Director of Corporate Strategy, Riverfront Investment Group

Bart serves as Director of Corporate Strategy bringing over 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. He also serves on the Executive Committee.

Prior to joining RiverFront, Bart was on the Board of Directors and managed the Institutional Equity Sales & Trading efforts for Davenport & Company. Before Davenport, Bart led BB&T’s Institutional Equity Sales Group. In addition, Bart also served on the Engagement and Commitment Committees of BB&T Capital Markets.

Bart began his financial services career at Wheat First Securities working in the investment banking group and in institutional equity sales.

Bart earned two degrees from the University of Virginia - a BS in Finance from the McIntire School of Commerce and an MBA from The Darden School.

Bart is the past President of the Virginia Athletics Foundation and currently serves on the board of the World Pediatric Project.

Director of ETF Research, CFA

Ben is director of global ETF and passive strategies research, and editor of Morningstar ETFInvestor, a monthly investment newsletter. 

Before assuming his current role, he was director of ETF research for Europe and Asia. Johnson has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Founder, Curtis Financial Planning, LLC

Cathy founded her solo-advisory firm 19 years ago to be of service to others and to align her work with her passion for personal finance and investing. She specializes in the finances of single, independent women who are looking for a financial partner to advise and guide them throughout their lives. 

She also shares her insights regarding working with women clients at industry events and is a frequent source of expertise for financial and industry publications.

Editor-in-chief, Wealthmanagement.com

David is editor-in-chief and executive director of content for Informa’s Wealthmanagement.com, a leading information portal for financial advisors. 

He’s a longtime business journalist who spent 10 years at Forbes magazine, and previously held reporting positions at Foxnews.com and McGraw-Hill. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Co-Founder & COO, TPW Investment Management

James is TPW Investment Management’s Co-Founder & COO responsible for operations, business development, and partnerships. In addition, as a member of the portfolio team he is responsible for ETF research and selection as well as portfolio construction across TPW’s product suite. Prior to TPW James was COO and on the portfolio team of ETF Strategist firms JAForlines Global.

Managing Director, Head of ETFs & Indexing at FLX Distribution

FLX is a first of its kind technology platform that brings together asset managers, distribution professionals, wealth managers, and advisors.

Prior to joining FLX,  she was Head of ETF Distribution with J.P.Morgan’s Asset Management leading the sales and distribution efforts and strategy in the intermediary and institutional markets.  She also serves on the Board of Women in ETFs, Inc, the first women’s group for the ETF industry, and served as Co-President from 2017-2019.

Jillian’s career includes roles at BlackRock iShares where she focused on expanding ETF distribution and building out client relationships across all channels.  Earlier in her career, she also held similar roles at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Federated Investors working with a variety of investment products.

Managing Director, CapW Global LLC | Independent Board Member | Consultant

Jill is currently a managing director at CapW Global, LLC, a global boutique investment bank that provides growth advice, multi cycle capital raising and deal structuring guidance to a variety of small to middle market private companies. 

She is also principal and founder of Spoondrift Advisory, LLC providing advice and guidance to asset managers, private equity firms, broker dealers and others looking to participate in the growth of exchange traded products. 

Jill also serves as an independent trustee on the BNY Mellon ETF trust, is on the Leadership Board at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and serves as a board member of Women in ETFs Inc., a global industry group of over 6000 members dedicated to connecting and inspiring women and men at all levels who work in the ETF industry.

Previously, Jill was a Senior Managing Director at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), where she was a member of the SSGA senior leadership team and the SPDR ETF Executive Committee. Jill worked at State Street corporation for over 23 years in Boston and London across various business units.

Jill has a Master’s in Business Administration from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Westfield State College. She also earned a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA) certification from the Booth School at University of Chicago and holds her FINRA series 6, 7, 24 and 63 licensees.

Founder & CIO, Astoria Portfolio Advisors

John is founder and CIO of Astoria Portfolio Advisors, an investment management firm specializing in quantitatively driven and cross-asset ETF portfolio management. 

Previously, he was head of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional ETF content, where he advised many of the world's leading investment management firms in macro and quantitative ETF portfolio construction and implementation.

Principal, CFO | Senior Portfolio Manager, Stringer Asset Management, LLC

Ms. Escue serves as the Senior Portfolio Manager at Stringer Asset Management. She is responsible for the daily management of both the Firm’s mutual funds and separately managed account portfolios. 

In her role, she works with the team to develop the Firm’s strategic allocations and tactical themes based on current market opportunities. Ms. Escue holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a frequent contributor to various financial industry publications.

CMP, CTSM | Alerian, Director of Marketing

Kim is the Director of Marketing and Brand at Alerian, a leading independent index provider focused on building innovative, index-based investment strategies with over $23 billion in total assets tracking its indexes. 

Kim has over 15 years of experience in financial services. In her current role, Kim is responsible for leading the marketing and branding efforts for Alerian and S-Network Global Indexes. 

Previously, Kim led strategic beta and ETF marketing at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Prior to that, she served as an ETF specialist and marketing consultant, working with various firm’s content development, ETF launches and marketing campaigns. 

She’s held other senior marketing positions at ETF Securities, Source Exchange Traded Investments, and Guggenheim Investments. Kim earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Penn State University and holds the Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) and Certified Tradeshow Marketer (CTSM) designations.

President, ETF Insight (ETFI)

Mike is an ETF Industry veteran who is currently the President of ETF Insight (ETFI), a NY based full-service marketing firm that manages the primary marketing role for many ETF’s in providing qualified leads to their sales team and advises on the market positioning for new ETFs. 

His firm deploys a multi-channel marketing program with a focus on digital marketing, content development, distribution roadmap and product strategy. 

Prior to ETFI, Mr. Cronan was the President of Marketing at ETF Issuer, Exchange Traded Concepts having launched over 30 ETFs on their platform and other platforms. 

Prior to his role in marketing ETF’s, he was the VP of Sales & Marketing in the Data Division for ETF.com, starting with Index Universe. 

Prior to ETF.com, Mr. Cronan also held several senior level positions with The Financial Times of London (Ignites, Fundfire, Medley Global, Mergermarket).

Founder, Life + Liberty Indexes

Prior to forming Life + Liberty Indexes, Perth was a private wealth advisor at Fidelity Investments in CA and TX. Prior to Fidelity, Perth lived and worked in Beijing and Hong Kong, where her observations led her to explore the relationship between freedom and markets. Through her China experience she gained a high level of conviction regarding the impact of sound governance, individual freedoms, and rule of law on economic growth and innovation.

Perth is a frequent speaker at investment industry events and provides commentary to various financial media. She is a member of Women in ETFs.

Perth was selected as one of the 10 to Watch in 2020 by Wealth Management Magazine for her work on freedom investing.

Senior Director, ETF & Mutual Fund Research, CFRA

Todd is senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, where he leads the firm’s holdings-based research efforts within the Equity Research and Fund group. Rosenbluth publishes regular thought leadership content on equity and fixed-income products, maintains the quantitative fund models and supports client needs. He holds a B.G.S in finance from the University of Michigan, and an MBA in finance from New York University.