Bill Andrakakos is President & Chief Investment Officer for Aaron Wealth Advisors. In his role as President, Bill works in tandem with the CEO and senior leadership team to marshal the integral resources necessary for meeting the firm’s strategic objectives, enhancing its capabilities, and providing clients the highest level of service. As CIO, Bill is primarily responsible for overseeing the firm’s investment enterprise and delivering best-in-class solutions to clients. Bill is a Chartered Financial Analyst® charterholder as well as a Certified Financial Risk Manager® (FRM). He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics from Saint Louis University along with a Certificate in Business Management.
He began his career as a portfolio analyst for an independent advisory firm in the Washington, D.C. area, primarily serving high-net-worth individuals, executive compensation plans, and employee retirement plans. Bill then relocated to Chicago and joined Deutsche Bank, where he was a senior member of the Investment Strategy Group covering Equities and Real Assets. Most recently, he helped build the Product Management/Strategy Group at Northern Trust Asset Management.
Bill and his wife are avid readers, cooks, athletes, and travelers in their free time. As an active alumnus and Hall of Fame inductee of the Saint Louis University Rugby Club, Bill works to continue the charitable missions that he helped establish during his tenure. In one such case, he launched a partnership between the club and the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, whose mission is to improve the lives of children suffering from pediatric brain tumors by pairing them and their families with a local sports program. As an area of great personal importance, Bill is always looking for opportunities to further his involvement within this community in the Chicago area.
Toby Stannard is Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Aaron Wealth Advisors. In his role, Toby works in conjunction with the Chief Investment Officer and team on investment-related activities, including the implementation and maintenance of investment solutions, sourcing of opportunistic offerings, ongoing analysis of client portfolios, manager due diligence, trading, and production of proprietary research. Toby is a Chartered Financial Analyst® charterholder. He obtained a Master of Science in Finance from Warwick Business School (UK) as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Economics from The University of Leicester (UK).
Toby began his career as an Equity Portfolio Manager at Northern Trust Asset Management based in London. He managed multi-billion dollar international and emerging market portfolios, mostly with an ESG focus. After relocating to Chicago with Northern Trust, he first worked as an Equity Strategist before moving into the Quantitative Strategy group. In this role, he served as a subject matter expert for the firm’s quantitative factor-based investments – developing custom solutions for clients, writing blogs and whitepapers, and presenting at industry conferences.
Toby is an avid traveler, sports enthusiast, and triathlete. He has completed Ironman triathlons and is aiming to complete all of the world’s major marathons. Through participation in those events, he has raised money for the Alzheimer’s Association as well as the Mind Mental Health Charity. Toby is also a keen scuba diver and a qualified PADI Rescue diver – able to assist in emergency diving situations such as unresponsive divers or search and rescue.
Scott Welch is the Chief Investment Officer for Model Portfolios at WisdomTree Asset Management where he oversees the firm’s ranges of ETF model portfolios and manages their asset allocation and portfolio construction decisions. Prior to joining WisdomTree, he was the Chief Investment Officer of Dynasty Financial Partners responsible for the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) division. Scott is well-known in the independent advisor community as the Co-Founder and former Chief Investment Officer of Fortigent, LLC, a provider of outsourced investment research technology and practice management solutions to RIAs and banks that targeted high-net-worth investors.
Prior to joining Fortigent and its predecessor RIA in 1998, Scott spent more than 12 years on Wall Street, where he focused on capital markets, corporate finance, and derivatives. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of wealth management, portfolio management, and the macroeconomic and investment landscape, and he is an award-winning author of numerous articles that have appeared in a variety of industry trade journals.
Ted Reilly is an entrepreneur, film financier, and producer. As executive director of Chicago Media Angels, he is focused on organizing, educating, and accelerating savvy media investors in the Midwest. Ted is also the founder of SRH Partners where he leverages his passion for creativity and extensive experience in finance to help creative talent organize and flourish. Ted serves on the board of Stage18 Chicago, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education, community, office space, resources, and employment opportunities to independent filmmakers, visual artists, and entrepreneurs. Ted has produced dozens of independent feature films, television pilots and new media titles including Come as You Are, Public Housing Unit, and The Porch.
Prior to launching SRH Partners, Ted worked for Goldman Sachs & Company and received his BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame where he discovered and honed his passion turned career in alternative investments. When not wrangling unicorns, Ted enjoys spending time with his wife and their six children.
Kimberly works at Vanilla, to empower everyone to create a meaningful legacy. Her entire career has focused on strengthening our society by connecting businesses with their local communities to maximize impact. In addition to serving on the Impact Advisory Board at Aaron Wealth Advisors, she serves on the Investment & Finance Committee for the Board of the Girl Scouts of Utah, the Executive Committee for Womenpreneurs, the Senior Practitioner Advisory Group for 100 Women in Finance Salt Lake City, and on the School Community Council for the Utah Community Land Trust. Kimberly has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Finance from North Carolina State University and a Master of Science in Business Analytics from the University of Utah.
José Julián Cao Alvira is an Associate Professor of Finance for The City University of New York, the Associate Dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences, and teaches Finance at Columbia University. He obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University, and also holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) professional designations. He lectures graduate and undergraduate courses in Corporate Finance, Investments, Econometrics and Banking in a number of national and international institutions, and has obtained several important recognitions for his research, including a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award and a Sage Fellowship. Dr. Cao-Alvira has served as a visiting professor in several academic research centers, and as an economic and financial adviser to numerous public and private enterprises.
Matthew is the Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer of Disciplina an OCIO investment advisory firm founded in 2013. Disciplina provides open architecture multi-asset class and multi-manager investment solutions for non-profit institutions. Prior to Disciplina, he was the Vice Chancellor for Investments and Chief Investment Officer of Vanderbilt University the 23rd largest U.S. university endowment during his tenure from 2007 – 2013. In his position, he built and led a twenty-person team responsible for investment oversight of the university’s $4.0 billion long-term investment portfolio, which included the university’s endowment. Specific duties entailed strategic and tactical asset allocation, investment manager selection, internal management, risk management, reporting, and coordination with the university’s administration, alumni, and the Board of Trust. Before Vanderbilt University, he was the Director of Investments at Emory University the 16th largest U.S. university endowment (2001 – 2007), a portfolio manager with Bank of America Capital Management’s Quantitative Strategies Group (1997 – 2001), and pension analyst Xerox Corporation’s Trust Investments department (1994 – 1997). He has a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Seton Hall University (1989) and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Rochester (1991). He is an Executive Committee Member of Seton Hall University’s Board of Regents and Chair of the Investment Committee, Investment Committee member of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a member of the CFA Institute, Leadership Nashville Class of 2016, and the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. Matthew has also lectured numerous times at Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Business. In 2017, Matthew was chosen as the speaker for Seton Hall University’s 160th Commencement Address.
Sanjeev Rao is the Managing Partner for VSR Capital, a multi-family office set up to manage and advise a small group of technology company founders with their private assets. Prior to launching VSR Capital in 2021, Sanjeev spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, leading a team of professionals in its Private Wealth Management Group. In his role at Goldman Sachs, Sanjeev served as a trusted advisor for a select group of high-net-worth entrepreneurs, private investors and families on all aspects of wealth management, investing and portfolio construction. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Sanjeev worked in the accounting industry for Ernst & Young and KPMG for over 9 years. He received his Bachelors of Commerce from the University of Mumbai and his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
