Speakers*

Daniel Bush, CFA, is a senior member of the iShares Product Consulting team within BlackRock's Global Product Solutions business. He is responsible for providing robust investment and product expertise across the iShares lineup to clients. 

Before joining BlackRock, Daniel was an Investment Strategist at ProShares, where he delivered actionable insights related to the company's ETFs in addition to leading efforts focused on portfolio construction. Previously, he served as a Portfolio Manager within a bank trust department, managing money for high-net-worth individuals, trusts, and foundations. 

Daniel earned his BS in Business Administration, Finance, from the Ohio State University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in addition to the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

Stefanie Gonzalez, Senior Leadership Coach and Business Consultant, is on the BlackRock Business Consulting team within the U.S. Wealth Advisory (USWA) business. BBCdelivers strategic consulting, industry trends / insights, bespoke study groups, leadership development and specialized client presentations for advisors, teams, and firms. BBC helps teams identify opportunities to accelerate business growth both organically and inorganically.

In her current role, she serves as a senior leadership coach and business consultant for advisors, teams and firms across all distribution channels. She is a certified International Coaching Federation (ICF) and Positive Intelligence (CPQC) coach, an HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument) facilitator specializing in Whole Brain Thinking and is certified in Daniel Goleman’s Foundational Skills of Emotional Intelligence.

Prior to this role, Stefanie was a member of the firm's Talent Management team responsible for the Global Analyst Development Program and Global Promotion programs.
Stefanie also has served as Learning and Development specialist within the USWA business. In this role, she was responsible for supporting product, skill and career development trainings working closely with USWA sales leadership and content experts throughout the firm.

Stefanie started at BlackRock as an iShares Sales Desk Manager in 2012. Prior to joining BlackRock, Stefanie worked at NY Life Investment Management and AllianceBernstein as a Sales Desk Manager.

Katie Cullen, CFP is Head of Practice Consulting at BlackRock Inc. The Practice Consulting Group delivers strategic consulting, industry trends and insight, bespoke study groups, leadership development, and specialized client presentations for financial advisor executives and their teams. Katie and her team watch for signals in financial services to consider innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, create opportunities to develop leaders and reimagine the client experience.

Katie's experience in the financial services industry spans 25 years, focused on fostering authentic leadership, effective culture-building, and organizational development. Prior to her current role, Katie led three think tanks comprised of global industry leaders, providing insights on client experience, business growth, and executive coaching. Prior to that, she was the Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at a large RIA firm, and Business Development Officer at Schwab Advisor Services. She also ran her own consulting firm, Cullen Solutions, focused on marketing, operational efficiencies, and talent development and retention for wealth managers.

Katie earned a B.A. from the University of Minnesota in International Relations. She is on the CFP Board's Workplace Advisory Development Group and lives in Plymouth, MN with her husband and three children.
 

Karen Smiley is the Managing Director, Regional Sales, Central Canada, at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM), a position she has held since December 2009.

Karen is responsible for executing the national sales strategy and overall business development of RBC GAM’s solutions in the Advisor Channel in Central Canada, managing a team of more than 8 District Vice Presidents.

Karen has almost 20 years of experience in sales leadership, client and relationship management, and back-office operations. Prior to joining RBC GAM, she spent over 12 years with one of Canada’s largest independent investment management firms.

Karen graduated from the University of Western Ontario.

Ross Pastman, CFA is a Fixed Income Product Strategist in the Indexed Fixed Income & Liability Driven Investing (LDI) organization within BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (PMG). He is primarily responsible for supporting BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory clients in their use of bond ETFs. He partners with BlackRock's sales teams to deliver insights and thought leadership on fixed income markets and ETFs.

Prior to his current role, Ross was a relationship manager within BlackRock's US Wealth Advisory business responsible for delivering insights and driving client adoption across mutual funds, SMAs, alternatives and iShares ETFs.

Ross earned a BS in Finance from The University of Miami and is a CFA Charterholder

Jordan is a Portfolio Analyst on the Investment Products Advisory Group (IPAG) with RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). He supports the promotion and positioning of RBC GAM investment solutions and capital markets views across Canadian retail and private client distribution channels. 

Jordan has worked closely with our investment teams in producing investment publications and content, specializing in North American equities. Jordan has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Ottawa. He joined the firm in 2016 after completing the RBC Career Launch Program.

Rachel Siu, CFA, Managing Director, is Head of Canadian Fixed Income Strategy within BlackRock's Global Fixed Income platform. Ms. Siu focuses on delivering investment solutions spanning active and index capabilities for institutional and retail investors across Canada. She provides a link between investment teams and client groups as a subject matter expert on global bond markets and drives platform growth through product development and innovation. 

Ms. Siu is also responsible for developing Canadian thought leadership and local market commentary. She regularly contributes her views on fixed income markets, monetary policy, and macroeconomic developments in media outlets. In addition, Ms. Siu represents BlackRock as a speaker at external events and conferences, and as a member in industry groups, including the Bank of Canada’s Market Participant Survey and the Financial Services Research Council at the C.D. Howe Institute.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2015, Ms. Siu was part of the Alternative Investments & Manager Selection (AIMS) group of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), where she provided manager diligence, portfolio construction and risk management services across fixed income solutions to investors. She started her career as a member of the Global Markets Institute, the public policy research unit of Goldman Sachs, providing research and high-level advisory services to policymakers, regulators, and investors around the world. 

Ms. Siu earned a BA degree in Economics from the University of Chicago. She is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute of Toronto.
 

Rick Rieder, Senior Managing Director, is BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, Head of the Fundamental Fixed Income business and Head of the Global Allocation Investment Team.

Responsible for roughly $2.4 trillion in assets, Mr. Rieder is a member of BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee (GEC) and its GEC Investment Sub-Committee. He also is Chairman of the firm-wide BlackRock Investment Council. Mr. Rieder has served as Vice Chairman and member of the Borrowing Committee for the U.S. Treasury and member of the Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

Before joining BlackRock in 2009, Mr. Rieder was President and Chief Executive Officer of R3 Capital Partners. From 1987 to 2008, he was with Lehman Brothers where he was head of the firm's Global Principal Strategies team, a global proprietary investment platform. He was also global head of the firm's credit businesses, Chairman of the Corporate Bond and Loan Capital Commitment Committee and a member of the Board of Trustees for the corporate pension fund. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Rieder was a credit analyst at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta.

Mr. Rieder earned a BBA degree in Finance from Emory University in 1983 and an MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. He is a member of the board of Emory University, Emory's Goizueta Business School, and the University's Finance Committee, and is the Vice Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Rieder is founder and chairman of the Goizueta Business School's BBA investment fund and community financial literacy outreach program, Graduation Generation. Mr. Rieder serves as Chairman and President of the Board of Education for North Star Academy's fourteen Charter Schools in Newark, NJ. He is on the Board of the BlackRock Foundation, the Board of Advisors for the Hospital for Special Surgery, and the Board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Newark and Essex County. Mr. Rieder formerly served on the Board and National Leadership Council of the Communities in Schools Educational Foundation in Atlanta, and Trustee for the U.S. Olympic Foundation. Mr. Rieder was honored at the Choose Success Awards ceremony in Atlanta in 2015 for his dedication to public education in Atlanta through CIS and Graduation Generation.
 

Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, Managing Director, is Chief Investment and Portfolio Strategist, Americas. Based in New York, she heads the Investment and Portfolio Solutions (IPS) team for Americas focusing on investment research, portfolio construction and market insights. The IPS team's mission is to tie investment insights and portfolio analysis to commercial solutions across iShares (active and index) ETFs, active and alts platform for both institutional and wealth clients. With over two decades of experience in the financial services industry, Gargi has built her career around portfolio management in the fixed income markets, trading and investment strategy. She regularly contributes her macro and financial market views across global media outlets for clients in US, Canada and Latin America. Prior to her current role, Gargi was head of iShares Investment Strategy for the Americas.

She joined BlackRock in 2010 and has spent the last 14 years in several roles across global trading, portfolio management in active fixed income and multi asset investment strategy. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was at Jefferies & Co. and Merrill Lynch, running a government bond trading desk focusing on making markets for Treasuries and TIPS. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University where she currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Stephen is a Vice President, Portfolio Specialist with the Investment Products Advisory Group at RBC Global Asset Management, responsible for client service and support for fixed income mandates. He joined the group in 2014 from RBC GAM’s Institutional team, where he spent the previous seven years managing relationships with both international and domestic institutional clients. Stephen has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and prior to joining RBC GAM in 2006, was a Senior Analyst with another large bank-owned asset management firm, where he worked on a team that conducted manager research and managed strategic asset allocation products for clients.

Stephen graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and is a CFA charter holder.

Kristy Akullian, CFA, Director, is the Head of GPS Investment Strategy for the Americas. By meshing market signals with product solutions, the team seeks to deliver actionable insights on macro trends, investor positioning, and efficient implementation. Kristy is a regular guest on financial news outlets, podcasts and in print journalism. She is based in San Francisco, where she serves on the San Francisco Leadership Team and is the Co-Chair of Giving Days, the firm's largest annual philanthropic event. 

Previously, Kristy was a member of the iShares Markets Coverage (formerly Capital Markets) team offering institutional clients insights into ETF structure, liquidity and trading strategies. There she led client engagement of ETF comparisons to other delta-1 instruments, and produced delta-1 focused research and market commentary. 

Kristy’s service with the firm dates back to 2010, before which she worked in trading operations at Fisher Investments. Kristy earned BA degrees in Economics and English from the University of Southern California. She is also a CFA Charterholder.
 

Scott Lysakowski is the Head of PH&N Canadian Equity Team and Senior Portfolio Manager on the team’s core Canadian equity strategies. He is also a member of the Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Asset Mix Committee. Scott joined the firm in 2002, where he was a senior research analyst and portfolio manager with the Toronto-based RBC Global Asset Management Canadian equity team before moving to Vancouver to join the PH&N Canadian Equity team in 2009. Prior to being named Head in 2018, Scott was Co-Head of the team since 2012 and has made significant contributions to its investment process. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto and is a CFA charterholder.

Stu Kedwell is a senior portfolio manager and heads the equity investment teams at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). Stu began his career in 1996 with RBC Dominion Securities in the firm's Wealth Management Generalist program, a two-year internship in which participants rotate through different areas of the firm. In 1998, he joined the RBC Investments Portfolio Advisory Group, which provides investment ideas and recommendations to investment advisors. Stu sits on the RBC GAM Leadership Committee and the RBC GAM Investment Strategy Committee, which is responsible for establishing the firm-wide global asset mix for mutual funds and for institutional and high net worth private clients. Stu is a CFA charterholder.

Eric is the Managing Director & Chief Economist for RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). He maintains the firm's global economic forecast and advises its portfolio managers on key themes and risks. Eric is also a member of the RBC Investment Strategy Committee (RISC), which is responsible for the firm's global asset mix recommendations.

Eric makes regular presentations both within and outside of RBC GAM. He is also a frequent media commentator on global economic and financial trends, appearing regularly on CNBC, BNN and other networks. Eric's written editorials have appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times.

In his two decades as an economist, Eric has also worked as a bank economist for another large financial institution, as a trading floor economist and as a fixed income strategist. He began his career at Statistics Canada. Externally, he serves on the C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council, the group that dates recessions and other economic turning points in Canada. He is also on the board of the Toronto Association of Business and Economics.

Eric holds a graduate degree in Economics from Queen's University as well as a Bachelor of Economics from Princeton University.

Jeremy Richardson is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Global Equity Consumer specialist at RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited. He has over 23 years of industry experience.

Jeremy joined RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited in January 2014 after having spent more than seven years with the Global Equity team in the same capacity at another asset management firm in London. Prior to this, he worked in equity research at two European asset managers, where he covered stocks in the consumer discretionary, European general retail and hotels & leisure sectors.

Jeremy holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from the University of Exeter. He is also a qualified accountant.

David is a Senior Portfolio Manager on the North American Equities team at RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). David joined the firm in 2012 as a member of the RBC Wealth Management Generalist program. Upon completion of the Generalist program, David joined the RBC North American Equity Team as a research analyst covering the Technology sector. He was named Associate Portfolio Manager in 2016, Portfolio Manager in 2018 and Senior Portfolio Manager in 2024. David earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Queen’s University. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2015.

Eric Savoie is an investment strategist on RBC GAM’s Macro Economic and Strategy team. In this role, he constructs and maintains ‘top-down’ forecasting and valuation models for global fixed income, equity and currency markets. He also analyzes capital markets and macroeconomic data used to drive market forecasts, asset mix, country/regional allocations and sector recommendations for balanced portfolios.

His career in the investment industry began when he joined RBC GAM in 2012. Eric has been working alongside the Chief Investment Officer as well as the Senior Portfolio Manager of RBC Portfolio Solutions since 2013.

Eric earned an MBA in 2011 from the Sprott School of Business and a Bachelor of Engineering in 2010 from Carleton University. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2015.

Christian is a Portfolio Specialist on the Investment Products Advisory Group (IPAG) with RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM). He supports the promotion and positioning of RBC GAM investment solutions and capital markets views across Canadian retail and private client distribution channels. 

Christian works closely with our investment teams in producing investment publications and content, specializing in North American equities. He joined the firm in 2014 and is a CFA charterholder.