TERRA NOVA ASSET MANAGEMENT - Key Persons
Antje Ballin, Operations Manager at Terra Nova Asset Management since May, 2014, is responsible for account related issues, financial reports, administrative duties and client liaison. She grew up in Essen, Germany, and graduated from The University of Akron, Ohio. Prior to joining our team, she worked as a Global Account Manager for a major export company.
Daniel Baumgartner is a founding partner of Terra Nova Asset Management LLC. Prior to the firm's founding, Mr. Baumgartner was responsible for marketing, development of special US-Investment products, as well as customer acquisition and relationship management in the Asset Management Department of Commerzbank Capital Markets Corporation, NY, a wholly owned subsidiary of Commerzbank AG, Frankfurt, Germany, which he joined in 1993 and where he held the title of Vice President.
After receiving his BS degree (Finance/International Business) from New York University in 1983, he started his professional career at Swiss Bank Corporation, New York, in Corporate Finance and later moved to the Correspondent Banking area in Zurich. In 1989 he joined Deutsche Bank AG, New York, where he was responsible for U.S. Cash Management Products & Services.
Growing up bilingual in an honest, hardworking family that emigrated to the United States from Switzerland, I learned the value of hard work at a young age. We had no connection to the financial industry, and it wasn't until I entered college that my life's passion, international banking and portfolio management, would come into sharper focus. With strong math and analytics skills, as well as a second language, I felt this career would offer me an interesting life, spanning both sides of the Atlantic.
After a few years of working in finance in both New York and Zurich, I had the opportunity to work in asset management at Commerzbank Capital Markets Corp., which would change my life. It was there that I learned, hands-on, about the financial advisory industry and the importance of serving clients on a very personal level, working one-on-one with them and offering individualized strategies rather than cookie-cutter solutions. Years later, in 1998, our team would go on to establish Terra Nova Asset Management.
Today I'm focused on offering asset management services to domestic and international high-net-worth individuals and families. My day includes not only managing assets and researching new investment ideas, but also developing strategies that raise the chances of accomplishing our clients' financial objectives. I enjoy building personal and long-lasting relationships and love going to work every day, as I know my clients can count on me. I am lucky to be able to do what I love as a career, to continue to learn, and to connect with so many intelligent and fascinating people from different walks of life.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
- Founding Partner
Petra Peters is a founding partner and the Chief Executive Officer of Terra Nova Asset Management LLC. She started her professional career in the banking industry in 1979 and has been active in asset management since 1982, moving to New York City in 1986.
Immediately prior to founding Terra Nova in May 1998, Ms. Peters had responsibility for the Asset Management Department of Commerzbank Capital Markets Corporation, NY, a wholly owned subsidiary of Commerzbank AG, Frankfurt, Germany, which she joined in 1989 and where she held the title of Senior Vice President. In addition to overseeing the administration of individual accounts, she designed and advised specialized funds tailored to the requirements of international private and institutional clients. Her first ten years as a professional were spent at Dresdner Bank AG, which included a two year stay at its London, UK Branch, and three years as Vice President of its Investment Banking subsidiary in New York.
"I have always been a strong advocate for an environment that allowed me to give my clients priority over product at all times, and to pursue a truly client relevant investment strategy. With this personal mission in mind, we started Terra Nova Asset Management LLC."
When I think of the most rewarding part of my professional life as an investment advisor, it is not the size of the business I built, but the trust and gratitude from my clients.
Many years ago, I met an artist at one of her solo exhibitions in New York, and I ended up buying one of her paintings. Years later, we reconnected through a common friend who had recommended me as an advisor. My client had bought two loft apartments in the 1970s; her friends helped her with the down payment, and she repaid them with her art. When we met, she had just sold one of her apartments and was looking for advice on how to best invest the proceeds to create a nest egg for her retirement. We took the time to get to know one another. I wanted to make sure that she felt confident to understand the risks and rewards of investing and make the right decisions. With the help of a lawyer friend, she wrote her will and set up a trust for her two heirs, unrelated to one another and to her, whom she had taken under her wings at a very early age. After everything was said and done, she was at ease and free to pursue her life as an artist and art professor. We became close friends over the years. She once told me that my work was also a form of art. Every month she looks at her statement, she feels joy and relief of not having to worry about her financial wellbeing. Stories like hers are highlights and true meaning of my profession. After all, life is all about the people we care for.