining NEPC, James was a Senior Fixed Income Operations Manager at State Street Global Advisors.

James received his B.A. in History from Boston College.  James holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Practice Group Director

Kristin M. Reynolds, CFA, CAIA

Kristin joined NEPC in 2003, with investment experience dating back to 1999.  While at NEPC, Kristin has served in the role of Consulting Analyst, Consultant, Practice Team Leader and Practice Group Director.  In her current role, Kristin is a member of NEPC’s Management Group and works closely with the leadership of the Endowments & Foundations and Private Wealth teams to drive initiatives around strategic planning, talent management, marketing, and other team initiatives.  Kristin also works closely with Not-for-Profit clients to develop and execute investment strategies.

Prior to joining NEPC, Kristin worked at Citigroup, where she helped clients cultivate and manage financial strategies.  Prior to her investment career, Kristin worked as a loan service officer at a community cooperative bank where she was responsible for serving the bank’s loan portfolio.

Kristin earned an M.B.A. from Simmons Graduate School of Management, and a B.A. in Finance and Economics from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College).  Kristin is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute.  Kristin became a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designee in 2008.

Kristin grew up in the Boston-area and is committed to empowering young people and improving her community.  She currently serves on the Board of The Jeremiah Program, a national program with a mission to disrupt the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children.  She is an active mentor for Girls Who Invest and has been a citizen-teacher for Citizen Schools, Boston.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Real Assets Investments

Matthew Ritter, CAIA

Matt Ritter joined NEPC in 2012 and leads the firm’s Real Assets Investments team and the Real Assets Beta Group.  The Real Assets Investments team is responsible for developing market viewpoints, sourcing investment ideas, conducting manager due diligence, and providing educational materials for various real estate and real asset strategies.  Matt also has experience working directly with clients to construct real asset portfolios and investment plans.  In 2015, Matt co-authored NEPC’s white paper on REITs and their role in institutional investment portfolios.  Matt is a voting member of NEPC’s Alternative Asset Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Matt held positions at GMO and Brooke Private Equity Associates, and previously worked as an intern in NEPC’s Private Markets Group.  Matt earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Consultant

Deirdre L. Robert, CFA, CAIA

Deirdre is a member of the Healthcare Practice Team and joined NEPC in 2010. She specializes in consulting to both Healthcare and Defined Contribution plans in all aspects of plan evaluation consulting. She works with clients to develop investment policy statements, facilitate manager searches, implement plan design, report on performance, and consultant on fiduciary governance responsibilities and various technical projects.  Recently, Deirdre presented the topic of stable value to the Pension Group East Conference.  Prior to joining NEPC full-time in 2010, Deirdre worked as a summer intern within NEPC’s research department for two years with a focus on constructing NEPC’s preferred manager lists.  She is a member of NEPC’s Women’s Leadership Forum.

Deirdre earned her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.  Deirdre is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute.  She is also a CAIA charter holder and a member of the CAIA Boston Chapter as well as the CAIA Association.  While at the University of New Hampshire, Deirdre was admitted to Beta Gamma Sigma national honor society.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Brian Roberts, CAIA

Brian joined NEPC in 2009 and is the Leader of the Corporate Defined Benefit and Insurance Practice. His consulting responsibilities include servicing primarily corporate pension plans, as well as Taft-Hartley pension funds, and bank organizations. He works with clients to facilitate asset allocation studies, liquidity and scenario analyses, manager searches, performance measurement and various other projects as needed. He is a member of the Corporate Pension Solutions Group and the Overlay Research Team.

Prior to joining NEPC, Brian was employed at AllianceBernstein as a Senior Associate, where he was responsible for providing servicing, sales, and operational support to a team of Financial Advisors for high net-worth clients. He maintained client relationships and oversaw the transition and implementation of new accounts in addition to performing asset allocation studies and wealth forecasting analysis.

Brian earned an M.B.A. from the University of Denver and a B.A. from Colorado College. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Jay E. Roney, CTP

Jay joined NEPC in 2001 and began his career in the investment industry in 1993. Jay consults for corporate and endowment/foundation clients. His responsibilities include investment policy formulation, developing and implementing asset allocation strategies, and monitoring and evaluating the investment performance of the plan and its managers on an advisory or discretionary basis. As a point of context Jay is a prior member of NEPC Executive Committee, the NEPC Management Group, and the former leader of the Corporate Practice Group. Jay currently serves as a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Board.

Jay’s investment career started in 1993 when he joined Fleet Investment Services. At Fleet, Jay was responsible for educating, advising, and developing investment strategies for clients and prospects. After working for Fleet, Jay held corporate treasury management positions at Ocean Spray Cranberries and PerkinElmer where he had investment oversight for both Company’s defined benefit and defined contribution programs. During this time period Jay was responsible for implementing and managing the liquidation of several defined benefit plans. As a Treasury Manager, Jay was also responsible for other traditional, international and domestic treasury functions.

Jay earned his M.B.A. from Northeastern University in 1997 and a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Maine at Orono in 1988. While at Northeastern University, he was admitted to the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. Jay is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) as designated by the Association for Financial Professionals.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Consultant

Daniel Runnals, CFA, CAIA

Dan is a senior member of Taft-Hartley Practice Team and works with a variety of client types including Taft-Hartley plans, international family offices and U.S. corporations.  Dan began working at NEPC as a Performance Analyst in 2011, which provided him with an in-depth knowledge of NEPC’s performance measurement systems and capabilities.  He transitioned to focus on consulting in 2013.  Dan specializes in various technical projects such as manager searches, asset allocation, risk budgeting, and other client specific initiatives. His experience in different roles at NEPC provides him with a strong grasp of the resources available to help effectively manage client needs.

In addition, Dan has been a key contributor on a variety of other business wide initiatives, including serving on the Branding Committee in 2020, and the Investment Performance Analytics Working Committee in 2021.  He has been a speaker at various industry conferences including the National Labor and Management Conference, Institutional Investment Regional Roundtable, and the International Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2011, Dan worked as a Financial Representative at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.  As a Financial Representative, Dan was responsible for marketing, sales and prospecting of his own financial practice focused on building financial security for individuals and businesses.

Dan earned his B.A. in Economics from Kenyon College, where he played football and lacrosse for the Lords.  In 2010, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society for displaying excellence in both the classroom and on the field.  He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations and is member of the CFA Society of Boston.  He currently serves as an Associate Trustee for St. John’s Prep, an institution focused on developing young men.  During his free time, he enjoys cycling, golfing, fishing, skiing and spending time traveling and exploring the outdoors with his wife and two sons.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Defined Contribution Solutions

Bill Ryan, CAIA, SPHR

Bill leads NEPC’s Defined Contribution Practice as our Head of Defined Contribution (DC) Solutions with over 20 years of DC-specific experience. In his career he has personally advised more than 30% of Pensions & Investments’ (P&I) top 100 DC plan sponsors entrusted with over $1 trillion in retirement savings for 60 million participants.  In 2023, Bill was named a Knowledge Broker by Chief Investment Officer (CIO) magazine[1] and in 2020, Bill was named a Power Broker within Employee Benefits by Risk & Insurance magazine.  In 2014 he was a Finalist for aiCIO magazine’s DC Innovator of the Year and in 2013 was a Finalist for PLANSPONSOR magazine’s Plan Sponsor of the Year and a P&I Eddy award winner.

Bill’s strategic leadership drives the way we service DC plan sponsors and optimize participant outcomes. Bill is focused on designing and implementing innovative DC solutions tailored to each plan sponsor’s unique objectives.  Within NEPC, Bill is a member of NEPC’s Impact Investing and DC Multi-Asset Solutions Manager Research committees.

Outside of NEPC, is a currently appointed member of the U.S. Department of Labor ERISA Advisory Council.  In addition, Bill is a member of the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) Investment Committee as well as both the Operating and Executive Committees for the DC Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and is the outgoing Chair of DCIIA Investment Policy & Design Committee.

Bill has been a Pensions & Investments (P&I) 2013 Eddy Award Winner; a P&I Eddy Award Judge (2016-Present); a DCIIA/P&I Innovator & Excellence Awards Judge (2017-Present); P&I’s NextGen awards inaugural advisory board, trainer, and judge (2023-Present); P&I Influential Women in Institutional Investing award judge (2023-Present); the P&I DC Investment Summit Chair (2016 -2021), and the P&I Retirement Income Summit Chair (2019-2020). Bill regularly speaks at conferences and is frequently quoted in the press.

Prior to joining NEPC, Bill was the Head of Aon’s North America DC Multi-Asset Solutions team, which included four DC subject matter expert teams: the DC Manager Research team, the Custom DC Solutions team, which was responsible for over $500 billion of bespoke DC solutions; the DC Fund Management team, and the Retirement Income team which helped clients evaluate DC retirement income solution offerings.

Before he was a consultant, Bill was a plan sponsor.  As a Director within the University of California Regents’ Office of the Chief Investment Officer, he was responsible for overseeing UC’s $20 billion DC program’s investments, including a $5 billion custom target date fund series and multi asset funds which invested in private equity.

Bill earned his B.S. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.B.A. in Corporate Finance from the University of California, Irvine. Bill holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designations.

[1] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s web site at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:Chicago, IL

Partner, Head of Investment Manager Research

Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA

Sarah is a partner at NEPC and oversees the firm’s investment managers research teams across public equities and credit, hedge funds and private markets. Prior to joining NEPC, she was managing director at Wellesley College, where she was responsible for the investment of the College’s endowment, including manager selection across private markets, public markets, and hedge funds, asset allocation and portfolio construction.

Earlier in her career, Sarah was the deputy chief investment officer at Mass PRIM, where she chaired the internal Investment Committee and oversaw asset allocation, investment research, and manager selection across asset classes. Samuels led the portfolio management of the $45 billion public markets and hedge fund portfolios. She regularly presented investment recommendations, asset allocation, and portfolio management strategy to the Investment Committee and Board, and was a member of the four-person Executive Management Team tasked with strategic planning and management of the organization. Samuels also worked as an associate portfolio manager at Boston Advisors and in a variety of roles at Wellington Management Company.

Samuels is Chair of the CFA Society Boston Board, serves on the Advisory Board for Girls Who Invest, and founded the Boston chapter of Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN).

She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations, earned an MBA in Finance at Boston University, and a BA in German and minor in Business from the University of New Hampshire.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Global Research

Neil N. Sheth

Neil joined NEPC in 2009 with investment experience dating back to 1993, including thirteen years as a private equity and hedge fund investment professional.  He has extensive investing experience across the U.S. and international public and private credit and equity markets.  Neil currently coordinates our international investment research across both private and public markets.  In addition, he leads our private debt practice globally and is involved with sourcing and performing diligence on private equity managers in Europe and Asia. Prior to this role, Neil oversaw our alternative asset groups.  He is actively involved in all aspects of manager research, client portfolio design, construction and implementation. He works with all NEPC client types.  Neil a member of the firm’s Alternative Asset Investment, Retirement, Audit and Diversity and Inclusion Committees.

Prior to joining NEPC, Neil worked at Berkshire Partners, LLC, a leading middle market leverage buyout firm based in Boston, where he was a founder and co-portfolio manager of a fundamentals-based, global value hedge fund.  Previously, Neil spent eleven years as a private equity investment professional.  In this capacity, he served on the boards of seven companies in both the U.S. and Europe while he was a Partner at M/C Partners and an Associate at General Atlantic, LLC; two firms that focus on the global technology, telecom and media industries.  Neil began his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co.

Neil received his B.S. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Bradley S. Smith, CFA, CEBS

Brad started his investment career in 1986 and joined NEPC in 2011. Brad consults for corporate DB and DC plans, not-for-profit and insurance clients. His responsibilities include: investment policy formulation; developing asset allocation strategies and custom pension de-risking strategies; and evaluating and monitoring the investment performance of the portfolio and its managers. Brad is located in NEPC’s Atlanta office.

Prior to NEPC, Brad spent eight years with a global multi-national consulting firm in multiple roles including CEO/U.S. Investment Consulting Practice Leader, Eastern Region Leader, and a Senior Investment Consultant. Brad was a member of the Global Investment Board and the Global Investment Committee. Brad was also a member of the Senior Management Team, U.S. Discretionary Oversight Committee, U.S. Pension Risk Team, and U.S. Defined Contribution Research Steering Committee.

Brad spent nearly a decade at a regional investment consulting firm in the Mid-Atlantic region where he was a senior investment consultant and practice leader.

Brad earned his B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation as well as the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Partner

Carolyn Smith

Carolyn’s career in investment consulting began in 1987, and she joined NEPC in 2006. Carolyn has extensive experience working with large institutional clients. She has a specialty in defined benefit and defined contribution plans working with them on plan design, investment and governance issues. She is a member of the Small Cap Equity Advisory Group, Due Diligence, Diverse Manager Committee and Women’s Leadership Forum.

Carolyn’s experience includes twelve years as a director and senior consultant with Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting working with a broad array of clients. She also had management responsibilities for the U.S. Western Region for five of her twelve years at Watson Wyatt. Prior to Watson Wyatt, Carolyn was a senior consultant at Callan Associates, Inc. working with the firm’s foundation, endowment, corporate and public fund clients.

Carolyn received a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Utah. She currently chairs the investment committee for a San Francisco Bay Area not-for-profit overseeing multiple operating reserve accounts, a foundation and 403(b) plan.

Location:Redwood City, CA

Partner

Michael P. Sullivan

Michael joined NEPC in 2006, with his career in the investment industry beginning in 2001.  Michael’s consulting responsibilities since 2006 include servicing Taft-Hartley and public pension funds.  Michael works with clients to help them build out all facets of their investment program.  Michael has been a member of the Asset Allocation Committee, Impact Investing Committee, and Small Cap Equity Advisory Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, Michael was a Senior Analyst Account Manager at International Data Corporation where he supported research requests for financial clients and acted as liaison between analysts and clients.  Prior to that, Michael was an Advisor Representative at State Street Corporation, where his responsibilities included the monitoring of daily trade settlement, assisting with account reconciliation, and the preparation of customized monthly performance reports for investment managers. Michael previously worked at International Data Corporation as an analyst.

Michael earned an M.S. degree in Finance from Boston College in 2005 and a B.A. in Business from Saint Anselm College in 2001.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Practice Group Director

Craig A. Svendsen, CFA

Craig has twenty-six years of comprehensive consulting and investment experience.  He returned to NEPC in October 2004, having previously worked at the firm from 1997 to 2000.  While at NEPC, Craig has served as a Performance Analyst, Consulting Analyst, Consultant, Practice Team Leader and Practice Group Director.  In 2014, Craig was named NEPC’s Corporate Defined Benefit Team Leader and then in 2021 Craig became a Practice Group Director where he is responsible for leading NEPC’s Corporate Defined Benefit and Defined Contributions teams.  In 2023, Craig also became Practice Group Director of NEPC’s Healthcare Team.  In this Practice Group Director role, he works with the leaders of the respective teams on such things as investment strategy development, talent management marketing strategy and other team initiatives.  Craig also consults to a wide range of NEPC clients.  Craig works closely with each of his clients in the development of strategic planning including asset allocation and investment policy development, investment manager research and selection, and performance evaluation.

Prior to re-joining NEPC, Craig was a Vice President at State Street in its Global Markets group. At State Street, his responsibilities centered on developing investment and trading strategies for the firm’s transition management clients.

Craig holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Bucknell University and a Master of Science degree in Finance from Northeastern University. Additionally, Craig is a CFA charter holder and a member of the Cincinnati Security Analyst Society and the CFA Institute.

Location:Cincinnati, OH

Partner, Senior Investment Director

Elton Thomaj, CAIA

Elton began his investment career in 2005 and joined NEPC in 2013.  In 2019 he joined the NEPC Portfolio Construction team, servicing Healthcare, Endowment & Foundations, Private Wealth Corporate and Public clients.  Prior to joining the Portfolio Construction team, Elton was a member of NEPC’s Healthcare Team.  As a Senior Investment Director, Elton works with clients on overall fund design, including asset allocation, manager selection, performance reporting and monitoring, and education.

Prior to joining NEPC, Elton worked as an Analyst for the Eriksen Group where he managed client portfolios, provided investment manager due diligence, performed client risk analysis and developed an investment policy statement process.  Prior to Eriksen, Elton worked as an Actuary for the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority where he developed and managed new diagnostic tools and processes.

Elton earned his B.S. in Mathematics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and received his Actuarial certification at the Actuarial Association of Albania. Elton holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Charlotte, NC

Partner

Gary Wyniemko, CFA

Gary began his investment career in 2001, and joined NEPC in 2011.  He advises healthcare and endowment and foundation clients.  As a Partner, Gary works with clients on overall fund design, including asset allocation, manager selection, performance reporting and monitoring, and education.

Prior to joining NEPC, Gary was a Senior Treasury Analyst at Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, MI.  While at HFHS, Gary was responsible for asset allocation, manager selection and due diligence, performance reporting, investment research, various aspects of financial reporting including FAS 157, and general oversight of the firm’s Pension, Endowment, Short and Long-term Cash, Charitable Gift Annuity, Charitable Remainder Trusts, SERP, Self-Insurance, and Retirement Savings Plans.  Prior to his employment at Henry Ford Health System, Gary worked as a Corporate Treasury Analyst at Dura Automotive Systems, Inc., and as a Treasury Analyst at H&R Block Financial Advisors.

Gary earned a B.B.A. in Finance with Distinction and a M.B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  Gary also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Detroit, MI

Principal, Senior Consultant

David Barnes, CFA, CAIA

David started his investment career in 2000 and joined NEPC in 2011.  His consulting responsibilities and background include servicing public pension plans, corporate pension plans, endowments, and foundations.  David serves as a member of NEPC’s International and Global Equity Research Advisory Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, David was a Senior Investment Consultant at Hewitt EnnisKnupp where he held a variety of leadership roles, such as heading the U.S.-based global, non-U.S., and emerging markets equity research for the firm’s Global Investment Management team.  During his tenure at Hewitt EnnisKnupp, he authored several technical research papers and reports on investment topics such as portfolio transition management, credit default swaps, 401(k) plan design, active versus passive management, and soft dollars.  Before Hewitt EnnisKnupp, David was an Investment Consultant with Willis Towers Watson Investment Consulting.

David received his B.B.A. in Finance from Georgia Southern University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute and a member of the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals.  David also holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.  Prior to his investment career, David served three years on active duty in the United States Army followed by two years in the Florida National Guard.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Principal, Senior Controller

Peggy L. Boraks

Peggy is responsible for all of NEPC’s below-the-line reporting & capital, directly reporting to the CFO.  She manages cash, reporting & forecasting, lender reporting, multi-state tax reporting & reconciliation, insurance renewals & policy maintenance, and state registrations/filings.  Peggy designed and oversees the company’s internal financial controls, accounting policies & procedures.  She works as the liaison with NEPC’s accounting, banking, insurance, and valuation firms.  Peggy oversees all financial support provided for NEPC’s independent valuation and directs the annual audit between NEPC’s finance team and accounting firm, delivering financial and tax audit reporting.  Peggy works with NEPC’s partnership, managing GAAP to Tax Capital schedules used to populate partner K-1s, governance, equity distributions, waterfall computations, and analysis/reporting.

Peggy joined NEPC in 1994 as an Administrative Assistant after completing her undergraduate degree.  After one year, Peggy began to assist with the preparation of performance measurement processing for several accounts and was subsequently promoted to Analyst.  In 1996, Peggy was asked to assist the Controller and after two years was promoted to Senior Financial Analyst.  Peggy was promoted to Controller in 2002, and then to Sr. Controller in 2012.  Peggy received her M.B.A. from Suffolk University in February 2001.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Finance Manager

Kelly Bruns

Kelly joined NEPC in 2003 as a Financial Analyst and now holds the position of Sr. Finance Manager responsible for oversight of the Finance team.  Kelly is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the team which includes financial reporting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and financial planning and analysis.  Kelly works closely with the Chief Financial Officer, and the Executive Team on budgeting, establishing growth targets, performance metrics, client profitability, financial results, and business trends.  Kelly is a member of the retirement plan committee and acts as the in-house plan administrator for NEPC’s profit-sharing plan.

Kelly earned a B.S. in Business Administration with concentrations in Finance and HR from Northeastern University.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Discretionary Director

Jason Castonguay

Jason joined NEPC in 2014 and is responsible for overseeing the day to day implementation activities related to OCIO portfolios ranging from new client on-boarding’s to rebalancing and investment manager transitions across an array of investment strategies and vehicles.  Jason also works on new business opportunities and other strategic initiatives related to the growth of the OCIO business.  Jason assumed management responsibilities for the OCIO Operations team in 2017.

Prior to joining NEPC, Jason was employed at Wellington Management as an Assistant Vice President, Analyst.  During his time with Wellington Management, Jason oversaw a wide array of Wellington Trust’s commingled funds and was a member of the Defined Contribution team.  Jason also worked as an Account Controller at State Street.

Jason earned his B.S. in Business Administration with a Finance Concentration at the University of Maine.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Richard T. Chari

Richard is a member of the Corporate Practice Team and his consulting responsibilities include servicing defined benefit, defined contribution and corporate clients. In supporting clients, he is primarily responsible for the development and monitoring of investment policies and objectives, the modeling and implementation of asset/liability studies, the evaluation and selection of investment managers and the measurement and analysis of investment performance. Richard leads the firm’s Corporate Pension Solutions Group and has expertise in Liability Driven Investing as well as Pension Risk Transfer.  Richard joined NEPC in 2008 in our Performance Analysis group. Prior to joining NEPC in 2008, Richard was in graduate school and previously worked for Intermarket Unit Trusts, Harare, Zimbabwe in 2002.

Richard passed Level I of the CFA Program and also earned his B.S. in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe and his M.B.A. in Global Business from Johnson & Wales University.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Aaron Chastain, CFA

Aaron is a Principal, Senior Consultant within NEPC’s Corporate Practice based out of the Atlanta, Georgia office. He manages consulting assignments for institutional client portfolios consisting of defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, and corporate asset pools.  He has experience working with large institutional clients ranging from $50 million to over $135 billion in total assets.

Aaron also serves as a member of NEPC’s Corporate Pension Solutions Group, focusing on developing investment solutions and thought leadership to guide advice delivery across NEPC’s corporate pension client base.

Prior to joining NEPC, he also served as Head of Aon’s North America Defined Contribution Multi-Asset Solutions Manager Research team, responsible for the firm’s ratings of target date funds, managed accounts, balanced funds, and target risk funds. He was also a Senior Custom Solutions Consultant, specializing in custom target date and multi-manager portfolios.

He has authored numerous thought leadership publications and has been interviewed by media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Pensions & Investments, and PlanAdviser.

Aaron graduated summa cum laude from Berry College with a B.S. in Finance, where he also previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Economics and Finance. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Atlanta and CFA Institute.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Thomas D. Cook

Tom joined NEPC in 2007, with his career in the investment industry beginning in 2003. Tom is a member of NEPC’s Defined Contribution Team and serves as a dedicated investment consultant providing advisory and OCIO solutions for some of the firm’s largest corporate DC clients. He specializes in consulting on all aspects of plan evaluation including plan design, the development of investment policy statements and objectives, the evaluation and selection of investment managers, and the measurement and analysis of investment performance. In addition to his client service role, Tom regularly speaks at conferences on a range of topics including, white-label funds, custom target date funds, and financial wellness.

Prior to joining NEPC, Tom worked as a data analyst at State Street Corporation in the institutional investor services department where he researched securities for sector and industry classification and worked in depth on security coding for ERISA reporting.

Tom earned his B.S. in Business Administration, with a concentration in Accounting, in 2003 from Bryant University.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Chief Technology Officer

Devan Dewey

Devan joined NEPC in April of 2008 and brings 20 years of experience developing and implementing business systems in alignment with corporate strategy. At NEPC he is responsible for the development and implementation of an overall IT strategy to support all of NEPC’s business functions, and for the day-to-day operations of the NEPC technology infrastructure.

Immediately prior to joining NEPC, Devan was working as an independent consultant. As a consultant, Devan provided strategic IT planning, project management, and systems implementation consulting to businesses throughout New England. In this capacity, Devan implemented a program management system at Boston Medical Center, and a distribution operations system at Medical Specialty Distributors. Devan also provided organizational leadership consulting to a large healthcare network in Boston and worked for a number of smaller non-profit clients. Prior to becoming a consultant, Devan worked for six years at Teradyne, Inc., where he was responsible for enterprise-wide business systems and successfully implemented a new Oracle-based business platform to transform Teradyne’s manufacturing operations. Devan has previously lead the IT function at Segue Software, developed business systems at American Express, and created successful custom applications for a start-up software company.

Devan earned his B.A. from Tufts University and his M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Timothy P. Fitzgerald, CAIA

Tim joined NEPC in 2008 and specializes in all aspects of consulting to defined contribution plans, including plan design, investment and governance issues. In addition to extensive experience working with large corporate plan sponsors, Tim primarily supports healthcare organizations understanding the unique challenges often encountered within the industry. His focus on healthcare allows him to leverage his experience and knowledge in real time with all of his clients. To aid in that effort, Tim hosts our annual healthcare webinar highlighting fees and trends with defined contribution plan design specific to the industry. Tim is also a member of the Large Cap Equity Advisory Group, which supports NEPC’s research efforts for reviewing, vetting and approving all prospective strategies within this asset class.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2008, Tim was employed by TF Title and Recording as a principal. Prior to that, Tim worked at State Street Bank and Trust Company as a senior custody/accounting specialist, where he audited daily work of fund accountants and portfolio administrators for accuracy, ensured compliance with procedures, and coordinated with client and portfolio administrators for trade settlement resolutions.

Tim received his B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Stacey Flier, CFA

Stacey is a Principal and Senior Consultant at NEPC.  She has over 25 years’ experience advising private wealth clients on their investment portfolios. Stacey’s expertise is in structuring portfolios to maximize after‐tax return, taking into consideration clients’ differing risk tolerances, and delivering investment advice and education to clients on investment trends, opportunities, and challenges.  She is experienced in both OCIO and advisory portfolio management. In addition to her client activities, Stacey is a member of the Impact Investing Committee at NEPC.  This Committee is comprised of consultants and research professionals across both public market and alternative asset classes. Stacey represents the interests of Private Wealth clients on the Impact Investing Committee.  She is also a member of NEPC’s Women’s Leadership Forum and NEPC’s Investment Conference Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Stacey held the position of Director, Investment Advisory Services at CTC | myCFO.  During her career at CTC | myCFO, Stacey held a number of roles, including Director of Asset Allocation. She was also on the Impact Investing Advisory Committee, a voting member of the Investment Committee, and on the Fund Investment Risk Committee. Before Stacey’s time at CTC | myCFO, she worked as an Employee Benefits Analyst at U.S. Bank in Seattle.

Stacey earned her MBA from Portland State University and a B.A. in Business Leadership with honors from the University of Puget Sound. Stacey is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is a member of the CFA Society of Portland.  She is also a board member of Portland Women in Investment Management, and a member of the Local Investment Advisory Committee for Yamhill County, Oregon. Stacey was on the CFA Society of Portland Board from 2001 – 2007 and served as President of the Board from 2006-2007. During her free time, Stacey enjoys gardening, landscape design, Peloton and spending time with her son. In addition, her family is fond of attending Formula One races as well as other sports car events.

Location:Portland, OR

Principal, Senior Consultant

Daniel S. Gimbel, CIMA®

Dan joined NEPC as a Principal and Senior Consultant and has over 39 years’ experience advising family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals.  Dan’s expertise is in all aspects of client relationship management including asset allocation analysis, development of investment policy statements, portfolio construction, manager monitoring and performance reporting.

Prior to joining NEPC, Dan held the position of Director, Investment Advisory Services at CTClmyCFO. In addition to his client responsibilities at CTClmyCFO, Dan was also a voting member of the Investment Committee. Before his time at CTClmy CFO, Dan held a variety of roles with increasing responsibility at Charles Schwab & Company, including National Sales Manager of the Schwab Advisor Network. Additionally, for nearly ten years, Dan provided exclusive consulting advice to the staff and players of the PGA Tour (this included players’ and staff retirement plans, players’ investments and other PGA Tour related assets).  Beyond this, Dan served as a Financial Consultant at Shearson Lehman Brothers and an Account Executive at Merrill Lynch, which is where Dan launched his career in the financial services industry.

Dan earned his B.S. in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Southern California and a Certified Investment Management AnalystSM (CIMA®) designation from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dan is an avid and competitive golfer, having competed in nine National Amateur Golf Championships in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Dan resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with his wife and three children.

Location:Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

Principal, Senior Consultant

Richard J. Harper, CFA, CAIA

Rich joined NEPC in 2001, and his investment experience dates back to 1993.  Rich is a member of NEPC’s Endowment & Foundation Consulting Group.  He assists clients with the development of investment policies and objectives, the evaluation and selection of investment managers, and the measurement and analysis of investment performance.   With his background in research, he guides technical research projects, conducts capital market analyses and research, and mentors a team of Research Analysts.

Prior to joining NEPC, Rich worked as a Financial Institution Examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he performed specialized examinations of financial institutions, instructed assistant examiners at the FDIC’s national training center, and served as the Capital Markets Specialist at his field office.  He served with the FDIC for eight years.

Rich holds a B.S.B.A. in International Business/Finance from American University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Babson College.  He is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the CFA Society of Buffalo, and the CFA Institute.  He is also a former grader for the CFA Level III Exam.  He became a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designee in 2005.  Rich serves in leadership positions in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and is often a youth basketball coach in Hamburg, New York.  He is active in Western New York branch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and was Corporate Chair for 2018’s JDRF One Walk.

Location:Buffalo, NY

Principal, Senior Consultant

Scott B. Harsh

Scott began his investment career in 1988 and joined NEPC in September 2020 as Principal, Senior Consultant working with non-profit clients. He works with clients on developing investment policies, conducting asset allocation studies with a focus on integrating spending requirements, investment manager due diligence, and research projects. Scott has extensive experience constructing client portfolios with allocations to private capital, hedge strategies, and traditional asset classes. Additionally, Scott has worked with clients to develop unique impact investing strategies.

Prior to joining NEPC, Scott was the President and CEO of Fund Evaluation Group, LLC (FEG) an investment advisory firm located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over his 16 years as President and CEO of FEG, Scott led the significant expansion of the firm as well as the development of new products and services. Scott was also a Managing Principal at FEG from 1997 – 2001, focusing on client relationships and strategic growth. He started his investment career as an analyst, consultant and then moved to senior management at FEG from 1990 – 1997. Over the course of his career, Scott has spoken at industry conferences including: Institutional Investor, Diocesan Fiscal Officers, the Council of Michigan Foundations, and The Council on Foundations.

Scott received his B.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati. He has been active in his community over his career, sitting on boards which included: The University of Cincinnati Department of Finance Advisory Board as well as the Association for Corporate Growth Board. Scott is a Cincinnati native. He and his wife have three young adult children.

Location:Cincinnati, OH

In Memoriam (1975-2022)
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Chris Hill, CFA, CAIA

In Memoriam (1975-2022)

We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of a member of our NEPC family, Chris Hill. Chris was not just a co-worker, he was a mentor and a friend to so many. In his 8 years at the firm, he worked tirelessly to put clients first, working in our west coast office for many years, to becoming a founding member of our portfolio construction team. We will long remember his kind demeanor, infectious optimism and incredible work ethic. Chris will forever be missed and has left a lasting imprint on all of us at NEPC.

Chris joined NEPC in 2013 and is a member of the Portfolio Construction Team. Chris works with NEPC’s clients to solve portfolio construction and asset class implementation questions. As a member of the Portfolio Construction Team, Chris works across all NEPC research to incorporate the Firm’s best ideas in public and private markets. The Portfolio Construction Team works in tandem with clients to analyze their exposures through a quantitative and qualitative lens that is specific to the portfolio goals and objectives of each client. Outside of his formal Portfolio Construction duties, Chris maintains a presence on the Private Markets Research Team where he conducts manager due diligence and constructs investment plans for implementation in client portfolios.

From 2013 to 2016, Chris was a member of the Private Markets Research Team at NEPC. After a year as a Sr. Vice President at EnTrustPermal where he worked on the Consultant Relations team, Chris returned to NEPC in 2017. Prior to NEPC, Chris was the Director of Alternatives at the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) where he led the alternative asset program for the $9 billion retirement system.

Location:Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, TX

Principal, Chief Counsel

Andrew Hone

Andy joined NEPC in 2020 with nearly three decades of experience as a senior legal advisor and member of management teams to several highly regarded investment advisory firms, including State Street Global Advisors, Wellington Management and Merrill Lynch.  Andy has spent many years serving institutional clients such as corporate sponsors of defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution savings plans, Taft-Hartley plans, endowments, foundations, public funds and family offices, and has significant expertise in ERISA fiduciary matters and investment regulations under the federal securities laws.  Specific specialty areas include investment fund legal structures, product development, regulatory compliance, capital markets, trading and best practices policies.

Andy manages the legal team for NEPC, providing legal review of all investments made by the Discretionary Team, managing the ongoing support of legal matters arising from long-term private market commitments, working with clients to ensure relationships are properly documented, and supporting general firm legal matters.

Andy has a J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law and a B.S. in Finance and Computer Science from Boston College.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Investment Director

Brandon Jones

Brandon is a Senior Investment Director with NEPC and has over 15 years’ experience advising family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals. Brandon’s expertise is in after-tax asset allocation and portfolio construction, performance and exposure modeling and reporting, and evaluation and selection of alternative and public market investment managers.

Brandon has a particularly strong background in analytics and financial modeling. In addition to his ongoing client and analytical responsibilities, he also serves as a member of NEPC’s Asset Allocation Committee and Credit Beta Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, Brandon served as a Research Director and Director of Risk Analytics at CTC | myCFO, where he oversaw the monitoring of strategy performance through qualitative and quantitative investment manager data, and collaborated with consultants to structure, optimize and implement client portfolios. In addition, Brandon was responsible for the design and development of portfolio analytical tools and reports. Brandon joined CTC | myCFO in 2010 as a Performance Reporting Analyst before being promoted to Research Analyst. Previous to CTC | myCFO Brandon worked as a Pension Fund Analyst at Milliman, Inc.

Brandon earned his B.S. in Finance from Portland State University. When he’s not optimizing client portfolios, Brandon enjoys painting, biking, kayaking, and traveling in search of the next great surf spot.

Location:Portland, OR

Principal, Director of Marketing and Communications

Ashlee Lazzari

Ashlee has over 19 years of marketing and communications experience in the investment management industry. She joined NEPC in 2019 as a Marketing Manager overseeing the firm’s brand and digital marketing strategy, and public relations efforts. Prior to joining NEPC, Ashlee was the Head of Marketing at Arrowstreet Capital, L.P, where she oversaw the marketing, RFP and client relationship specialist teams. During her time at Arrowstreet, Ashlee was responsible for rebranding, building and maintaining all marketing collateral, creating efficiencies with marketing automation and client reporting, as well as handling external communications.

Earlier in her career, Ashlee held various business development and marketing positions at Lee Munder Capital Group, and Amundi Pioneer Investments.

Ashlee received a B.A. in Public Relations from Quinnipiac University.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Alison Lonstein

Alison Lonstein joined NEPC as a Principal and member of the Defined Contribution practice team in July 2022. With 19 years of industry experience, she also supports the firm’s corporate defined benefit, healthcare, and insurance clients.

Prior to joining NEPC, Alison was a Consultant and Lead Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Alison was a Partner at Rocaton Investment Advisors and joined GSAM as part of the firm’s acquisition of Rocaton in 2019. At Rocaton, Alison was a lead consultant working directly with corporate DB, DC, healthcare and insurance clients. Alison started her career at Rocaton in 2003. Alison earned a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Bryant University.

Location:Norwalk, CT

Principal, Senior Consultant

Matt Maleri

Matt Maleri is a Principal and member of the Corporate Defined Benefit practice team with 14 years of industry experience. He also supports the firm’s defined contribution, healthcare, and insurance clients.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2022, Matt was a Consultant and Lead Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Matt was a Partner at Rocaton Investment Advisors and joined GSAM as part of the firm’s acquisition of Rocaton in 2019. At Rocaton, Matt was a lead consultant working directly with clients and also spent a portion of his time on Rocaton’s capital markets/asset allocation research effort.  Matt started his career at Rocaton in 2008, and earned an MBA and BS in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University.

Location:Norwalk, CT

Principal, Senior Investment Director, Private Markets

Nick Mann

Nick joined NEPC in 2021 and is a member of the Firm’s Private Markets team. Nick leads the coverage of private equity buyout strategies, both North American and global strategies. Nick is also a member of the Impact Investing Committee and the Equity Beta Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, Nick was a Director at Windrose Advisors, a large multi-family office. In this position, he led manager due diligence and research across private investments, including private equity, venture capital, and real estate. He also worked closely with clients on designing and implementing investment portfolios. Nick’s previous experience also includes working for Brighton House Associates as a Senior Research Analyst, working closely with private equity and hedge funds on capital introduction efforts. Additionally, Nick worked at Ceres, where he worked with institutional investors and Fortune 500 businesses to address energy policy issues.

Nick received a BA in Political Science from Wheaton College and a MSc. in Comparative European Politics from Trinity College, Dublin. At Wheaton, Nick played on the varsity soccer team.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Marketing Manager

Heather S. Martone

Heather managed NEPC’s Request for Proposal (RFP) team.  The team is responsible for completing requests for proposals from prospective clients.  Heather joined NEPC in 1993 as an Administrative Assistant, after completing her undergraduate degree.  Subsequently promoted to Assistant Search Analyst and then Analyst, she helped maintain NEPC’s proprietary investment manager search database, and assisted with performance measurement.

Heather received her M.B.A. from the Boston University School of Management and her B.S. in Consumer Studies from the University of Vermont.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Kevin C. Novak

Kevin joined NEPC in 2011 with investment experience dating back to 2007.  He is a senior member of NEPC’s consulting team, servicing pension clients, healthcare systems and endowments and foundations.  As a Consultant, Kevin works with clients on all of their portfolio needs, including overall fund design, asset/liability integration, investment manager selection, investment policy development and education.  Kevin is a member of NEPC’s Discovery Platform Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Kevin was employed at Standish Mellon Asset Management as a Senior Performance Analyst.  Before working at Standish Mellon, Kevin was a Manager at State Street Corporation in their Alternative Investment Services Division.  At State Street, Kevin managed a group that focused on both fund accounting and performance analysis of private equity and venture capital fund of funds.  Prior to his investment career, Kevin was a professional soccer player for three seasons in Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League.

Kevin earned his M.B.A., with honors, from Boston University and his B.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Loyola Marymount University.

Location:San Francisco, CA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Emma O’Brien

Emma O’Brien is a Principal, Senior Consultant and member of the Defined Contribution practice. With 12 years of industry experience, she also supports NEPC’s defined benefit, healthcare and insurance clients. Emma is a member of NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee. Prior to joining NEPC in 2022, Emma was a Consultant and Lead Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Emma was a Managing Director at Rocaton Investment Advisors and joined GSAM as part of the firm’s acquisition of Rocaton in 2019. At Rocaton, Emma was a lead consultant working directly with corporate DB, corporate DC, high net worth, and not-for-profit clients.

Emma started her career at Rocaton in 2011 and earned a B.S. in Finance from Fairfield University.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Discretionary Director

Brian Parnell

Brian joined NEPC in 2019 and is currently responsible for overseeing the day-to-day investment implementation activities related to OCIO portfolios and NEPC’s Access Vehicles.  He manages new client onboarding and transition workflows across an array of investment strategies and vehicles.  Additionally, Brian oversees multiple functions within Performance Analytics including new client onboarding, private markets data aggregation, and various operational risk mitigation initiatives.

Prior to joining NEPC, Brian worked at Wellington Management Company for twelve years, most recently as a Manager/Vice President – Transactional Control.  Brian oversaw the reconciliation, instruction, and execution of foreign exchange transactions, in addition to being responsible for the firm’s various inbound cash feeds.  Brian has also worked at State Street Bank as a Financial Reporting Manager and Fund Accountant, in addition to being an Earnings Analyst at Thomson Reuters.

Brian earned his B.A. in Sociology, with a minor in Faith, Peace, and Justice, from Boston College.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Investment Director

Alec Rapaport

Alec joined NEPC in 2020 and began his career in the investment industry in 1996. Alec is responsible for fixed income investment research and due diligence of developed markets fixed income strategies. Alec is a member of the credit beta group responsible for identifying investment opportunities across credit and setting research themes across traditional and alternative credit strategies.

Prior to joining NEPC, he worked as Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager for Mercer Investments, overseeing Mercer’s OCIO fixed income funds and portfolios with a focus on the defined benefit and defined contribution client base. Earlier in his career, Alec was Managing Director and Team Head of Fixed Income and Commodities for Commonfund Asset Management Company.

Alec earned an A.B. in Economics from Vassar College and an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Location:Stamford, CT

Principal, Director of Human Resources

Teresa A. Sacramone

Terri oversees the Human Resources department at NEPC. She is responsible for the development and design of company policies, compensation and benefits. She oversees the recruitment and retention of employees, employee relations, training and all other HR functions. Terri also oversees facilities management and all of NEPC’s office spaces including lease negotiation, design and space management. Terri joined NEPC in 1997 as an Administrative Assistant. Prior to joining NEPC Terri worked in personal lines insurance.

Terri earned her B.S. in Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Investment Director, Real Assets

Shelley R. Santulli

Shelley Santulli joined NEPC in 2022 as a Principal, Senior Investment Director in Real Assets.  She has extensive real estate investment experience with over 25 years acting as a principal on behalf of institutional investors executing core, value-added, and opportunistic real estate investments using a variety of structures including direct property acquisitions, development, joint venture equity, preferred equity, subordinated debt, entity-level investments, and publicly-traded CMBS and REIT securities.  Shelley has significant experience investing across property sectors and most major domestic and select international markets with investments totaling over $7 billion in gross asset value.

Prior to NEPC, Shelley was an Executive Vice President, Portfolio Management at American Realty Advisors where she was focused on portfolio management and strategy of a diversified, open-end value fund.  Previously, she was Managing Director, Head of Strategy & Business Development at Berkshire Group where she was a member of the Operating Committee and led strategic planning, product development, strategic business development initiatives, research, and corporate communications and marketing.  Other prior experience includes senior level investment positions at The Congress Group, Broadview Investors, AEW Capital Management, and Fidelity Investments. Earlier in her career, Shelley worked in the Real Estate Advisory Services Groups of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Laventhol & Horwath.

Shelley has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University, Magna Cum Laude, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Keith Stronkowsky, CFA

Keith works across an array of public pension funds and endowments.  He assists clients with implementing customized investment programs, investment policy development, asset allocation studies, manager selection, performance monitoring, as well as asset and liability studies.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2008, Keith was an Officer in the PrivateEdge Group at State Street Corporation where he was responsible for providing private equity consulting and performance reporting for institutional investors.  Prior to working at State Street Corporation, Keith was an Associate at PanAgora Asset Management in the fixed income and tactical asset allocation departments.

Keith received an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University and a B.S. from Springfield College.  Keith also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Atlanta, GA

Principal, Senior Consultant

Michael J. Valchine, CAIA, CIPM

Mike’s investment career began in 1998, and he joined NEPC in 2007. Mike works primarily with defined benefit, VEBA, defined contribution and foundation portfolios of corporate clients. In support of his client relationships, Mike is responsible for overall plan design and asset allocation, manager selection and performance monitoring as well as asset and liability studies in conjunction with risk budgeting.

Prior to joining NEPC, Mike was a Registered Client Associate within the Merrill Lynch Institutional Consulting Group. While there he supported two consultants in the four main areas of the institutional consulting relationship; investment policy statements, asset allocation studies, manager searches and performance monitoring. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mike worked as an analyst on the pension and 401(k) investment staff of ThyssenKrupp Budd Company. While at ThyssenKrupp Budd Company he assisted the Manager of Trust Investments in the day to day management of the pension trust and 401(k) including monitoring market values and transactions, investment manager performance, and acting as a liaison between the investment committee and current and prospective service providers.

Mike earned an M.S. degree in Finance from Walsh College in 2006 and a B.A. in Finance from Oakland University 2001. Mike became a CAIA designee in 2010 and a CIPM designee in 2014.

Location:Detroit, MI

Principal, Senior Consultant

Eric Vallo, CFA

Eric joined NEPC in 2009 and began his career in the investment industry in 2006. Eric’s consulting responsibilities include servicing healthcare systems, corporate defined benefit plans, and endowments and foundations. Eric works with clients to facilitate asset allocation studies, manager searches, performance measurement and various technical projects.

Prior to joining NEPC, Eric was employed as a Portfolio Analyst in the Asset Management Group of Chrysler. In this role he managed strategic and day-to-day investment activities for the Chrysler pension fund’s alternative asset portfolios, focusing on the real estate, infrastructure and private equity asset classes. Prior to this role, Eric worked in Chrysler’s Pension Risk Controlling area, where he conducted back office operations in support of the Asset Management Group. Eric has also worked as a Manufacturing Finance Analyst at Chrysler; the Controller for PacWest Racing Group, a professional auto racing team; and in public accounting as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche.

Eric received his M.B.A. from the University of Colorado and his B.S. from Miami University. Eric holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Location:Portland, OR