Managing Director
WE Family Offices
Michael Zeuner is managing partner of WE Family Offices. Previously, Zeuner was, until October 2012, the Senior Executive Partner of GenSpring Family Offices, where he was responsible for the leadership and management of GenSpring’s network of local family offices in the United States and the delivery of the overall client experience. In addition, he was a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Prior to his role at GenSpring, Zeuner was Managing Director and Global Head of Wealth Solutions at JP Morgan Private Bank
A management consultant by training, Zeuner led projects in the financial services area for both Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He joined Chase Manhattan in 1995 as Vice President in the investment bank, and moved to the private bank in 1997 to head up strategy and marketing worldwide. JP Morgan and Chase Manhattan merged in January 2002. Zeuner graduated from Brandeis University and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago School of Business. He also studied at The London School of Economics.
Phyllis C. Borzi was the Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2009 – 2017, during which she was instrumental in advancing the Conflict of Interest Rule. Prior to serving as Assistant Secretary, Borzi was a research professor in the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University’s Medical Center’s School of Public Health and Health Services where she was involved in research and policy analysis. She was also of counsel to the Washington, D.C. law firm of O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue LLP, specializing in ERISA and other legal issues affecting employee benefit plans.
Link to Phyllis Borzi’s full biography.
Executive Director
Committee for Fee-Only Benefits Advisors
Darren Fogarty is the Executive Director of the Committee for Fee-Only Benefits Advisors, a group of healthcare industry leaders coming together in a volunteer effort to make transparent, fee-only compensation the benefits industry gold-standard. Its vision is to make the benefits advisor profession renowned for client-first, fiduciary principles.
Fogarty has seven years of experience researching, writing and editing whitepapers, comment letters, and blogs at the Institute as a researcher. He works on advocacy issues for higher ethical and business standards, fiduciary advice, fee-only advisor compensation in both the Financial Services and Employee Benefits industries, and on health care/insurance economics & policy.
Executive Director of the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council
Kurt Schacht is the Executive Director of the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. The Council is a private sector, non-partisan body of former government officials, financial experts, academics and legal experts committed to addressing regulatory and structural issues relating to global systemic risk, with a particular focus on the United States and Europe (www.systemicriskcouncil.com).
During his tenure he has overseen CFA Institute’s global policy research, standards, and government relations in New York, London, Brussels, and Hong Kong. He managed the activities of the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®), the CFA Institute Asset Manager Code and the Financial Analysts Journal. Prior to joining CFA Institute, he served as Chief Operating Officer for a mutual fund complex, as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for a Manhattan based hedge fund, and as Deputy Executive Director/Chief Legal Officer for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB).
John Oler has served as an executive, financial advisor, banker & broker for 38 years in the commercial real estate industry. In 1995, he launched JSBO Realty & Capital where he has three partners. In his career, he has asset managed a 25 million SF, $3 billion institutional real estate portfolio where he re-positioned and managed several suburban and center-city office properties in the US.
Mr. Oler has also completed financings and sales in excess of $225 million, negotiated over 80 commercial office leasing transactions and performed evaluations in service of institutional lenders and equity investors seeking to place financing on commercial property within the NY-NJ-PA-CT-MA metro areas. Mr. Oler taught for 8 years graduate real estate finance courses as an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. He received graduate degrees in Urban/Energy Policy and Real Estate Finance from UCLA (1981) and NYU (1988) respectively.
Mr. Friederich serves as Principal Director, Investment Solutions Strategy at Envestnet | PMC and is responsible for providing strategic direction, project management, and functional oversight across the firm’s research and due diligence, portfolio management, and high net worth business units. He also serves on PMC’s Investment Committee. Mr. Friederich has been a member of the Envestnet|PMC team since 2008, having historically performed manager research and due diligence on fund strategist portfolios, separate accounts, mutual funds, and ETFs across various asset classes. Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Mr. Friederich was with Pitney Bowes, Inc., where he served as an Investment Specialist on the firm’s multi-billion dollar domestic and international pension investment portfolios. He holds a BS degree in Finance from the University of South Dakota and a MS in Finance from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Scott MacKillop served as CEO of First Ascent Asset Management until its acquisition by GeoWealth, LLC. He now serves as a financial services industry consultant and a champion for independent-minded financial advisors. He is an ambassador for the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and a 48-year veteran of the financial services industry, having served at the helm of five Turnkey Asset Management Platforms (TAMPs).
Scott is a writer and commentator on the investment management and fintech industries. He brings his unique viewpoints to industry publications, speaking on the topics of fiduciary responsibilities, practice management, and client education.
An avid hiker, Scott has summitted fourty-four “14ers,” having hiked extensively in the U.S. and internationally. He also plays lead guitar for the band at his church.
President
Institute for the Fiduciary Standard
Knut A. Rostad, MBA co-founded and is president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance the fiduciary standard through research, education, and advocacy. Prior, he served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia.
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard advances fiduciary principles and practices in investment and financial advice and planning. The Institute has established a national reputation as a leading voice for uncompromised fiduciary duties. The Institute Real Fiduciary™ Practices Board has promulgated practices to guide advisors on fiduciary conduct. These Real Fiduciary Practices serve as the Institute’s North Star. The Institute has also launched Fiduciary September to remind the industry why fiduciary duties matter. The Frankel Fiduciary Prize honors individuals for outstanding contributions to fiduciary principles. Rostad advocates before federal and state regulators. He has authored numerous articles, papers, and regulatory comment letters.
Rostad is the editor of The Man in the Arena: Vanguard Founder John C. Bogle and His Lifelong Battle to Serve Investors First, published by Wiley in December 2013. He is also a contributor to Advisor Perspectives; speaks frequently at industry conferences on fiduciary and compliance issues; and is regularly cited in media national and industry outlets. Rostad was named to Investment Adviser Magazine’s ‘IA 25’ list in 2014, which it calls “our annual list of the most influential people in and around the advisor industry.””
