Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight

"The CAIA designation was a critical factor in opening up this opportunity for me, not only due to the competencies achieved by successfully completing the program but also through professional contacts made via my membership in the CAIA organization. I have been advocating to colleagues, both past and current, to pursue the CAIA designation if they are at all interested in a career in the alternatives track. I'm happy to say I have already made more than a few converts!"

Christopher Schelling

, CAIA, is a 2012 Rising Star of Public Funds recipient. When he joined the $14 billion Kentucky Retirement Systems in the newly created role of Director of Absolute and Real Return Strategies, he wrote, "The CAIA designation was a critical factor in opening up this opportunity for me, not only due to the competencies achieved by successfully completing the program but also through professional contacts made via my membership in the CAIA organization. I have been advocating to colleagues, both past and current, to pursue the CAIA designation if they are at all interested in a career in the alternatives track. I'm happy to say I have already made more than a few converts!"

With over ten years of investment experience, Chris oversees all aspects of the externally managed cash-plus and inflation-hedging mandates at the Kentucky Retirement Systems, which total about 20% of the state's assets.

Previously, he was a Senior Researcher in the Hedge Fund Group at Mercer Investment Consulting and performed investment due diligence on hedge funds of all strategies. Prior to Mercer Investment Consulting, he was Director, Alternative Strategies in the Capital Markets Consulting Business of Thomson Reuters providing strategy analytics, investor intelligence, and trade surveillance and reverse engineering across a wide range of investment and trading strategies. Chris has also held a number of middle office roles in asset management and brokerage.

Chris is a member of the CAIA Class of March 2008. He earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the University of Illinois-Chicago and an MS in Financial Markets from the Illinois Institute of Technology.of Technology.

"The benefit of the CAIA designation is excellent, it's very multi –faceted. It provides you with not only a base of skillful knowledge within alternative investments, it also sets you apart from others within the industry as an expert in what you're doing and understanding the different structures towards which alternatives can form. Doors opened for me that would not have opened if I didn't have the CAIA designation."

Sam Gallo

, CAIA, was selected as a recipient of the 2012 Institutional Investor Rising Star Award. He is a Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC") working as an alternative investments subject matter specialist, consulting leading hedge fund and private equity asset managers on industry best practices. Additionally, Sam advises institutional investors (pensions, endowments, and foundations) on their due diligence and reporting programs, assisting them in assessing, enhancing, and/or streamlining their review processes of investment managers, advisors, and service providers.

In a video testimonial describing the value of his CAIA charter, which he earned in October 2009, Sam says, "The benefit of the CAIA designation is excellent, it's very multi –faceted. It provides you with not only a base of skillful knowledge within alternative investments, it also sets you apart from others within the industry as an expert in what you're doing and understanding the different structures towards which alternatives can form. Doors opened for me that would not have opened if I didn't have the CAIA designation."

Prior to joining PwC, Sam co-led front-office investment strategy manager research on hedge fund of funds, multi-strategy, commodity, and real-return hedge funds while also leading the operational due diligence practice for the investment consulting firm Ennis Knupp & Associates. In addition to his manager research responsibilities, Sam advised clients on asset manager selection, portfolio construction, risk management, and performance reporting/monitoring - assisting in the 2008/2009 government investment relief programs and serving as the client manager in charge of overseeing and reconstructing a public pension plan's $4+ billion hedge fund program.

Prior to Ennis Knupp, Sam worked as a Trading and Investment Strategist at a Chicago hedge fund, Nite Capital, building the firm's interest rate trading desk, and as a Trader at Goldenberg, Hehmeyer, and Company, where he managed approximately $8.3 billion in notional exposure across a variety of equity and fixed income derivative products.

In August 2011, Sam testified as an expert witness on alternative investment characteristics before the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) – aiding DOL officials in understanding alternative investments.

Sam earned separate B.S. degrees with high honors in both Accounting and Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a State of Illinois Registered Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Sam is also a former member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, appointed by former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, and was the first student trustee in the University's history to receive full voting privileges on the school's Board.

"The CAIA has been and continues to be an essential resource on a daily basis. I literally looked at my materials this morning for ideas regarding asset allocation and the persistence of returns in different hedge fund strategies (De Souza and Gokan). The CAIA addresses the true day to day drivers of risk and return and gives the charter holder the tools to attack an investment problem from many different perspectives. This is important because one thing I have learned so far is that there are multiple solutions to problems in the investment space, and having the widest breadth of knowledge and flexibility possible is a core component of the fundamental law of active management and alpha generation."

Derek Drummond

, CAIA, was named a Rising Star of Public Funds for the 11th Annual Public Pension Fund Awards for Excellence. Just over a year ago, he moved from the private sector to the public sector, becoming an analyst for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. At SWIB Derek is responsible for conducting research and analysis on traditional as well as alternative investments within the publicly traded markets. SWIB allocates to both internal as well as external teams within the alpha space, with total assets of over $80 billion.

Prior to working for the State, Derek held senior positions with large investment advisory firms as both an adviser to high net worth individuals and as an investment analyst specializing in alternative investment offerings.

Derek's investment background began when he decided that he wanted to be in the hedge fund business in high school. With that goal in mind, he helped to start a hedge fund of funds his senior year at the University of Colorado where he studied Economics. Derek's firm and team built the fund to over $1.2 billion invested across a wide variety of managers and strategies.

A member of the CAIA Class of March 2010, Derek writes, "The CAIA has been and continues to be an essential resource on a daily basis. I literally looked at my materials this morning for ideas regarding asset allocation and the persistence of returns in different hedge fund strategies (De Souza and Gokan). The CAIA addresses the true day to day drivers of risk and return and gives the charter holder the tools to attack an investment problem from many different perspectives. This is important because one thing I have learned so far is that there are multiple solutions to problems in the investment space, and having the widest breadth of knowledge and flexibility possible is a core component of the fundamental law of active management and alpha generation."

"The CAIA designation is an essential accreditation for me in my new role at Aon Hewitt where I have responsibility for business development of alternative investments across Canada."

Peter Wright

, CAIA, has joined Aon Hewitt as Vice President and is responsible for Alternative Investment business development for the Canadian practice. As a senior practitioner, his responsibilities include advising clients on matters related to investment, policy and governance of institutional assets. Peter also plays a role in strategic planning, business development and management within the practice.

Peter has 27 years of experience in capital market trading and sales, institutional money management and investment consulting. He consults to corporations, universities, not-for-profit organizations and multi-employer sponsors on issues relating to investment and risk management, including asset mix policy, manager structure and selection, alternative investments and performance monitoring.

According to Peter, a member of the inaugural CAIA Class of July 2003, "The CAIA designation is an essential accreditation for me in my new role at Aon Hewitt where I have responsibility for business development of alternative investments across Canada."

Peter has a Masters in Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts (Hon.) Economics from the University of Western Ontario. He has also successfully completed the Canadian Securities Institute's (CSI) Canadian Securities, Financial Planning and Officers and Directors Courses. Peter has taught Derivatives for both the CSI and at George Brown College, and is a frequent speaker at investment conferences on a variety of topics.

"The CAIA designation became the benchmark for education in the Alternative field in a record time. As a consequence, the community of CAIA members is a very dynamic one with an incredible set of backgrounds in Switzerland and around the world. For me, that is a perfect success story."

Patrick Oberhaensli

, CAIA, is Global Head of Sales and Managing Director at Syndex Capital Management Ltd. He is responsible for broadening and deepening their client base in Switzerland and abroad, and helps to closely tailor Syndex's product palette to the current needs of institutional and B2B investors.

Previously, Patrick was responsible for the development of the Swiss institutional business at Robeco Group. He also spent 13 years at UBS in audit, investment banking and institutional sales. Throughout his career, he has acquired extensive cross-asset class expertise in multiple domains such as Structured Products, Quantitative Strategies and Alternative Investments.

A CAIA member since August 2003, Patrick writes, "The CAIA designation became the benchmark for education in the Alternative field in a record time. As a consequence, the community of CAIA members is a very dynamic one with an incredible set of backgrounds in Switzerland and around the world. For me, that is a perfect success story."

Patrick is a CAIA Switzerland Chapter Executive based in Zurich. He has also been a senior grader of the CAIA Level II exams.

Patrick holds a Master in Engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). In addition to his CAIA designation, he is a CFA, CMT, FRM and ERP charterholder.