June 2, 2020
In accordance with the Bylaws, notice of the
Annual Meeting of the Members of CFA Society Los Angeles, Inc. to be held 5:00 PM PDT on Thursday, June 18th, in a Virtual Meeting
is hereby given. The purpose of the meeting is to elect officers and members of the Board of Governors and to transact such other business that properly comes before the meeting. The meeting is open to all members of the Society and all non-retired regular members are eligible to vote.
The Nominating Commission, consisting of
Akiko Hayata, CFA (Chair),
Dan Pomerantz, CFA, Thomas Mahoney, CFA, CAIA, Alicia Romo, CFA (non-voting), and Laura Carney (non-voting)
,
hereby submits the following slate of candidates for officers and members of the Board of Governors for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
2020-2021 BOARD OF GOVERNORS CANDIDATES
President
Alicia Romo, CFA
University of Southern California – BS, Business Administration
Alicia Romo is the Managing Director and head of Investments and Short Term Funding for MUFG Union Bank, located in Los Angeles. Alicia manages the team that oversees all aspects of the bank’s investment portfolio including investment strategy, liquidity, capital, and regulatory requirements. She also supervises the short-term funding requirements of the bank.
Prior to joining MUFG Union Bank, Alicia was a Senior Manager at Deloitte & Touche, LLP where she was an SME in structured finance and interest rate risk management. Alicia consulted nationally for investment portfolio management, securitization structures and in front-office and back-office securitization and derivative operations. She was a regular speaker at national MBA and securitization conferences.
Alicia is on the board for Monte Vista Grove Homes, a leading senior independent living, convalescent care and dementia care facility in Pasadena. She is also a CFALA Review Coordinator for Level I. She was awarded her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1999.
Vice President
James Lewis, CFA, CIPM
University of Oklahoma - BS, Mathematics; University of Southern California - MBA
James Lewis, is a Managing Director at TCW Group. Prior to joining TCW in 1999, Mr. Lewis was a Quantitative Analyst for Loomis, Sayles, & Company. Mr. Lewis received a BS in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a CFA® Charterholder, CIPM® certificant, and member of the CFA Institute. He is a past President CFA Society Los Angeles. Mr. Lewis is an instructor at Level III in the USC/CFALA CFA Review Program.
Treasurer
Alfredo Gomez, CFA, CAIA
Loyola Marymount University – BA, Business Administration and Economics
Alfredo Gomez has over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry. At Advisor Group, Alfredo leads efforts related to research and due diligence on mutual funds, ETPs, and interval funds, including a mutual fund reference list and white-labeled guidance models. He also works with the research team to produce market commentary and research reports.
Prior to joining Advisor Group, he served as Managing Director of Research at Snyder Kearney, LLC from 2018 to 2019. Prior to that, he was at National Planning Holdings (NPH) for 13 years in multiple capacities, most recently as head of alternative investment research and due diligence. Prior to joining NPH, he was a registered representative.
Alfredo is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, where he earned a BA in Business Administration and Economics. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder, and holds FINRA Series 7, 66, and 24 registrations.
Secretary
Falko Hörnicke, CFA, CFP
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
–
Economic and Financial Studies
Falko Hörnicke is a Senior Investment Strategist located in the Santa Barbara Wells Fargo Private Bank office. As part of Investment Management, Mr. Hörnicke works with clients to build portfolios that help them meet their investment objectives while managing risk.
Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Hörnicke worked at Bergquist Wang, LLC for six years, where he was the head of portfolio management. He has been in the financial services industry for more than 20 years.
Mr. Hörnicke earned a Postgraduate Degree in Economic and Financial Studies from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany. He is also a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER
™
professional.
Falko, his wife Maria and son Gabriel reside in Santa Barbara. He is the co-chair of the CFA Society Los Angeles Santa Barbara Member Community, a member of the CFA Institute, the Santa Barbara Estate Planning Council and the Santa Barbara Investment Forum.
Immediate Past President
Tom Mahoney, CFA, CAIA
University of Wisconsin-Madison – BBA; Pepperdine University – MBA
Tom is a 32-year veteran of the financial services industry. After receiving his B.B.A. in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tom earned an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University in California. In 2004, he moved his practice from Credit Suisse to UBS Private Wealth Management, successfully bringing all of his clients with him.
He completed the Private Equity and Venture Capital Program at Harvard Business School and teaches a class on Alternative Investments for the USC/CFALA CFA Review Program. In addition to the CFA charter, he holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. He is the Past President and Co-Founder of CAIA Los Angeles. Tom has been named to Forbes State-by-State list of Top Financial Advisors.
Tom serves on the Board of Directors and Finance Committee for The People Concern, one of LA’s largest nonprofit organizations that offers assistance, shelter and facilities to homeless individuals. An active scuba diver, Tom is a Divemaster and Certified Rescue Diver. He also enjoys skiing, hiking and playing chess. He and his wife have twin girls and live in Santa Monica.
Returning* Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2021
Chen Song, Ph.D., CFA
University of Chicago – Ph.D., Economics
Dr. Song is an economist, CFA charter holder, and expert witness. Since receiving her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, she has provided consulting and expert testimony in single-plaintiff, multiple-plaintiff, and class action litigations. Dr. Song has studied labor market definition and has applied techniques in statistics and econometrics to examine companies’ employment practices: hiring, pay, promotion, termination, reduction in force, executive compensation, and pension benefits. Additionally, Dr. Song has conducted pay equity studies to assist companies with identifying potential gender or minority pay gaps. Dr. Song’s extensive experience in securities class action litigation matters includes applying complex financial modeling tools, for example stock option valuation, Monte Carlo simulation, event-study in connection with alleged accounting fraud, damages calculations, stress testing, and regression analysis.
Dr. Song maintains a strong affiliation with the academic community. She taught courses on labor economics at the University of California, Irvine, and on financial institutions at California State University, Los Angeles. She currently teaches review courses on risk management for the USC/CFALA CFA Review Program.
Returning* Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2021
Eric Souders, CFA
California State University, Fullerton – BA, Business-Finance
Eric Souders is a Principal at Payden & Rygel. In this capacity, he is responsible for idea generation, implementation, and risk management. Prior to joining Payden & Rygel, Souders worked as a Portfolio Manager at Guggenheim Partners, focusing on multi-sector and structured product dedicated strategies. In addition, he worked as a Portfolio Manager at Blackrock, focusing on investment-grade corporate credit strategies. Previously, he worked at BNY Mellon in their Wealth Management division.
Eric Souders has been a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles since 2009, where he has held roles as Social Chair (2011-2012), Co-Founder of the annual CFALA Golf Tournament (2012-Current), and instructor in the Level 1 USC/CFALA CFA Review Program.
Eric Souders holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He earned a BA in Business-Finance, with Honors, at California State University, Fullerton.
Returning* Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2022
Peter Stutz, CFA
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - BS, Computer Science; University of Chicago - MBA
Peter Stutz is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Guggenheim Partners in Santa Monica, CA, and has over 25 years of institutional investment industry experience as a fixed income analyst, trader, and portfolio manager. At Guggenheim he is responsible for the management of a variety of insurance company fixed income portfolios. He has also been a part of the firm’s Portfolio Construction Group where he was responsible for creating model portfolios for the firm’s core fixed income, multi-credit, multi-asset, and insurance strategies.
Prior to joining Guggenheim, Mr. Stutz was a Portfolio Manager at Western Asset Management where he was part of the generalist fixed income portfolio management team as well as a member of the firm’s Investment Advisory Committee. Mr. Stutz specialized in global interest rate and derivative strategies and was responsible for U.S. inflation-linked bond portfolios.
Mr. Stutz received his BS in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and received the CFA® designation in 1996. Mr. Stutz is an instructor at Level II in the USC/CFALA CFA Review Program.
Returning* Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2022
Michael Treidl, CFA
Carnegie Mellon University - BS Physics; Crummer Graduate School of Business - MBA Finance
Michael Treidl is a Director in the institutional group at Miracle Mile Advisors. He serves on the committee that makes investment decisions for high net worth individuals and institutional clients using commingled investment vehicles.
Prior to joining Miracle Mile Advisors, Michael worked at Payden & Rygel, Capital Group and Morgan Stanley. He began his career working on the trading floor at Fannie Mae.
Michael is a member of the CFA® Institute and the CFA® Society of Los Angeles. He earned an MBA degree with an emphasis in Finance from the Crummer Graduate School of Business and a BS in Physics with a minor in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2023
Michael Koop, CFA
Tilburg University – MS, Finance; Tilburg University – BS, Business Economics
Michael Koop holds the position of Director, Investment Manager Research at AIG. He is responsible for investment manager research and fund due diligence. Prior to joining AIG in 2018, Michael worked as a Portfolio Manager for Kempen Capital Management based out of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he was responsible for the investment management of pension plans, insurance companies, listed fund-of-funds and high net worth individuals. He earned a MS degree in Finance (cum laude) and a BS in Business Economics from Tilburg University.
He holds the Chartered Financial Analysts designation, and is a member of the CFA Society Los Angeles and the CFA Institute. Michael acts as the co-chair of the Career Mentorship Program, as well as the USC/CFALA CFA® Review Program Level I Mentor Match Program. He regularly serves as a mentor and coordinator in the Level I review program.
Governor: 3-Year Term Expiring 2023
Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA
Swarthmore College – BA, Economics; The University of Chicago Booth School of Business – MBA, Analytic Finance and Economics; New York University’s Stern School of Business – MS, Risk Management
Zack Ellison is the Founder and CEO of Applied Real Intelligence LLC ("A.R.I."), based in Los Angeles, California. A.R.I. is an investment firm that provides debt capital solutions to high growth start-ups backed by venture capital and led by world-class entrepreneurs. Mr. Ellison is responsible for the firm’s management and investment activities, including sourcing, due diligence, structuring and execution, and portfolio management.
Previously, Mr. Ellison was Director, U.S. Fixed Income at Sun Life Investment Management, one of the world’s largest asset managers. At Sun Life, he was responsible for corporate credit trading and contributed to the firm’s credit strategy, investment processes, portfolio construction, and risk management practices.
Prior to joining Sun Life, Mr. Ellison worked in Deutsche Bank’s Global Credit Trading division, where he analyzed and traded crossover-rated corporate bonds, credit default swaps (“CDS”), hybrid securities, and preferred stock.
Preceding Deutsche Bank, and during the global financial crisis, he was an investment banker and leveraged loan analyst focused on the media and telecom sectors at Scotia Capital.
Mr. Ellison began his career in the financial services industry at Thomson Reuters in Corporate Advisory Services, where he served the majority of Fortune 500 energy and utility companies.
Mr. Ellison earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College while majoring in Economics. He holds an MBA with concentrations in Analytic Finance and Economics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business along with an MS in Risk Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.
