Board Bios
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SEAN STOUT, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
CENTRAL TRUST COMPANY
Sean has been building his financial services career since 2006, with roles in portfolio management, securities research, and financial advice. Prior to joining Central Trust Company, he was instrumental in co-founding a team of global analysts, providing customized investment portfolio solutions to financial advisors, portfolio managers, and their clients. He additionally has experience in portfolio analytics, risk management, and financial technologies innovation.
He holds a Master of Business Administration/Finance degree from the University of North Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Univeristy of Tennessee. He earned his CFA designation and is a Certified Financial Planner Professional (CFP®).
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BRADY RITCHEY
Founder and Chief Investment Officer
ROTH INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Brady founded Roth Investment Management in 2018, and is responsible for managing the opportunity strategy. Brady’s prior experience includes the Federal Reserve Bank and Mindshare Capital Management. A registered investment advisor in the states of Missouri and Illinois, Brady holds a Master of Science in Finance from Webster University and completed the Value Investing program at Columbia Business School.
In addition to Roth Investment Management, Brady also teaches International Financial Strategies at St. Louis University as well as Finance and Investments at Webster University.
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TIMOTHY WESTRICH, CFA
Principal & Senior Investment Consultant – St. Louis
MERCER INVESTMENTS
Timothy advises numerous endowment and foundation clients with assets ranging from $100 million to $2.7 billion in the areas of asset allocation and manager selection.
Prior to joining Mercer, Timothy served as a Consultant at Hammond Associates also advising not-for-profit clients. He has also worked as an Analyst in the Investment Banking department at A.G. Edwards focusing on public and private real estate transactions and as an Analyst in the Public Finance department at Edward Jones.
Timothy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance/Banking and Real Estate from the University of Missouri and a Series 3 National Commodity Futures License.
He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute. He also serves as Treasurer of the CFA Society St. Louis.
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SI CHEN, CFA
Principal Data Scientist
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ST. LOUIS
Si Chen leads and manages a team of data scientists that identifies and develops advanced analytics solutions for clients to improve various business outcome indicators.
Before joining the Federal Reserve Bank, she was a tenured Associate Professor at Murray State University in Kentucky.
Si holds a Ph.D. degree in Operations Research from University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith Business School, where she currently holds an Adjunct Professor position in their MBA program.
Si is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and serves as Secretary on the board of CFA Society St. Louis.
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RYAN TOMLINSON, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
U. S. BANK
As a Senior Portfolio Manager, Ryan delivers investment services to help clients work toward their goals. Ryan uses his experience to establish an integrated investment approach, offering asset allocation strategies and recommendations based on short- and long-term financial objectives, financial status and risk profiles. Ryan began his career in the banking and financial services industry in 2006. Prior to joining U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, Ryan worked as a Portfolio Manager at Wells Fargo Investment Institute – Global Portfolio Management. In addition to portfolio management, his professional background includes working as a financial advisor and an investment research analyst. Ryan is an active member of the community and has served as a tutor through the St. Louis Public Schools, serving under-privileged students. He has also volunteered with Big Brothers and Sisters of Eastern Missouri to help mentor at-risk children. Ryan resides in Brentwood, Missouri with his wife and two children. When he is not at work, he enjoys rock climbing and fishing.
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JOAN HECKER
Executive Director
CFA Society St. Louis (CFA STL)
As Executive Director, Joan Hecker handles the administration of CFA Institute policies and procedures at the local level to serve CFA STL’s Greater St. Louis Area membership. She is the staff liaison to the CFA STL board as well as its many committees. Joan manages all of the Society’s office tasks including planning and implementing all CFA STL industry and public events; member acquisition and renewals; accounts payable and receivable; and the Society’s internal and external communications.
Joan is the President of Association Business Services, LLC, which provides association management services to a variety of small trade and community associations around the region. She has more than 15 years of experience in Association Management. She serves on task forces and committees for a variety of association management organizations.
A life-long St. Louis resident, Joan also lends her time and support to several local community organizations, including Rotary Club of St. Louis, German American Heritage Society and Humane Society of Missouri.
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DR. GAURANGO BANERJEE, CFA
Professor of Finance,
Plaster School of Business & Entrepreneurship
LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY
Dr. Banerjee is originally from India, and received a Bachelor’s of Engineering and Economics in the dual degree program at BITS Pilani, India. Subsequently, he completed a Master’s and Doctorate program in the Finance and Economics Department at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. After completing his Doctoral program, he taught at the University of Texas at Brownsville for 14 years before joining Lindenwood University in St. Louis in 2013. During his tenure at the University of Texas, he completed the requirements for the Chartered Financial Analyst program, and received the CFA designation. He has served as a Faculty Advisor for the CFA Research Challenge student team at Lindenwood University since 2016. In July 2021, Dr. Banerjee was appointed to the Board of Directors at the CFA Society St. Louis.
He has published his research in over 15 peer-reviewed journals in his field, and his current research interests lie in Risk Management and Corporate Governance issues. He has taught a wide variety of finance courses, including Corporate Finance, Investments, and seminars in Finance, Derivatives and Fixed Income Securities at the undergraduate and graduate level.
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J. TYLER BLICKHAN, CFA, CAIA
Associate Director of Investments
ASCENSION INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
As Associate Director of manager research for Ascension Investment Management, Tyler's focus is on sourcing, due diligence, and monitoring for the company’s Private Equity and Impact Investment portfolios. Prior to joining Ascension Investment Management, Tyler was a Senior Investment Consulting Analyst at Mercer, working with a portfolio of Healthcare, Community Foundation, Pension, and Higher Education clients. Tyler earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Louis University, with a double major in Economics and History. He received his MBA from Indiana University at Bloomington.
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DAN CONNER, CFA
General Partner – Ascend Venture Capital
EDWARD JONES
Dan is the founder and general partner at Ascend Venture Capital, an early stage data-centric tech focused venture capital firm located in St. Louis, MO and the world’s leading proponent of ethical venture capital practices. Dan founded Ascend out of a relentless passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. As a c-level operator at disruptive startups, as a quantamental management consultant, and as an investor in big ideas, Dan has cultivated a career in enabling the future states of industries. Dan is an Olin Business School MBA graduate and holds an undergraduate degree from Yale in mechanical engineering; he also holds a master’s in advanced renewable technologies from Washington University in St. Louis.
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SCOTT FROIDL
Asst. VP, Investment Analyst
WEAVER WEALTH MANAGEMENT
As an Assistant Vice President and Investment Analyst on the Investment Manager Research Team, Scott is a member of the LPL Financial Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation Committee for Weaver Wealth Management. He covers U.S. large cap equity managers and is a key contributor to the LPL Research centrally managed portfolios.
Prior to joining LPL Financial in 2021, Scott performed investment analysis with the Wells Fargo Investment Institute and Stifel and began his career as a financial advisor at Prudential Securities in 1996, and has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sales and Marketing from Lindenwood University.
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ALEC HUBBARD, CFA
Portfolio Solutions Senior Specialist
STIFEL FINANCIAL CORP.
As a Portfolio Solutions Senior Specialist at Stifel, Alec Hubbard is responsible for helping financial advisors build customized multi-asset class portfolio strategies for high-net-worth clients based on Stifel’s strategic and dynamic asset allocation models. He regularly engages with a variety of clients and prospects to represent Stifel’s CIO office’s current market and investment views, focusing on high-net-worth individuals, family offices, foundations, and trusts via their financial advisors.
Prior to joining Stifel, Mr. Hubbard served as a portfolio analyst for Wells Fargo’s Investment Solutions division. He earned his B.S. in Economics from Truman State University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification, and Series 7 and 66 licenses.
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MORGAN L. KOENIG, CFA, CAIA
VP, Portfolio Manager - Research
ENTERPRISE BANK & TRUST
Morgan serves as Portfolio Manager at Enterprise Bank & Trust and has worked in the investment industry since 2002. Prior to joining Enterprise, Morgan was a Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst for Wedgewood Partners, Inc. where she was a member of the Investment Team responsible for Wedgewood's Large Cap Focused Growth product. Prior to Wedgewood, Morgan worked at Apollo Capital Management as a Senior Hedge Fund Analyst where she led a team responsible for the performance calculations for a hedge fund of funds structure.
Morgan earned her BSBA (Finance), minor in Accounting from UMSL, with honors. She is a CFA Charterholder and CAIA Charterholder.
In addition to being a member of the College of Business Administration's Finance & Legal Studies Advisory Board, she is also an active member of the Alumnae Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha which supports breast cancer awareness and education via Think Pink partnerships with American Cancer Society, the National Football League, and Bright Pink.
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KATHLEEN (KAT) MCGRATH, CFA
Senior Lead Investment Analyst
GLOBAL MANAGER RESEARCH (GMR)
Kathleen “Kat” McGrath is a senior lead investment analyst for Global Manager Research (GMR), a division of Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The GMR team conducts due diligence and provides research on the third-party money managers used throughout Wells Fargo’s brokerage, private banking, family wealth, and retirement businesses.
In her role, Kat covers Emerging Markets and Asia equity managers as well as leads ESG initiatives within GMR. Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2022, Kat worked at Asset Consulting Group (ACG) as a vice president on the global equity manager research team, focused on US Small-to-Mid Cap equity managers, and spearheaded the firm’s ESG efforts. Prior to ACG, Kat worked at WallachBeth Capital, Leerink Swann, Susquehanna Investment Group, and Stifel Nicolaus as a sell-side analyst covering the Medical Device and Equipment industries.
Kat earned a BS in Business Economics and Finance with a minor in Mathematics from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing. She has held the positions of Vice President (2020-2021) and President (2021-2023) with the CFA Society of St. Louis.
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PAUL J. RHEA, CFA, CAIA, MBA
Platform Trading and Alternative Asset Analyst
KRILOGY
Paul joined Krilogy in 2022 as a Trading & Portfolio System Team Associate, where he has been instrumental in running the Trade Desk and uncovering operational efficiencies. With over a decade of industry experience, Paul brings specialized knowledge and expertise to the team. He is a charterholder of both the CFA and CAIA designations.
Paul holds an MBA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), which he earned in 2014. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) in 2009, majoring in Finance & Banking and Economics, with a minor in Spanish.
Paul is a dedicated Cardinals fan and enjoys playing golf in his free time.
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