Advisory Group Co-Chairs

Rich Excell, CFA, is a senior portfolio manager for the Relative-Value Equity strategy at Wolverine Asset Management. Prior to WAM, he was the CIO and a partner at Satori Investment Partners. He spent the majority of his career with UBS O’Connor, where he was most recently managing director, senior portfolio manager and co-head of the Long/Short Equity Market Neutral Fund. Prior to this, as head of the European office, he was responsible for both the global macro and the equity long/short strategies. During his career, he has also built and managed foreign exchange, precious metals and equity cash and derivatives trading businesses in developed and emerging markets while with O’Connor, First Chicago, BZW (Barclays Capital) and Crédit Agricole Indosuez.

Excell holds a B.S. in finance with a minor in accounting and Japanese studies from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He became a CFA® charterholder in 1999 while living in Singapore and recently passed Level III of the CMT examination.

Matthew Morris, CFA, is a director portfolio strategist, UHNW at UBS and is responsible for articulating and delivering comprehensive, research-driven asset allocation and portfolio strategy advice to Private Wealth Advisors and their ultra-high net worth clients. He conducts detailed portfolio review sessions with private clients to understand their wealth structure. His end goal is to develop customized strategic and tactical asset allocations implemented with the most suitable products UBS has to offer.

Prior to joining UBS Financial Services, Morris worked for UBS Asset Management in Chicago. At UBS AM, Matthew was responsible for managing institutional client accounts. He began his career at Morgan Stanley where he was a consulting group analyst and later a portfolio management associate for Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley’s institutional consulting division. Morris received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon. He currently holds the Series 3, 7, and 66 registrations, is a CFA charterholder and a member of CFA Society of Chicago’s Education Advisory Group.

Jeremy Heer is the senior portfolio manager for the Strategy group. In this role he supports the managing director of strategy in the development and management of the overall investment strategy for the endowment as well as management of the global macro portion of the University’s hedge fund portfolio. He has also been the senior portfolio manager for the University’s investments in private equity limited partnerships during his time at the Investment Office.

Prior to joining the University in 2010, he was a partner at Singer Partners specializing in the design and implementation of global macro and asset allocation strategies. Previously, he was an asset allocation analyst at UBS Global Investment Management (2004-2009) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management (2003-2004). Heer also has worked in risk management and derivatives-related roles for Morgan Stanley and Cargill Investor Services.

Heer holds an MBA with concentrations in finance and statistics from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BS in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a CFA charterholder, a grader of the exam, and a contributor to the curriculum.

Robert Knezevic, CFA, is an Equity Strategist / Senior Trader at Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG), a global quantitative trading firm founded with an entrepreneurial mindset and a rigorous analytical approach to decision making. Knezevic co-manages risk profile of the cash equity execution group. Protects firm assets by conducting extensive research to anticipate market volatility, direction and customer inflows, then deploying capital to position firm accordingly. Knezevic is a CFA charterholder and earned his FINRA Series 7, 55, 63 certifications. He graduated with a BSBA in marketing from Ohio State University.

As global head of distribution partnerships, Greenhouse is responsible for setting the strategy and managing the relationships with MSCI’s distribution partners across products.
Greenhouse joined MSCI in 2008 where she has held a number of senior roles, including most recently Head Factor Index Products for the America’s as well as Head of Midwest and West Coast Index Coverage teams.

Prior to joining MSCI, Greenhouse spent several years in the investment industry on the fixed income sales and trading desks at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sacks, as well as trading and portfolio management at Citigroup Asset Management.

Greenhouse is an active member of the investment community. She is currently on the board of the Chicago chapter of Women in ETFs and serves on the co-head of the Women’s Network for CFA Society Chicago. She received her BA from Tulane University and MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Christine Tinker, CFA, is a portfolio manager on the Global Equity team within Northern Trust Asset Management. She is responsible for the implementation of several Engineered Equity strategies specializing in Tax Advantaged Equity strategies for high net worth and institutional investors. Prior to joining Northern’s Global Equity team in 2015, Tinker was a portfolio manager at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management where she managed investment portfolios for high net worth individuals.
Tinker received a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a CFA charterholder. She is Co-Chair of the Women’s Network for CFA Society Chicago, serves on the Event Planning Committee for Women Investment Professionals, and is a member of the Associate Board for the Economic Awareness Council.

Melissa Binder, CFA, is vice president on the distribution at PPM America Inc. (PPM). She is responsible for selling to and servicing institutional clients and consultants. Prior to joining PPM in 2017 Melissa was a portfolio manager at Segal Marco Advisors for 12 years, where she managed the equity sleeve of the firm’s outsourced CIO platform and was responsible for conducting due diligence and recommending investment managers to institutional clients. Melissa earned her MBA for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and BS in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Melissa is also a CFA charterholder.

Gerald Norby, CFA, is part of the Data Governance team at William Blair & Co, where he works on data management policy and investment data validation. Additionally, he consults with the CFA Institute, reviewing CFA and CIPM curricula.

Prior to his career at William Blair, he spent four years at The Next Level Planning Group, a boutique high net worth financial planning and wealth management firm. As Investment & Portfolio Strategist, he designed client portfolios and led investment research for their $200MM of AUM.

Richard Schiller, CFA, serves as a Global REIT Analyst for the Real Estate Securities team at Duff & Phelps Investment Management. Schiller’s research focuses on real estate securities in North America and Europe.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps in 2018, Schiller was an equity research associate at Robert W. Baird, responsible for investment coverage of the office and industrial real estate sectors. Previously, he served as a portfolio analyst at the private equity firm GTCR, and was a senior associate in the Financial Due Diligence group at KPMG.

Schiller earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Accountancy with a Minor in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) charter holder and a member of the CFA Society Chicago. He is also a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). In addition, he is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) (Registered). Mr. Schiller began his investment industry career in 2010.

Lisa Davenport, CFA, is currently a Consultant at Neuberger Berman in the North American Institutional Client Group. Prior to this, she was a Vice President, Senior Client Relationship Manager responsible for Institutional Clients at Calamos Investments. Before joining Calamos, Davenport was a Managing Director, Global Corporate Client Group for NASDAQ OMX providing support and counsel to executives and board members of publicly-listed companies. She spent time at ABN AMRO Asset Management as a relationship manager working with institutional clients and also managed fixed income private placement portfolios for Allstate Insurance Company, MONY Capital Management and American United Life Insurance Company (now OneAmerica). Davenport earned a BS in Finance from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business and has an MBA in Marketing and Finance from University of Illinois Chicago. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) charterholder and member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Chicago, where she serves as Co-Head of the Communications Advisory Group. She also holds a Series 7 license.

Shannon J. Curley, CFA, joins CFA Society Chicago with more than 25 years of investment management and financial operational experience. He has been a Charterholder since 1997, and has been a member of the CFA Chicago since 2004. Previously, Curley worked at UBS O’Connor, LLC as a Director of the Long/Short Equity Hedge Fund. He has held various financial and investment positions in New York, Houston and St. Louis before moving to Chicago. Curley has a MBA in Finance from Tulane University, a BA in Economics and BA minor in Mathematics from Fairfield University.

Anne Durkin, CFA, is responsible for managing client relationships, which includes portfolio management and analysis. She also sits on the Investment committee and is involved in writing many of our ongoing publications.

Prior to joining MainStreet Advisors, Durkin was a director at Fiduciary Management Associates, a Chicago-based investment management firm, where she was involved in the research and analysis of large cap publicly traded companies. She received a BSBA in marketing from Marquette University and an MBA in finance and strategic managmenet from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Durkin, a CFA charterholder, is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Chicago.

Rick Tauber, CFA, is a corporate credit research analyst with expertise in high yield and investment grade corporate bonds, in addition to other fixed income asset classes. Tauber’s experience includes various buy-side positions supporting portfolio managers by making buy/sell/hold bond recommendations. Most recently Tauber worked for 9 years at Morningstar helping launch an independent fixed income research product and managing a team of 12 analysts, as well as helping launch a corporate credit ratings business. Tauber hold the CFA and CPA (non-practicing) designations.He received a BS in accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA in finance from the University of Michigan.

Jenny McNicholas, CFA, is a Portfolio Manager Associate at Bank of America Private Bank. The Private Bank is part of the wider Bank of America Corporation and provides customized investment services for individuals, families, business owners, and philanthropic institutions with varying levels of wealth. Portfolio Manager Associates work with the broader client team to monitor clients’ asset allocation in their investment portfolios, perform day-to-day trading maintenance, run Monte-Carlo cash stimulations, and research into various investment opportunities (i.e., stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, hedge funds, and private equity funds) to determine client suitability.

McNicholas is been a member of CFA Society Chicago for the past two years, and an active member of the Social Advisory Group for the past year. She graduated with Magma Cum Laude Honors from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in international business with a concentration in finance and minor in international affairs and is a CFA charterholder. She has studied in four countries outside of the US, which included universities in Dublin, Ireland; Oxford, England; Catania, Italy; and Lyon, France.

Andrew Speight, CFA, is a vice president and regional director within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Based out of Chicago, he is responsible for sales and relationship management with Bank and Trust clients across the U.S. Speight joined Goldman Sachs as an Associate in 2015. Prior to joining the firm, Speight was a Portfolio Manager at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, focusing on portfolio construction and asset allocation for High Net Worth individuals.

Speight earned a BBA in finance from the University of Iowa in 2010 and is a CFA charterholder.