MAIN MANAGEMENT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR of RESEARCH
- Member of the Investment Committee
- DIRECTOR of RESEARCH / Professional Bio
- Research Team DIRECTOR of RESEARCH
Alex Varner joined Main Management full-time in July of 2012. He serves as Director of Research where his focus includes generating a variety of analytical reports for the firm's Investment Committee. He interned with Main during the summer of 2011 while working towards his MBA from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, with a concentration in Investment Management, which was attained in May 2012.
He grew up in San Rafael, California and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College. Prior to business school Alex worked as a paralegal for the global capital markets, M&A team at the law firm of Hunton & Williams LLP and as part of the operations team at Lateef Investment Management.
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- FOUNDING PARTNER
- Member of the Investment Committee
- FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT / Professional Bio
Ambassador J. Richard Fredericks is a founding partner of Main Management, LLC. He currently serves as a Managing Director and is a member of the Investment Committee. He began his career with Dean Witter in 1970 as a securities analyst. In 1977, he joined Montgomery Securities (now Banc of America Securities) as a partner and later Senior Managing Director in Investment Research, covering the banking and financial service area. For 17 consecutive years, Mr. Fredericks was chosen by Institutional Investor Magazine as an "All-American" Research Analyst, covering the commercial banking industry.
In 1995, Mr. Fredericks formally changed roles to oversee the firm's investment banking effort for the financial industry. Mr. Fredericks currently is on The Library of Congress Trust Fund Board; Chairman of TRAC Venture Capital; the Advisory Board of Financial Technology Ventures; the Board of Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants; and as a grower and Board Member for Turley Wine Cellars.
He is the former Ambassador to Switzerland, and has previously served on the board of Janus Corporation; the Board of Trustees at Loyola University of Maryland; Bancorp Hawaii and its main subsidiary, Bank of Hawaii; the Board of Directors of the Chiron Corporation; the International Advisory Board of Komatsu; the Board of Regents of Georgetown University and Georgetown's Robert Emmet McDonough School of Business; as a Board Member of the Swiss/American Chamber in Switzerland; as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Weston Presidio; as a Regent of St. Ignatius College Preparatory School; and as a Trustee for The Town School for Boys.
Blaine Docker - CEO, Chief Compliance Officer, COO
Job Titles:
- CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER
- CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
- MANAGING PARTNER
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Member of the Managing Committee
- Member of the Risk Management Committee
- CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER / Professional Bio
Blaine Docker joined Main Management in 2005 and serves as the Chief Operating Officer. He is a contributor to the firm's Investment Committee and oversees trading for all ETF and Option strategies. Blaine has had an active role in the creation of investment products for Main Management Fund Advisors and Main Management ETF Advisors.
Blaine also spends time consulting with Main's private client group, family office and institutional investor clients on a range of topics from tax and estate planning to asset allocation, risk management and financing. Prior to joining Main Management, he worked as a consultant for Capton Inc., a leading developer of RFID-based business control solutions for hospitality. At Capton, Blaine advised on International market viability and country specific export regulations.
He has also worked at the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Denver, CO advising small businesses on export related issues. Born in Fresno, CA, Blaine received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Colorado.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Associate
- Marketing Associate / Professional Bio
Carson Padgett joined Main Management in 2024.
Serving as a Marketing Associate, he supports the needs of the marketing team from creation through implementation. Before joining Main Management, he worked as a Marketing Coordinator for North America's leading full-service roadshow partner, supported the growth of a grassroots kombucha start-up, and acted as a marketing & design consultant servicing small businesses in his community.
Carson was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, and studied Visual Arts and Marketing in his undergraduate studies at Columbus State University. In his free time, Carson enjoys new experiences in music, film, and gastronomy.
Job Titles:
- CO - FOUNDER GHI ENERGY / Professional Bio
- Co - Founder of the Sporting Clays
Clarke Anderson has nineteen years' experience in trading, energy, and private equity.
As co-founder of GHI Energy, he developed an innovative renewable fuel marketing platform that catapulted the company into the position of the largest third-party provider of CNG in the state of California.
Clarke is the co-founder of the Sporting Clays event benefiting the Patrick Nicosia CARE Fund and has actively served on the Steering Committees for the school's multiple Capital Campaigns to purchase property for new campus, construct new Primary School and begin an Upper School.
Job Titles:
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Managing Committee
- Member of the Risk Management Committee
- Managing Partner / Professional Bio
Darol Ryan joined Main Management in 2019, overseeing the Institutional Advisor business. Prior to joining Main Management, he ran TLD Capital and before that enjoyed a long career at some of the largest investment banks on Wall Street. He ran the Derivatives Import Business for Morgan Stanley (focusing much time on European clients) from New York and then went on to run Asia Derivative Sales for them in Hong Kong.
Prior to that Darol worked in Equity Derivatives at both JP Morgan and Bank of America in New York. Darol started his career with Kim Arthur in 2001 at Banc of America Securities. Born in Houston, Texas, Darol received his Bachelor of Arts at University of California at Berkeley while also taking Mandarin courses at Middlebury College. He also attended summer programs at Stanford and Oxford.
Hafeez Esmail - Chief Compliance Officer, VP
Job Titles:
- CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Member of the Risk Management Committee
- Vice President
- CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER / Professional Bio
Hafeez Esmail has served Chief Compliance Officer at Main Management since January 2013. He initially joined Main Management in September 2007 as Director of Marketing. Hafeez heads the firm's compliance initiatives in addition to interacting with the firm's family office, pension fund, and other institutional investor clients. He has published articles for ETF.com, where Main Management is a featured ETF strategist/asset manager, as well as CNBC.com.
He was a panelist at the Superbowl of Indexing Conference in December 2009 where he spoke on the subject of "Customized Exposure and Risk Management". Prior to joining Main he served as an advisor with Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. At Merrill he utilized ETFs as the actively managed core of client portfolios, as they provided an efficient means of diversification and risk mitigation.
Prior to Merrill, he was an advisor at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management, working with wealthy individual clients, non-profit and corporate entities. Hafeez has also worked for the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, aiding in the criminal prosecution of corporate executives engaged in price fixing in the rubber chemicals industry. He holds a BA in Government and Economics from Bowdoin College and a JD from Seton Hall Law School.
Job Titles:
- Sales Associate
- Sales Associate / Professional Bio
Hartly Hutchings joined Main Management in June of 2022.
Before her time at Main Management, Hartly spent most of her career overseeing several commercial residential assets throughout the Bay Area. She worked closely with ownership to improve efficiency with operations and management of their assets. Her passion for the markets and investments was a catalyst into the world of Finance. The focus of her role is in deepening relations with financial advisors across the country, with top-of-the-line service at the heart of what she does, in addition to sourcing new clientele.
Hartly was born and raised in Palm Beach County, Florida. In 2018 she moved to San Francisco, where she then studied international business at San Francisco State University. Hartly has a passion for learning and plans to pursue an MBA in the near future. In her spare time, Hartly enjoys spending time with family, being on the water, and traveling.
Job Titles:
- Research Analyst
- Research Analyst / Professional Bio
James Maxwell joined Main Management full-time in June of 2022. He serves as Research Analyst where he supports the Director of Research and Investment Committee. He previously interned with Main from July 2020 to September 2021 while completing his undergraduate degree at Santa Clara University. In 2022, he graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Economics. Additionally, he was the recipient of the Charles and Barbara Hazel Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Economics, awarded annually to the top two graduating seniors in the Economics Department.
He grew up in Ross, California, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.
Job Titles:
- FOUNDING PARTNER
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Ambassador J. Richard Fredericks
- FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT / Professional Bio
James W. Concidine is a founding partner of Main Management, LLC. He currently serves as a Managing Director and is a member of the Investment Committee. Jim began his career in the financial services industry in 1970 as a stock broker for Dain Kalman Quail in Rochester and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He worked with retail clients from 1970-1978. When the CBOE opened in April 1973, Jim began to specialize in conservative covered call writing strategies. From 1978 to 1982, Mr. Concidine worked in the Institutional Sales group and was responsible for U.S. equity sales to institutional accounts in the UK. He joined Montgomery Securities in 1983 as Head of the International Institutional Sales Team. From 1983 to 1992 he expanded the department to a team of 10 brokers covering global accounts outside the US. He retired from Montgomery Securities in 1992. Since 1995, he has served as CIO for a sizable San Francisco family office where his duties include manager selection and asset allocation.
Job Titles:
- Director
- DIRECTOR / Professional Bio
Jim Taylor joined Main Management in May of 2019. Jim serves as Director, focused on assisting new and existing advisors. Jim grew up in Campbellsville, Kentucky and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico where he played basketball. Prior to joining Main he was a Regional Sales Consultant and started his career in the financial industry at Fidelity in 1996.
Job Titles:
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Member of the Risk Management Committee
- VICE PRESIDENT
- VICE PRESIDENT / Professional Bio
Joe LaBarbera joined Main Management in October of 2017. He serves as Vice President and plays a leading role in trading of the firm's strategies, including options-based strategies, as well as focusing on internal systems optimization. Prior to joining Main Management, he worked as a Business Relationship and Credit Manager at Business Capital, a commercial finance company focused on small and middle market debt transactions. He grew up in Alamo, California and received a BA in Economics from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of the varsity football team. He obtained his MBA from the University of San Diego in 2016, participating in several internships programs ranging from Capital Markets to Private Equity Real Estate.
Job Titles:
- CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
- FOUNDING PARTNER
- Member of the FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT Team
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Member of the Managing Committee
- FOUNDING PARTNER of MAIN MANAGEMENT / Professional Bio
Kim D. Arthur is a founding partner of Main Management, LLC. He currently serves as Main's CEO and Portfolio manager. In 2009 Kim was recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine as a "Rising Star" of Foundations and Endowments. Kim is a regular speaker at national conferences and was a featured speaker at the Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida in January 2018. Kim has been profiled in articles by Index Universe and referenced in Barron's, Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Fortune Magazine among others. Kim began his financial career in 1987 when he joined Montgomery Securities in their Institutional Sales division, marketing U.S. equities to Japanese institutions. He was promoted to Managing Director of Institutional Sales in 1997 during the period when Montgomery was purchased by Nations Bank. By 1999 he had advanced to the transitional head of International Sales for Banc of America Securities, following Bank of America's takeover of Nations Bank.
From 2000-2001 Kim was named the head of the Institutional Sales and Trading Department overseeing 60 sales traders in 6 cities. From January 2002 through August 2002 he was appointed the head of Equity Product Marketing. He served on the Investment Policy Committee and the Executive Management Committee at Banc of America Securities from 2000-2002.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President / Professional Bio
Marissa Ditler joined Main Management in March of 2023 as the Vice President of the sales team responsible for the Western Territory. She works alongside Davis deBoisblanc to ensure clients receive top-quality service, while developing and deepening relationships with new and existing advisors. Previously, Marissa worked as a Portfolio & Client Operations Associate at Main Management, where she closely collaborated with the firm's Head Trader, Joe Labarbera, to support the portfolio and manage operational tasks.
Prior to joining Main Management, Marissa worked on the Trading Operations team for Fisher Investments in San Mateo. There, she collaborated with the trading desk and gained valuable experience in the financial services industry. Marissa received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Oregon.
Marissa enjoys playing tennis and spending time with friends and family during her free time. She has a one-year-old golden retriever named Dolly that keeps her busy vacuuming daily. Her favorite aspect of working at Main Management is her team. She credits her coworkers for inspiring her to be a dedicated team member who consistently prioritizes client needs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Vice President
- VICE PRESIDENT / Professional Bio
Matthew Tymstra joined Main Management in August of 2021. He serves as Vice President, focusing on business development and investor relations.
Prior to Main, Matthew worked on the operations team at Light Street Capital Management. Before that, Matthew was a tax accountant servicing alternative investment fund clients at Andersen Tax. He grew up in Tiburon, California and received his Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Applied Mathematics from Loyola Marymount University. In his free time, he enjoys surfing and fly fishing.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- MANAGING PARTNER BALOG CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC / Professional Bio
Michael G. Balog is Managing Partner of Balog Capital Management, LLC.
Michael graduated with a BS from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business in 1981, with a concentration in Marketing and Decision Science.
After several years as product manager for hardware IT at Harris Corporation, Carterfone Communications and Datastream Communications, he joined Montgomery Securities in 1986 as an Institutional Salesman.
Michael was named a Principal of the firm in 1990, was near the top producers for nearly a decade, serving a host of the largest mutual funds, as well as the largest US hedge funds.
After the merger with Nations Banks, then Banc of America Securities, in 1998, Michael was named head of Equity Product Marketing, and ultimately named to the Executive Management Committee at Banc of America Securities.
He was a weekly contributor to both Fnn and CNBC live market programs. In 2002, he left Banc of America Securities to create Shoreline Asset Management, a family office fund format.
In 2010, Michael joined Andor Capital Management as Principal and Portfolio Manager, and spun off Balog Capital, LLC in 2011.
His fund maintains offices in Rye Brook, NY and Paris, France.
Job Titles:
- CHAIRMAN of the ADVISORY BOARD
Peter Mullin was Chairman of the Advisory Board and had also served as Chairman Emeritus of MullinTBG, the nation's largest independent executive benefits services and solutions provider before its sale to Prudential in October of 2008.
Before forming MullinTBG in 2006, Mr. Mullin had served as Chairman of Mullin Consulting, Inc., a leading non-qualified benefits firm he had founded in Los Angeles in 1969.
He had also been the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of M Financial Holdings Incorporated (M Financial), a network of independent firms that served the financial and life insurance needs of corporations, executives, and affluent individuals.
Mr. Mullin had served on numerous boards, including the Avery Dennison Corporation Board of Directors, the Gene Autry Heritage Museum National Advisory Board, the Guggenheim Foundation Advisory Board, the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, and The UCLA Foundation Boards of Trustees.
He had been Chairman of The Music Center Foundation of Los Angeles, as well as the past Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.
Mr. Mullin had also been involved in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, serving on the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Education Foundation.
Job Titles:
- PRESIDENT of INFLECTION ASSET MANAGEMENT / Professional Bio
Ravi Kaza graduated from The Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Finance Summa Cum Laude at age 19.
Since then, Ravi has spent the last 25 years consistently focused on disruptive technologies. Ravi started his career in Silicon Valley at a prominent investment banking group founded by Frank Quattrone and George Boutros, where he worked on numerous notable transactions for clients such as Amazon, Netscape, Apple, Lucent, and Lam Research.
Then Ravi entered the money management as a Vice President at Pequot Capital Management, at the time one of the world's largest alternative asset managers with a prominent focus on technology long/short investing. Ravi oversaw the efforts within Pequot centered on the convergence of the Internet with several more traditional sectors such as retail, media, and finance. Ravi was then hired by Stanley Druckenmiller to be Managing Director at Duquesne Capital Management with primarily investment responsibilities centered around long/short equity strategies in the technology sector.
In 2003, Ravi founded Seasons Capital Management, a multi-billion-dollar SEC-registered investment manager which oversaw multiple TMT strategies. In 2010, Ravi shifted his focus to running solely internal capital with a continued primary focus on disruptive technologies (Twitter, Uber, Digital/Blockchain assets). His focus on crypto/digital assets has grown significantly in recent years: Bitcoin in 2014, Ethereum in 2016, Early-stage crypto venture funds in 2017, and venture deals centered around the digital asset ecosystem in 2018. As of summer 2020, digital asset related investments (liquid and illiquid) constitute more than 50% of his total portfolio exposure. Ravi has now invested directly or indirectly in over 100 digital asset related investments. His core investment belief is that a disproportionate share of risk-adjusted alpha in the world during the next decade will come from the digital asset sector. Consistent with this belief, Ravi has been spending upwards of 75% of his time focused on digital asset investing thus far in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor to Oakmont Corporation
- SENIOR ADVISOR to OAKMONT CORPORATION / Professional Bio
Richard Gadbois is currently a Senior Advisor to Oakmont Corporation, a $2.5 Billion family office for Robert Day, where he has maintained an investment relationship since 1989.
He is also an advisory board member with Main Management in San Francisco and co-founded the firm's Core Endowment Portfolio with Kim Arthur in 2007.
In addition, Richard is Chairman of HS Group, an Asian-focused hedge fund seeding firm, and a Director of Argyle Street Management, a distressed credit fund, both based in Hong Kong.
Richard began his career at EF Hutton in 1980 and then opened the west coast office for the Corporate Executive Services Group at Prudential Securities in 1989.
In 1994 Richard became a senior Vice President with Merrill Lynch where he advised insiders at public companies in the US and Europe.
He retired from Merrill in 2001 with client assets of over $3 Billion.
From 2001-2006 Richard was President and Co-Founder of Vantis Capital Management, a long-short equity fund with offices in Los Angeles and New York.
From 2010-2013 he was CEO of Roth Asset Management. Richard graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in Economics.
He has served as Director of several public companies and charitable organizations over the last 20 years.
Richard is also a Founder and Trustee emeritus of the Sage Hill School.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR
- DIRECTOR / Professional Bio
Robb Weiland joined Main Management in August of 2019. Based in Austin, he serves as Director, focused on using his 20 years of experience in the business, and the resources at Main Management, to help Financial Advisors in the South and Great Plains build deeper relationships with their clients and grow their assets under management.
Prior to joining Main Management, Robb spent the prior 10 years working as Regional Director for Dunham & Associates, leading their sales efforts in the Central U.S. He got his start in the industry as a retail financial advisor with SunAmerica Securities. Robb grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and graduated from Northern Arizona University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Business.
Robb enjoys sports, spending time outdoors and all that Austin, TX offers, with his wife Melynda and son Cameron.
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing
- Head of Marketing / Professional Bio
Shelby Murphy joined Main Management in January of 2022.
She serves as the Head of Marketing where she supports creative & strategic marketing needs across the company. Before joining Main Management, she worked at Constellation Brands on behalf of the High West Distillery brand, and then for DTC e-commerce company Rhone as their Director of Brand Marketing.
She grew up in Belgrade Lakes, Maine, and received a degree in New Media with a concentration in Innovation Engineering and Graphic Design from the University of Maine. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, attending comedy shows, and exploring the city and surrounding areas with her husband and yellow lab Hank.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Portfolio & Client Operations Associate
- Professional Bio
Sydney Kralj joined the Main Management team in October of 2022 starting as a Sales Associate for the west coast territory and quickly developed a passion for supporting trading operations and providing excellent service to clients. In March 2023, Sydney transitioned from Sales to the Main Management operations team to further pursue this passion, working closely with Joe LaBarbera.
Before joining Main Management, Sydney graduated from California Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, while also competing on the Varsity Volleyball Team. After spending three years as a professional athlete overseas in Germany and France, Sydney returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where she was born and raised. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, traveling, playing beach volleyball, and exploring the great outdoors!
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR
- DIRECTOR / Professional Bio
Wayne joined Main Management in April of 2018. Based in Northern NJ, he serves as Director, focused on growing and building partnerships with clients all over the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. The number one goal is to help Financial Advisors build deeper relationships with clients and grow their business! Prior to joining Main Management, Wayne spent nearly 10 years working in retail distribution at Invesco and Legg Mason.
He grew up at the Jersey Shore in NJ where he enjoyed summers at the beach and playing sports outdoors. Wayne graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences. Wayne lives in Rutherford, NJ with his wife Liz, and three sons Maksym, Benji, and Theo. He enjoys coaching soccer, running, golf, hunting, and whatever adventure life throws at you!