Cheryl currently is working on contract basis most recently with BondCliQ a FinTech start-up focused on Corporate Bond pricing data and analytics. Prior to working on a contract basis, Cheryl held various titles for 20 years in Institutional Fixed Income Sales roles for Merrill Lynch, Jefferies, and Mizuho Securities. Before her career in Sales & Trading Cheryl was held various roles at both Citicorp and Deloitte where her focus was on the Financial Services Sectors and included being promoted to manage various teams and departments. 

Cheryl graduated with a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Northern Illinois University and earned her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation while working at Deloitte as an Auditor on the Financial Services Team.Cheryl later earned her Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management evening program while working at Citicorp’s Global Cash Management Division. Cheryl holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA). She has also previously held FINRA Series 3, 7, and 63. Chris serves as Treasurer of her Condominium Association and is an active volunteer with the Chicago CFA Society.

Bio Available Soon

Deborah Bielicke Eades has been a a shareholder in the Investment Services Group of Vedder Price P.C. since 1999.  Prior to joining Vedder Price P.C., Ms. Eades served as in house counsel at Janus Capital (now known as Janus Henderson). Ms. Eades has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry representing closed-end funds, open-end funds and asset management firms with a particular focus on complex fund and adviser transactions, product development and design, and regulatory and compliance matters. Ms. Eades is a CFA and has earned the Certificate in ESG Investing.

Emily Hahn is an Investment Consultant at Aon. She is a member of the U.S. Fixed Income Research Team and specializes in manager research. Areas of coverage include structured assets across the capital spectrum, investment grade multi sector fixed income strategies across the curve, and investment grade private credit. She has a background in manager investment research across the different asset classes, day-to-day treasury management with derivatives and interest rates, and wealth management and investment compliance.

Emily is a member of DE&I committees with Aon Investments. Currently, she is the Co-Chair of CFA Chicago’s Women Networking Group and active engaged member in Women Investment Professionals (WIP). She is finishing up a MS of Finance at Johns Hopkins University and will be graduating Spring 2024. She is also a CFA candidate. Emily graduated Magna Cum Laude from Samford University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Finance.

Thomas Prendergast has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Previously, Tom was Vice President of Operations at Harris Associates. During his tenure at Harris, his teams were responsible for a wide range of client service and middle office functions. Areas of responsibility included client onboarding, client reporting, investment accounting, NAV oversight, reconciliation, and compliance. Prior to joining Harris, Tom held investment accounting and operational risk roles at Tokyo Mitsubishi Futures (USA) Inc. He began his career as a market analyst in the Chicago Board of Trade’s Office of Investigations and Audits.

Tom earned his MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and BA in Economics from Loyola University Chicago. He is a CFA Charterholder, CIPM designation holder and has earned the Certificate in ESG Investing.

Brad Schneider serves as Senior Vice President at Northern Trust Company, where he works as a Senior Portfolio Advisor within the Family Office Solutions group. With more than 14 years of investment experience, Brad specializes in delivering tailored strategies and solutions for Ultra High Net Worth families, helping them navigate the complex financial landscape.

Brad received a B.S. degree in Finance and International Business, with a minor in Spanish from Indiana University and a M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Economics, Econometrics/Statistics and Entrepreneurship.

Brad is an expert at developing customized investment solutions for high-net worth individuals
and families. He specializes in designing strategies that are custom-tailored to a client’s unique individual goals, needs and aspirations taking into consideration taxes, expenses and risk.

Dr. Tony Zhang is the Disruption and Innovation Fellow, R.C. Evan Fellow, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as Equity Portfolio Manager at Zacks Investment Management, where he manages multi-billion quantitative equity funds across multi-strategies. His research focuses on fintech, quantitative investment, and entrepreneurship, with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligence and big data in financial applications.
He also serves as the President of the Chicago Chapter of the Chinese American Trading and Investment Association, and an academic advisor to both the CFA Institute Research Challenge and the CME Global Annual Trading Competition.

Dr. Zhang is the author of Alternative Data and Artificial Intelligence in Investment and Risk Management (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) and a contributing author to The Handbook of Fintech (2021). He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, holds multiple domestic and international patents, and has received three best paper awards at leading professional conferences. He earned degrees from Harvard Business School, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Bio Coming Soon

Jim Mohan is an Investment Consultant with Mercer based in the Chicago Office. His primary focus is on providing direct support to clients and consultants, specifically not-for-profit relationships in the U.S.  Jim joined Mercer in 2021 and has fifteen years of investment experience.

Prior to joining Mercer, Jim founded the ESG advisory and implementation firm DuPage Investment consultants in 2020. Prior to DuPage, Jim spent two years as a relationship manager at Christian Brothers Investment Services. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from DePaul University.  He is a CFA charterholder and holds his CIPM. Jim is an active member of the CFA Society – Chicago, contributing as a Co-Chair of the Distinguished Speakers Series advisory group and member of the Annual Dinner advisory group. Jim also volunteers his time teaching financial literacy to underserved youth with Cents Ability.

Blake is a Director in the Corporate Capital Markets and Net Lease practice group advising corporate clients on capital strategies to optimize the capitalization and monetization of their real estate portfolios. Blake’s clientele ranges from Fortune 10 companies to lower-middle-market private equity sponsored portfolio companies. With a strong corporate finance acumen and background, Blake’s expertise includes in-depth knowledge of capital structuring, financial impact analyses, and financial reporting analysis. Blake advises clients on executing sale-leasebacks, net lease sales, lease monetization transactions, acquisition sale leasebacks, build-to-suits, and other esoteric structured financing including synthetic lease and credit tenant lease transactions. Blake’s single-tenant expertise spans all major real estate asset classes including industrial, office, retail and data centers, which transaction experience across the U.S.

Prior to joining JLL, Blake was a commercial credit analyst in the credit rotational program at MB Financial Bank, a Chicago-based regional bank (now Fifth-Third Bank). Blake was responsible for gathering and analyzing due diligence, financial and quantitative analysis, and credit underwriting for $100M+ of commercial real estate loans in multiple markets in his first year.

Blake received his B.B.A. in Finance from the Tippie College of Business as well as a Certificate of Leadership Studies at the University of Iowa. Blake earned his Charter from the CFA Institute in September 2019. Blake is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Illinois (Lic. No. 475.184604). Blake is an active member of the CFA Society of Chicago and the CFA Society of Chicago Member Engagement Advisory Group.

Matt Brackmann, CFA, is a portfolio manager for Perritt Capital Management where he is actively involved in idea generation and company research in the microcap equities market. He is also responsible for overseeing the firm’s trading desk and managing relationships with sell-side brokerage firms. He is an Investment Advisor Representative and received his B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Iowa in 2004 and has been with Perritt for the entirety of his career. Matt has been awarded a CFA charter and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Chicago.

Bio Coming Soon

Peter is a Senior Wealth Strategy Associate at UBS where he helps Ultra High Net Worth clients holistically through navigating their asset allocation, investment, and advanced planning decisions. In his prior role, Peter was an Investment Analyst at an institutional investment consulting firm where he conducted investment research as well as managed rebalancing, restructuring, and liquidity operations of client portfolios.

Peter holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA focused in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from The University of Alabama. He is also a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA Society Chicago where he is the Social Advisory Group Co-Chair.