Batten Fund Speakers
Mark T. Finn
Mark began his investment career at Virginia National Bank in 1968 where he ultimately rose to Trust Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. In 1983, he became a member of the State of Virginia Retirement Plan’s Investment Advisory Committee and served as its Chairman from 1990 to 1994. From 1984 to 1994 Mr. Finn also served on the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System. Mr. Finn is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of RF&P Corporation, a privately held railroad and real estate company. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Finn served the Alaska State Retirement System and was Chairman of the Investment Operations Advisory Committee from 1993-1994. He was a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Advisory Committee on Managed Futures and, from 1996 to 2000, was a member of an advisory board to Rowan & Blewitt Incorporated, an international consulting firm. Mr. Finn served as the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer for Lindner Asset Management from 1999-2001. Currently Mr. Finn serves on the advisory board of Celtic Pharmaceutical Holdings, a biotech venture capital company, as well as serving as an Independent Trustee of a number of open end funds sponsored by Legg Mason. He also serves on the Board of Cibus International a private agricultural biotech company. He has taught investments at the University of Virginia’s Colgate Darden Graduate Business School and currently lectures at the College of William and Mary’s Mason School of Business, where he received his MBA in 1987. In 1975 he joined the predecessor to the Vantage Consulting Group as an outside consultant and was invited to be Vantage’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1986, a capacity in which he continues to serve today.
Robert F. Hill, Jr.
Bob is a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager for Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC, where is responsible for managing the Large Cap Value and Midcap Core active quantitative products. Before joining Piedmont, Bob worked at Shenandoah Asset Management, which he co-founded in January, 1999. At Shenandoah, Bob was responsible for the investment management operation, portfolio management, and trading. Prior to Shenandoah, Bob was the Director of Equity at the Virginia Retirement System, where he was responsible for the $16 billion US equity portfolio as of 12/31/1998, including $4.5 billion managed internally. Bob received his BS, Systems Engineering, from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Greg Melich
Greg Melich is a Senior Managing Director and head of the Consumer Research Team for ISI. Since 2005 he has been recognized as a leading Hardlines Retail analyst in multiple surveys including: Institutional Investor, Greenwich, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times StarMine Survey. Prior to joining ISI in 2010, Greg spent 16 plus years at Morgan Stanley in consumer-related research. From 1996 to 2003, he built Morgan Stanley's European auto effort, which was ranked #1 by II for multiple years. He returned to the US in 2003 to head up Morgan Stanley's global retail team. Greg graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1992 and is a CFA charter holder
Mike Sola
Mike Sola is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. He is also a portfolio manager in the U. S. Equity Division specializing in small-cap technology stocks. Mike serves as vice president and Investment Advisory Committee member of the Science & Technology Fund, Global Technology Fund, Small Cap Stock Fund, and New Horizons Fund. Prior to joining the firm in 1995, he was a systems analyst/programmer at SRA Corporation. Mike earned a B.S. in physics and economics from the College of William and Mary and an M.B.A. in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst accreditation
Corey Schull
Corey Shull is an associate research analyst in the Equity Division of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. He covers small and mid cap Internet companies and the video game publishing industry. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Corey interned at the U.S. Department of State, Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs. Corey also worked as a research assistant for Green Aid/Project Level Aid and conducted field research as part of the Monroe Scholars Research program in both Belgium and Ecuador. He earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in economics and government from The College of William & Mary, where he was a Monroe Scholar.
Jack Kasprzak
John F. Kasprzak Jr., Managing Director, joined Equity Research in May 1997 and follows the Building Materials/Products sector. He has been named in the 2006, 2005, and 2000 Wall Street Journal Best on the Street Analyst Survey (including number one in estimate accuracy), the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005 Forbes.com/Starmine Analyst Awards (recognized for both estimate accuracy and stock picking), and the inaugural Street.com All-Star Analyst Survey. Kasprzak has also been included in the Reuters Survey of Mid to Smaller Company Investment Research on three separate occasions. Prior to joining the firm, he was a research analyst for four years at Davenport & Co., LLC. Kasprzak received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1988 and received an MBA from the College of William and Mary in 1993.
