Christopher E. Vella is the chief investment officer of multi-manager solutions at Northern Trust Asset Management with responsibility for manager research and portfolio construction processes across the group. He is responsible for the global manager research platform at Northern Trust, consisting of approximately $75 billion in assets under management, across more than 200 investment strategies. He manages a team of more than 25 investment professionals across all traditional asset classes. The team covers all external manager relationships on behalf of Northern Trust's private and institutional clientele. Previously, Christopher was a founding member of Goldman Sach's external manager business, which consists of institutional and private client assets. While at Goldman Sachs, he managed the international and emerging markets equity team. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Christopher spent close to six years at SEI Investments working primarily on international equity and emerging markets equity manager research. He has 20 years of manager research experience. He received a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in finance with a minor in applied mathematics from Lehigh University and was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He is a member of the New York Society of Financial Analysts. Christopher is a CFA charterholder.

Ryan develops and implements customized investment strategies for the clients of Great Western Wealth Management. These portfolios are tailored to specific client investment objectives involving risk tolerance, income needs, expected returns, tax situation, time horizon and other client driven criteria. In addition to earning a degree from the University of South Dakota, Ryan has earned the coveted designations of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). Prior to joining Great Western Wealth Management, Ryan was an Investment Portfolio Manager at US Bank. He has also worked at Northern Trust in their Tax Advantaged Equity Strategy and for Wells Fargo designing and implementing modeled portfolio strategies for clients.

Matthew Brenner is Managing Vice President, Investments at ICMA-RC. Matt works with all of the asset teams within the division on an array of investment, operational, technical and administrative matters. Matt has significant experience in investment strategy, client management, and business development. Matt worked for nearly 10 years at PIMCO, where he was Senior Vice President, Client Management, responsible for developing, leading, and maintaining client relationships for many of PIMCO's largest clients. Matt began his career in Washington, D.C. as an attorney at Leventhal, Senter & Lerman, focusing on mergers and acquisitions as well as business and regulatory matters. He also served as a business development manager for U.S. News & World Report. Matthew's credentials and education include the designation of CFA Charterholder; a Masters of Business Administration degree from Duke University; a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center; and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kent Shepherd, CFA, CIC joined Franklin Templeton in 1991 and has over 32 years of industry experience, including lead portfolio management roles with various asset class investment teams within the firm. He is currently a member of the Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions Team (FTIS) in San Mateo, CA for which he serves as Senior Lead Institutional Portfolio Manager for all FTIS income-related strategies, mutual funds and SMAs. He is also a Senior Client Portfolio Manager and an active member of various research committees that formulate the firm’s in-house views on equity and fixed income markets around the world. In addition, he is a member of the team that manages FTIS model portfolios and a founding member of Franklin Templeton’s Liberty-Q ETFs & Smart Beta Quantitative Global Equity Strategies Development Team. Prior to his current position, Mr. Shepherd was lead manager of various portfolios with Franklin’s Core-Hybrid Group for 15 years, including mutual funds & mandates for some of the world’s largest pension funds, governmental agencies and other institutional clients. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager & analyst for 5 years with the Templeton Global Equity Group in Nassau, Bahamas. Prior to Templeton, Kent was a portfolio manager & analyst with Franklin's San Mateo high-yield fixed income group. Before joining Franklin Templeton, he spent three years with investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert in their New York & San Francisco offices. Mr. Shepherd holds an M.B.A. from UCLA's Anderson School of Business and a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Chartered Investment Counselor (CIC), and a member of the International Society of Financial Analysts. While living in the Bahamas Kent served as Executive Director of various philanthropic programs on behalf of The John Templeton Foundation – a role that afforded him the opportunity to work directly with Sir John Templeton while overseeing some of his foundation’s local charitable endeavors. He also served as president of the Bahamas Chapter of the International Society of Financial Analysts, and curriculum creator & instructor for CFA Exam Preparation Courses.