BOSTON FOA - Key Persons
Biography
Andrew Schneider founded The Family Office Networks in 2012 after realizing the benefits of a family office network from running his own family office, the Schneider Family Office. His family office greatly benefited from a small community of his peers with whom he shared transactions, service providers and funds.
Mr. Schneider is also a leading authority regarding hedge funds and related services. Most recently, he developed the group Global Hedge Fund Advisors. He is the CEO and president of this group, which is an international firm that is quickly making its mark in the hedge fund industry. Prior to Global Hedge Fund Advisors, he was a founding member of HedgeCo Networks, a hedge fund research and services firm that provided consulting services to both new and existing hedge funds. At HedgeCo, he was charged with the responsibility of overseeing more than 7,000 hedge funds, which included a community of more than 40,000 members.
Previous professional appointments include Morgan Stanley and Prudential Securities. At Morgan Stanley, he was a vice president who managed more than $100 million of high net worth individual assets as well as helped manage assets for institutions as well as high net worth clients. Later, he participated in numerous private placements, PIPE transactions and public offerings with a total value of $250 million. While at Prudential, he was the number one producer and broker and managed over $50 million in his first year.
Mr. Schneider has been quoted in numerous financial publications and has also appeared on financial networks such as CNBC. He attended The State University at Albany and he is an active member of the American Heart Association, committed to the cause of research and development of alternative remedies for cardiac disorders.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- MANAGING DIRECTOR FON
- Managing Director of Family Office Networks
Biography
Audra Plageman is Managing Director of Family Office Networks, an organization that provides information, opportunities, and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them. In addition, Audra manages the Newport Beach Family Office Association and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Family Office Networks Women's Investment Club.
During her career, Audra has spearheaded several successful entrepreneurial ventures by demonstrating her ability to manage complex projects, from initial conception to successful implementation. She has initiated and completed transactions in both national and international markets. Her background and experience include mergers and acquisitions, build-up acquisitions, and joint equity ventures with corporate partners across a wide range of industries and sectors.
In 2007, dedicated and passionate to accelerating growth in the renewable energy sector, Audra became an active consultant in the renewable energy industry. She has established and maintained long-standing strategic partnerships with companies that finance and develop commercial and utility-scale renewable energy projects around the world. She has initiated the trading of renewable energy credits (REC's), in the PJM, WREGIS, and MISO wholesale markets, including OTC Spot Market brokerage services for clients looking to secure verified emission reductions (VER's) in the global OTC markets.
Audra's previous professional history includes being a top-producing account executive in the financial services industry as well as being a successful business owner from the age of seventeen. Audra is also an active volunteer in her community to grass-roots, non-profit organizations with a focus on environment and women and children's welfare.
Ben Inman - Managing Director
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Acquisitions Analyst and Portfolio Manager for Cardone Real Estate Acquisitions LLC
- Managing Director of the Nashville Family Office Association
Ben Inman is Managing Director of the Nashville Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the Nashville region.
Mr. Inman currently works as an acquisitions analyst and portfolio manager for Cardone Real Estate Acquisitions LLC. Based in Miami Beach, he directs a $650M acquisitions budget for potential acquisitions located throughout the Southeast. Additional responsibilities include portfolio management of 4,000 apartment units currently at a $500M valuation, directing capital improvements across existing portfolio, and analysis of annual and quarterly performance reports.
His career began at an early age as he grew up around his family's real estate business where he gained an intimate understanding of the industry and eventually led the family real estate investment business. He relocated from Nashville to attend the University of Central Florida in Orlando where he focused on building a database of industry professionals including investors, owners and operators, and management companies.
From Orlando, he relocated to West Palm Beach to oversee an expanding multifamily real estate portfolio focused on assets located throughout the Southeast, including redevelopment efforts of a private island in the Bahamas called Cay Cay Yacht Club in Cay Cay, Bahamas. While there, he helped the family office restructure its business model to focus on property and asset management in the tri-county area of Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami.
Later, he joined a prominent and well-known investor focused on building out a multifamily portfolio footprint throughout the Southeast and assisted in formalizing his family office.
In addition to the Nashville Family Office Association, Mr. Inman also oversees the Miami Beach Family Office Association.
Job Titles:
- EDITOR - in - CHIEF
- Editor - in - Chief of Family Office Networks
Biography
Charlotte Luer, APR, is Editor-in-Chief of Family Office Networks and helps lead the Naples Family Office Association . She is also Chief Executive Officer of LJH Financial Marketing Strategies based in New York and Naples, Florida.
Ms. Luer has 25+ years of experience in financial marketing, branding strategy and consulting. Her expertise includes educational and thought leadership roles and expansive, on-going marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, multi-billion dollar hedge funds, private equity funds, trust companies, asset management firms, banks and family offices. Her consulting work on behalf of multi-family offices and other high profile financial industry clients has led to significant revenue growth and earned her a high level of respect in the financial services industry.
Previously, Ms. Luer was Senior Vice President of Public Communications Inc., one of the largest independent public relations agencies in the United States. She earned a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in Communications, both with Honors, at the University of Florida. In addition to her communications studies, she concentrated in statistics and Latin American Affairs. She was named Graduate Research Student of the Year, and later worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami and the University of South Florida where she taught college courses in journalism and public relations. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, the New York Junior League, The League Club of Naples and Greater Naples Leadership.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Director of the Tel Aviv Family Office Association
Biography
David Rich is Managing Director of the Tel Aviv Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the Tel Aviv region.
Mr. Rich has 20+ years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently the CEO of $15M Galilee Partners, which he launched in 2006 as a multi-strategy investment advisory firm focused on talented emerging managers in Israel. He hired and manages a team of 11 senior level traders involved in quantitative and fundamental research for a portfolio of low risk, absolute return, hedged strategies trading US equity & global commodities. In addition, he oversees research, trading operations, risk management, investor reporting and business operations. He is also experienced in providing third party sales and marketing services for Israeli-based managers, including developing unique financial trading products for global hedge funds in New York, London and Switzerland.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Frommer Capital where he researched and devised pair trading methodologies and created quantitative based strategies involving multiple asset classes with different volatility levels, hedged against each other. He also spent two years at Infinity Ventures involved in researching and generating direct investment opportunities into publicly traded companies. While there, he specialized in small-cap companies with strong balance sheets implementing expansion of business operations. Prior to that, he opened the Israeli branch of New York-based Olympia Partners.
He is a graduate of Hebrew University with graduate degrees in Economic History and Bar-Ilan University. His philanthropic endeavors include launching the Bar Ilan Environmental Society which organized nationwide clean-up programs. He is the recipient of the Erica & Ludwig Jesselsohn Academic Scholarship and currently has a NASD Series 56 license. He served in the Military-IDF Paratroop Brigade from 1993-1997.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Founder of Ames Capital Management
- Managing Director of the Sarasota Family Office Association
Donald R. Ames is Managing Director of the Sarasota Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the Sarasota area.
Mr. Ames is the founder of Ames Capital Management and has several decades of experience in the financial markets working for several Wall Street firms while being based in both New York and London.
He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree and was a Dean's List student. He received his Law Degree from the School of Law at Fordham University where he was a member of the Law Journal and also received his Master's in Taxation from New York University.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Founder and Managing Partner of Oakpoint Advisors
- Managing Director of the Tampa Family Office Association
Gerry Coughlin is Managing Director of the Tampa Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the Tampa Bay area.
Mr. Coughlin is founder and managing partner of Oakpoint Advisors where he is responsible for business development and management of Oakpoint's strategic GP relationships. He was formerly the president of Vinik Asset Management, a multi-billion-dollar equity long/short fund with responsibility for finance, marketing, operations, trading and technology, as well as being one of five members of the management committee.
He also spent 20 years of his career at Morgan Stanley. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and is FINRA registered for series 7, 9, 10, 63, 79 and 24. He serves on the board of Metropolitan Ministries, a non-for-profit focused on the homeless of Tampa Bay.
MANAGING DIRECTOR | LOS ANGELES FAMILY OFFICE ASSOCIATION
Biography
James R. (Jim) Hedges, IV is Managing Director of the Los Angeles Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the LA region.
Mr. Hedgeswas one of the early leaders in the hedge fund and alternative investments industry and is the author of Hedges on Hedge Funds. He was the Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer of LJH Global Investments, LLC, an alternative investment advisory firm. Following the sale of LJH, in 2010, he founded Montage Finance, to make asset-backed loans secured by contemporary art and is also Managing Member of Hedges-Projects, a family organization created to oversee principal investments and art activities. He also served as President of The Hedges Family Charitable Foundation.
He has been an active investor throughout his 25-year career, representing the interests of both substantial investors and entrepreneurs. In 2017, Hedges founded HEDGES COMPANY, an Expert Network to marshal resources for its clients' investing, growth and business development needs.
Hedges is often cited as an expert commentator on alternative investments for publications including The New York Times, Barron's, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Women's Wear Daily. He is a Contributor to The Huffington Post. He has also regularly appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, CNBC, CNBC ASIA, CNBC EUROPE, FOX NEWS, and Bloomberg TV. Additionally, Hedges was, for two years, a recurring on-air talent for CNBC's award-winning Squawk Box.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Partner and CEO of Keiretsu Capital
Biography
Nathan McDonald is a Managing Partner and CEO of Keiretsu Capital and currently manages over $26M in across five funds with over 180 investors and over 135 investments to date. Keiretsu Forum is a worldwide investment community of capital, resources and deal flow with over 50 chapters on 3 continents comprised of accredited private equity angel investors, venture capitalists and corporate/institutional investors. Keiretsu Forum members invest in high-quality, diverse investment opportunities. Keiretsu Forum and Keiretsu Capital (the exclusive worldwide fund partner of Keiretsu Forum) are ranked as the most active venture investors in the USA according to PitchBook.
Nathan brings a unique entrepreneurial business and organizational development background developed during seventeen years of hands-on, active leadership and operational experience. Nathan co-founded and currently oversees as Chairman the Northwest Region of the Keiretsu Forum global angel investment group. He wrote the business plan and designed the organizational structure, which led to the initial license agreement with global Keiretsu Forum. He recruited the team, implemented policies and procedures, and designed and coordinated hundreds of multifaceted events.
As part of his overall regional growth strategy, he created and implemented controlled expansion activities in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Boise ID, Portland OR and Vancouver, B.C. Nathan's leadership and personal networking skills combined to quickly build the region into the fastest-growing angel investment group in the nation, adding over 800 investor members and facilitating over $300 million in funding for more than 400 companies.
Nathan received a BA degree from the University of Washington, Foster Business School in Business Administration & Finance with an emphasis in entrepreneurial leadership and venture finance and currently serves as President of the Buerk Center Entrepreneur Alumni Committee.
Biography
Known in global financial circles as The Architect, Peter Chun brings nearly 20 years of International finance expertise to Silverbear.
Specializing in corporate restructuring, corporate finance, and M&A, Peter has worked with and represented companies of all sizes and configurations.
He also brings listing experience in Korea, Toronto, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, and in the US, as well as experience in the private equity / pre-IPO arena.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Founder and President of Interlink Markets
- Managing Director of the Boston Family Office Association
Biography
Rick Casella is Managing Director of the Boston Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in the Boston area.
Mr. Casella is Founder and President of Interlink Markets, a boutique investment bank specializing in institutional-only private capital deal-sourcing, fundraising, placement, private secondary trading, and consulting.
With more than 25 years of experience in Boston and on Wall Street, he has a compelling track record of building highly successful business lines. Before founding Interlink, he served as managing director at INTL FCStone, Inc., where he founded and developed the U.S. Institutional Equities division for the global Fortune 500 company.
He previously held a similar role at Bulltick Capital Markets LLC. Prior to that, he was partner and lead Boston sales trader at Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., where he initiated and managed the Boston operation, and head of the Boston office for Dain Rauscher Wessels, Inc. He has also been chairman of both the South Florida and Boston chapters of the Market Technicians Association. He graduated cum laude from Boston College.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR of TECHNOLOGY
- Director of Technology for Family Office Networks
Biography
Sean Kreps is the Director of Technology for Family Office Networks. He is also the owner of ComputerGiant Consulting, a digital marketing agency.
Sean began his computing experience at the age of 6 on a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, upgraded to an Amiga 1000 in 1985 and has been learning the ins and outs of every computer platform since.
After graduating from Virginia Tech with a BS in Accounting Information Systems he began his tech career during the dot-com boom as a Java Software Engineer. Thankfully his position focused on building web sites and client consulting and not locking himself in an office to program until the crack of dawn. After most of the Java engineers left to form their own company Sean was tasked with figuring out how the pieces of the code fit together, compiling the code into installation CDs and transferring this knowledge to the new engineers who arrived. This can do attitude and roll-up your sleeves work ethic is a great example of his character today.
Job Titles:
- MANAGING DIRECTOR
- Managing Director of the Naples Family Office Association
- Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Mediatrix Capital
Biography
Tyler Wood is Managing Director of the Naples Family Office Association, an organization that provides information, opportunities and investment resources to substantial families, individuals and the top advisors who serve them in Naples, Florida.
Mr. Wood is Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Mediatrix Capital. He has 15+ years of experience in alternative investments management such as Forex, managed futures and international strategies and also consults with private clients on the formation of hedge funds and alternative investment portfolios. He previously worked with SRB Capital Management and Worldwide Futures System.
His passion for helping others has been displayed through his 9-year relationship with Kiva.org, a micro-lending organization supporting entrepreneurial efforts in over 80 countries and successfully loaning over $900M globally since inception.
Mr. Wood has published a book called Bring Mati Home regarding his experience with parental child abduction and how he recovered his son.