| Speakers |
| James Koutoulas CEO Typhon Access James L. Koutoulas, Esq. is the CEO of Typhon Capital Management, a CTA/CPO which operates several niche trading strategies, including the Metis Momentum Macro Program, Plutus Grain Strategy, Tauros Livestock Strategy, Trevinci Liquid Ag Strategy, Proteus Dynamic Volatility Program, and Leeward Pointe Natural Gas Strategy. James is also the Co-CEO of Typhon Access, which provides an easy way for qualified investors to invest in a diversified portfolio of top commodity traders, have transparent reporting, and utilize the cash efficiency inherent in futures while having the liability insulation that pools provide. James is the President and Co-Founder of the Commodity Customer Coalition, a non-profit customer advocacy organization formed in response to the MF Global bankruptcy. James is the lead attorney for the CCC and represented over 10,000 MF Global customers pro bono in the bankruptcy and helped force the full return of $6.7B in customer assets. James has frequently appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN. He also has been featured in major national print publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, and Reuters, and has written advocacy pieces for ZeroHedge. James also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Futures Association. Mr. Koutoulas has a J.D. from The Northwestern University School of Law and is a member of the Illinois Bar. He serves as a consulting expert to the Northwestern Investor Protection Clinic and is a member of Mensa. James also has a degree in Finance from the University of Florida, where he was a National Merit Scholar, AP National Scholar, and Angelo Langadas Classics Scholar. | |
| Brad Rathe Chief Investment Officer Strategic Financial Group As Chief Investment Officer of Strategic Financial Group, LLC, Bradley J. Rathe is in charge of the main asset allocation decisions of the firm's investment committee. In addition, he performs due diligence on investment vehicles that make up client portfolios. Brad has helped establish a set of risk based model portfolios for the firm that are regularly reviewed and tactically managed. Brad began his career on the trading floors of Chicago then moved on to various executive level positions at several hedge funds around the world. He has been involved in three hedge funds over the past 20 years. He started at EMC Capital Management where he was a trader and helped the firm grow to be one of the top ten largest CTA’s in the early 90’s. Next he was the Research Director for Rotella Capital Management and was on the management committee to stimulate growth to over 1.5 billion dollars. He then performed a full turnaround for FTC capital, an Austrian based CTA. Throughout his career he has grown hedge funds by concentrating on developing a basket of strategies each with exceptional risk management that resulted in an overall portfolio with excellent risk adjusted performance. In addition to his work at Strategic Financial Group he is also Managing Partner at Poplar Jackson; a partner and portfolio manager at Astor Jansen Holdings which consults international hedge funds on organizational structure and efficient and effective research. Brad is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Finance and Economics. | |
| Professor Mark Shore Founder, Chief Research Officer Shore Capital Mark Shore founded Shore Capital Management LLC in 2008. Mr. Shore has more than 25 years of investment, research, portfolio management and futures experience. He is the Founder and Chief Research Officer of Shore Capital Management LLC that consults in alternative investments regarding due diligence, research, educational workshops, business development and expert witness research. Mr. Shore is an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. He is also a Board Member of the Arditti Center for Risk Management at DePaul University. He is a Contributing Writer for Reuters Hedgeworld, Eurex Exchange, the CBOE's futures exchange (CFE) and Micro-Cap Review. Mr Shore is an Adjunct at the New York Institute of Finance. Adding to Mr. Shore's passion for the capital markets research and writing, he writes a NY and a Chicago economics/ finance column for Examiner.com, where he writes market commentary and educational research and events related to the investment industry. Mr. Shore is a frequent speaker at alternative investment events including events hosted by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Institutional Investor, International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE), the University of Chicago, DePaul University, Tulane University, the Illinois Economics Association, Illinois Institute of Technology, HedgeWorld and the New York Institute of Finance. In December 2013, Mr. Shore began hosting the Sunday night internet alternative investment show "Skewing Your Diversification" on BTFD.TV Prior to founding Shore Capital, Mr. Shore was Head of Risk for Octane Research Inc ($1.1 billion AUM) in NYC from 2007 to 2008, where he was responsible for quantitative risk management analysis and due diligence of Fund of Funds. He chaired the Risk Management Committee and was a voting member of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining Octane, he was at VK Capital Inc ($250 million AUM) from 1997 to 2006, a wholly owned Commodity Trading Advisor subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Shore provided research and risk management expertise on portfolio issues, product development and business strategy. Before becoming Chief Operating Officer, he was a Senior Research Analyst at VK Capital where he developed systematic trading models and a due diligence platform to test trading strategies. Mr. Shore was a Senior Research Associate at the University of Chicago, Center for Research in Security Prices from 1994 to 1996. He also has experience as a commodity broker and independent trader. Mr. Shore began his career with E.F. Hutton on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. Mr. Shore has been published several times including contributing a chapter to the Wiley & Sons commodity book The Handbook of Commodity Investing released in 2008. More of Mr. Shore's research can be found by clicking here Mr. Shore graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Finance. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in Finance, Behavioral Science and Econometrics. Mr. Shore is a former President and current board member of the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business NY Alumni Club. Mr. Shore is an avid long distance cyclist and a strong believer in giving back to the community. Since 2004 he has participated in the Livestrong (Lance Armstrong Foundation) rides. August 29, 2010 Mr. Shore co-produced a fund raising concert Tutor/Mentor Jam. Mr. Shore is a Board Member and former Treasurer of the Evanston Township High School Educational Foundation. | |
| Larry Pitcher Managing Partner Quantorithms Larry Pitcher has been trading since he was in high school. In 1987 on a summer break from NIU, his internship hired him at Edward Jones. After the October 19th crash he was laid off, but quickly found a job in Chicago as a stock broker. In 1989 he founded Chicago Investment Center, where he cleared trades for clients through Gruntal. In 2008 he formed Quantitative Algorithms Capital Partners to trade FX with client capital. In 2014 QACP began allocating to outside trader Programs. Both CTA and unregistered traders are welcome to apply, as QACP faces clients. | |
| Joseph Childrey Probabilities Mr. Childrey developed an investment philosophy that incorporates the principles of behavioral finance and trend following. He launched and managed the Probabilities Fund L.P., a long/short hedge fund, for six years before converting the fund to a mutual fund. Mr. Childrey served private and institutional clients at Wells Fargo/AG Edwards for 15 years, starting his career at PaineWebber. An inventor, Mr. Childrey co-invented with Jon Jewitt a patented product in the consumer electronics industry that is marketed and sold worldwide. Mr. Childrey graduated from Western Maryland College with a BA in Sociology. | |
| Joseph Drozd Director of Research Matrix Capital Joe joined Matrix in May of 2012 and is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including sourcing new investments, monitoring existing managers/investments as well as authoring and presenting due diligence reports to the Investment Committee and clients. Additionally, he is tasked with leading idea generation and strategic research for new investments, asset classes, and tactical investment opportunities. Joe also participates in client portfolio management assisting in the construction, modeling and monitoring process. Joe has a particularly deep background and focus in evaluating alternative investments specifically hedge funds, private credit, and niche direct investments. Joe came to Matrix from Mercer Investments where he was a Senior Hedge Fund Research Analyst performing qualitative and quantitative analysis of currently invested and prospective investment managers. Previously, he worked as a Financial Analyst at Evolve24, a media research firm; and worked as a Summer Associate at Peak6 Investments, a trading and asset management firm at the Chicago Board of Trade. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was an Evans Scholar, and is currently a Level III Candidate in the CFA Program. | |
| Daniel Collins Editor-in-Chief Futures Magazine Editor-in-Chief of Futures Magazine, Daniel Collins is a 25-year veteran of the futures industry having worked on the trading floors of both the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Dan joined Futures in 2001 and in 2005 he was promoted to Managing Editor, responsible for overseeing all the content that went into Futures and futuresmag.com. Dan’s incisive reporting and no-holds barred commentary places him among the most recognized national media figures covering futures, derivative trading and alternative investments. | |
| Matt Peluse Founder, Principal Esulep Matt Peluse runs Esulep’s Hedge Fund Management Company and Advisory Firm, headquartered in Chicago, managing capital from more than twelve countries around the world. Esulep has been developing successful Hedge Funds through two decades,employing fundamentally conservative philosophies of consistently earning small profits each month for a given risk profile, with a low standard deviation of returns and virtually zero correlation to other investment strategies and managers. Excess capital is actively managed and has beaten all of the major risk-free averages through the last ten years. Prior to Esulep, Matt developed and executed his own successful trading strategies as a Derivatives Trader and Partner for two proprietary trading firms in the Chicago Board of Trade, where he was responsible for more than 1% of the total daily trading volumes in his markets. He has extensive experience with Capital Markets, including equities, fixed-income, commodities, grains, currencies, and even more abstract vehicles like electricity and weather futures. Mr. Peluse graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in Chemical Engineering, completing a multi-university, dual-discipline thesis with graduate professors where he developed microscale rocket thrusters for NASA and the U.S. Navy. Concurrently, he ran a prestigious Princeton Eating Club while earning All-Ivy honors in athletics. | |
| Anthony Lombardi Aon Hewitt Anthony is responsible for the Vision hedge fund managed accounts program's operations, onboarding, operational due diligence, and counterparty-facing efforts. In his role, Anthony works closely with the technology and risk management teams to deliver transparency, asset control and scalability to Vision clientele. He has over 15 years’ experience in working with hedge funds on both the buy and sell sides. Anthony graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Linguistics. He also has a Masters in Strategic Intelligence from American Military University and an LLM from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Anthony spent six years in the United States Army prior to attending college. | |
