BRANDES - Key Persons


Brent V. Woods

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director
  • Limited Partner
Brent Woods is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. He is a member of the International Large-Cap Investment Committee, a member of the Investment Oversight Committee, which monitors the processes and activities of the firm's investment committees, and an officer of the firm's general partner. Previously, he was the firm's Chief Executive Officer and prior to that he was a Managing Director, Investments Group, which is responsible for Brandes' securities research efforts and oversight of the product investment committees. He earned his AB (Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University, his Master's in international studies from St. John's College at Cambridge University, England, and his JD (cum laude) from Harvard Law School. His relevant experience began in 1995 when he joined Brandes Investment Partners.

Chad M. Jensen

Job Titles:
  • Regional Manager
Chad Jensen is responsible for servicing the firm's asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the Big Sky, Arizona, Central, Great Plains regions. Prior to his current role, he was an Associate Portfolio Manager with the firm, a Managing Director with Thornton Capital Advisors, a Service Specialist with Scudder Weisel Capital and an Investor Information Specialist with Zurich Scudder Investments. Mr. Jensen holds a BA from the University of California, San Diego. His relevant experience began in 1998 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2002.

Javier Fernandez

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director
Javier Fernandez is responsible for servicing Brandes' asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Great Lakes region. Prior to his current role, he was a Regional Manager, a Senior Regional Associate, an Investment Services Administrator and a Portfolio Accounting Associate. Mr. Fernandez holds a BA in economics from California State University, San Marcos. He is fluent in Spanish. Mr. Fernandez' relevant experience began in 2007 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2008.

Jeff Vages

Job Titles:
  • Regional Manager
  • Regional Manager / Mountain
Jeff Vages is responsible for sales management and business development for the internal sales desk. He also services the firm's asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Mountain, Northeast and Pacific regions. Prior to his current role, Mr. Vages was a Regional Associate with Brandes, a Portfolio Associate with Wells Fargo Advisors and an Intern with UBS Wealth Management. He holds a Bachelors in economics (magna cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His relevant experience began in 2015 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2017.

Jerry Butkiewicz

Job Titles:
  • Regional Associate
Jerry Butkiewicz is responsible for supporting Brandes' asset-management relationships in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Mr. Butkiewicz graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt with a BA in Communications and holds his Series 7 and 66 licenses. His relevant experience began in 2023, when he joined Brandes Investment Partners.

Joe Scafidi

Job Titles:
  • Global Head of Trading
Joe Scafidi manages the day-to-day operations and trading strategy for Brandes' global trading desk. He also oversees the execution of trades for all institutional, private-client and sub-advisory wrap portfolios, as well as program trading. He is a member of the Executive Management Group, which is responsible for the firm's day-to-day operations and long-term strategic direction, and a member of the Investment Oversight Committee. Mr. Scafidi is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. Before joining Brandes, he was head of the International Institutional Trading Desk for Morgan Stanley, after holding senior roles at several firms including Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Bank of America. Mr. Scafidi has extensive product knowledge in U.S. and non-U.S. equity markets. Additionally, he had significant experience managing trading professionals and building positive relationships with institutional clients. Mr. Scafidi is a member of the NYSE Institutional Traders Advisory Committee, the IEX Buy-Side Trading Advisory Committee, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and the National Organization of Investment professionals (NOIP). He earned a BA in economics from Montclair State University. His relevant experience began in 1986 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2007.

John P. Kelly

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director
John Kelly is responsible for servicing the firm's asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Central region. Prior to his current role, he was a Vice President and Advisor Consultant with Nuveen Investments, a founding member and Managing Director with Schooner Investment Group and an Advisor to the Schooner Fund, a Regional Manager with Brandes and an Account Executive with Dean Witter Reynolds. Mr. Kelly holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a BS from Vanderbilt University. His relevant experience began in 1995. Mr. Kelly was with Brandes Investment Partners from 1998 to 2007, rejoining the firm in 2011.

Jon Nakagawa - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Director of Finance
Jon manages the firm's financial affairs and is responsible for the financial reporting process. Before joining Brandes, he was an Audit Manager with Ernst & Young, LLP, specializing in the financial services industry. Mr. Nakagawa graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS in accounting and is a licensed CPA (inactive) in the state of California. His relevant experience began in 1992 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 1999.

Karen Kaligian - CHRO

Job Titles:
  • Human Resources Director
Karen Kaligian leads the Human Resources Team, which is responsible for developing and implementing employees' career development, total rewards, as well as other programs and policies in support of the firm's mission. Before joining Brandes, she was an Assistant Vice President, Human Resources with Textron, a Human Resources Director with Stratagene and a Human Resources Director with Structural Genomix. Ms. Kaligian holds a BA from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Her relevant experience began in 1981 and she joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2004.

Kenneth Little

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director, Investments Group
Ken Little oversees the firm's research efforts and product investment committees. He is a member of the All-Cap Investment Committee and the Global Large-Cap Investment Committee. Additionally he is a member of the firm's Executive Management Group, which oversees the firm's day-to-day operations and long-term strategic direction, and a member of the ESG Oversight Committee. He is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. Before joining Brandes, Mr. Little was a Senior Accountant with KPMG. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of La Verne and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Mr. Little is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). His investment experience began in 1996 when he joined Brandes Investment Partners.

Kevin Grieve

Kevin Grieve is responsible for servicing Brandes' asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Northeast region. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Senior Regional Investment Consultant with Fidelity Investments Institutional Services, a Financial Advisor with Oppenheimer & Co. and a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley. Mr. Grieve holds a BS in business administration from Endicott College. His relevant experience began in 2004 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2013.

Matthew C. Johnson

Job Titles:
  • Director, Private Client Sales
Matthew Johnson is responsible for sales management, product distribution and business development. He also leads strategy development, planning and execution of the firm's field sales efforts. Previously, Mr. Johnson was a Product Manager for Brandes' Global, Global Balanced and U.S. Equity strategies. He also held the position of Regional Director with the firm's Marketing and Client Services. Mr. Johnson is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. He holds a JD from Santa Clara University and a BA from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Johnson's relevant experience began in 1993 when he joined Brandes Investment Partners.

Michael Martin

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director
Michael Martin is responsible for servicing Brandes' asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Pacific region. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Sales Associate with Decision Capital Management. Mr. Martin holds a BA in economics from the University of California, San Diego. His relevant experience began in 2002 when he joined Brandes Investment Partners.

Oliver Murray - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Executive
Oliver Murray leads the firm's Executive Management Group, which oversees day-to-day operations and long-term strategic direction. Mr. Murray is also chair of the board of directors of Bridgehouse Asset Managers, the firm's Canadian arm, and chair of the firm's UCITS business based in Dublin, Ireland. He is a member of the Advisory Board of The Brandes Center at the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego. Before joining Brandes in 2002, Mr. Murray held executive leadership positions at a number of large Canada-based asset management firms. Mr. Murray was a former chair of the boards of directors of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) and FundSERV (Canada).

Roberta Loubier - Chief Compliance Officer

Job Titles:
  • Chief Compliance Officer
  • Global Head of Compliance
Roberta Loubier is the Global Head of Compliance and Chief Compliance Officer for Brandes Investment Partners, L.P. She is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. Ms. Loubier is responsible for execution of the compliance mandate at Brandes Investment Partners & Co. (BIPCo) in Canada, Brandes Investment Partners (Europe) Limited, and Brandes Investment Partners (Asia) Pte. Ltd. Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Loubier was chief compliance officer and counsel at BIPCo. Before joining Brandes, she led the compliance function for Cartier Partners Financial Services. Ms. Loubier studied business administration at the University of Ottawa and earned her law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. She has 22 years of industry experience and joined Brandes in 2003.

Stephen Farnsworth

Job Titles:
  • Global Head of Operations and Technology
Stephen Farnsworth is responsible for the firm's Operations and Technology Divisions, which include portfolio accounting, account administration, performance calculations, software engineering and information technology. He is a member of the Senior Management Team, which is responsible for the firm's day-to-day operations and long-term strategic direction. Mr. Farnsworth is a limited partner of the firm's parent company. Prior to joining Brandes, he was a Securities Trader and Training Supervisor with Jack White and Co. (which later became TD Waterhouse, then TD Ameritrade). Mr. Farnsworth holds a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended the University of Ghana as an exchange scholar. His relevant experience began in 1995 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 1997.

Taylor Howard

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director
Taylor Howard is responsible for servicing Brandes' asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the U.S. Great Plains region. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Regional Director with Dimensional Fund Advisors. Mr. Howard holds a BS in business management with a concentration in finance from Brigham Young University - Idaho. His relevant experience began in 2014 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2022.

Tony Pamaran

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director / SOUTHEAST
Tony Pamaran is responsible for servicing Brandes' asset-management relationships with clients and investment companies in the Southeast region. Prior to his current role, he was a Senior Regional Associate with Brandes and an Account Manager with National Funding. Mr. Pamaran holds a Bachelors in economics from San Diego State University. His relevant experience began in 2013 and he joined Brandes Investment Partners in 2014.