CALIFORNIA CONSUMER - Key Persons
For more than two decades, Alan Fetzer has provided financial advisory services in the venture capital, private equity and investment banking sectors with a focus on securing capital for innovative technology companies. Alan has worked extensively in Silicon Valley assisting numerous early-stage companies secure the capital required to bring their proprietary technologies to market. His success stories in the Valley include Netmind, a developer of change detection technology, Sentius, a developer of search and navigation technologies; and ISPtel, one of the first global voice-over IP telcos. As a technology consultant, he has advised the IBM T. J. Watson center on the development of video compression software and has assisted 20th Century Fox develop its digital distribution platform.
In the executive arena, Alan was -president of Taito Software, the North American subsidiary of Taito Corporation, a Japanese game company that is now part of the Square Enix Group. From 1986 to 1991, under his direction, the company developed several hit video game titles which were distributed in over 15,000 retail outlets in North America. During this time, Alan worked closely with the management of Kyocera Corporation, a Taito corporate shareholder, to establish the brand awareness, international distribution and market share in the game industry that enabled Taito to complete one of the largest public offerings in the history of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Alan got his start in the corporate world at Data Resources, Inc. (DRI), the economic consulting division of Standard & Poors. As a DRI management consultant, Mr. Fetzer advised Wall Street commodities traders and hedge funds on the use of analytical computer models and predictive trading algorithms to manage risk and maximize trading profits.
A professionally trained classical musician, Alan holds a bachelor's degree from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and a master's degree from the Yale University School of Music.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founder
- Principal
- Expert
Audrey A. Browne, Esq. is the founder and principal attorney with the New York City law firm Browne Legal Consulting, PLLC. She is a Public Sector Board Member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the nation's largest and most prestigious educational association for the employee benefits community. Audrey is the former Associate Administrator & Counsel for the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 37 Health & Security Plan Trust in New York, where she now serves as a Consultant and advises DC 37 and other funds on a wide variety of health and welfare fund and pension fund legal and financial matters.
Audrey is an expert in employment law, regulatory and compliance matters, and an expert in prescription drug plan negotiations and litigation. She has served as Plaintiffs' counsel in landmark, nation-wide antitrust, products liability and consumer litigations, and has managed the allocation of funds in a significant class actions on behalf of third-party payer plaintiff claimants. She was previously an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School.
Audrey lectures and testifies broadly on a wide range of union-related topics, and has published numerous articles on these subjects, as well as having served as Co-Editor of Public Sector Labor Law. She is admitted to the Bars of the States of New York and Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the American University, the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Leppla Capital is privileged and honored to have Audrey serve as Chairperson of its Board of Advisors.
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Economist
- Partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP
Bruce is an economist and lawyer. He is the Chairman and Founder of Leppla Capital Management LLC (www.lepplacap.com), a registered investment advisory firm which is dedicated to supporting national secondary school financial education programs. Bruce is the former CEO and President of a San Francisco, California commercial bank which he sold at a substantial premium to a national bank. Bruce holds Juris Doctor and master's degrees in economics from the University of California (Berkeley) and a B.A. in economics (magna cum laude) from Yale University. Bruce has been awarded 11 United States and international patents, including the foundational patent "A Method for Storing and Retrieving Digital Data Transmissions," United States patent No. 5,659,746, issued August 19, 1997. He is a recipient of the fi360 Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation; a member of the Editorial Board of Wall Street Lawyer; and the author of numerous financial and securities litigation articles.
Bruce is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP (www.lchb.com), the 2020 American Lawyer Boutique Litigation Law Firm of the Year. Bruce received a 2020 Antitrust Practice Institute litigation award and is recognized by peer review publication Best Lawyers as one of the 2022 Best Lawyers in America. Bruce was named by Lawdragon as one of 500 lawyers who are "the best in the nation -- many would say the world -- at representing plaintiffs in securities and other business litigation ...." Bruce represents public funds, private institutional investors and consumers in actions against Altria Corp., Purdue Pharma, Petrobras, American International Group, Merck, Celera Corp., Teva, Broadcom, McKesson, America Online, Qwest and many other cases. He is a member of the Union Internationale des Avocats and has served as the American Bar Association Litigation Section Chairman on International Corporate Governance Developments.
Bruce has been active in real estate ventures. In 1994, Bruce, with his partner Douglas Stitzel, and through a joint venture with Home Savings of America, acquired, developed and sold The Pacific Center, a 609,000 square foot multi-use real estate development at the corner of Fourth and Market Streets, San Francisco, California.
Bruce speaks in the U.S. and globally on improving financial literacy, securities and antitrust litigation developments and related legal, financial and valuation topics. He speaks regularly before the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the Council of Institutional Investors, the Investment Company Institute and the National Association of Public Pension Plans, among many other organizations.
Bruce is the former Chairman of the non-profit San Francisco Chamber Singers, and currently serves on the Board and as CIO of the Yale Whiffenpoof Alumni Association.
Debi Deyo Rossi, CIPM, is President of Kyza Performance Consulting, LLC. She has over 30 years' experience in the investment performance measurement industry. Debi is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Boston.
From 2011 to 2016, she served on the CIPM Advisory Council, serving in her final year as Committee Chair. From 2006 to 2011, she served on the USIPC (United States Investment Performance Committee). She was also a member of the Performance Measurement Forum.
Debi currently serves on the CFA Society Boston Programs & Education Advisory Council. She is also on the Advisory Board of The Journal of Performance Measurement. Her involvement with various industry Boards continues as well at the Community level. Debi is an elected Parks & Recreation Commissioner for the Town of Medway, Massachusetts. She has also served as Treasurer for Medway Youth Lacrosse and Medway Pop Warner. In addition, she has coached the youth cheer team and has taught CCD at St. Joseph's Parish.
Prior to building Kyza Performance Consulting, Debi was a Principal/Director and Senior Performance Specialist with Turner Investments of Berwyn, PA and a performance analyst with Independence Capital Management, Inc, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania Mutual. Her experience with the GIPS Standards started with the creation of the AIMR-PPS. She has extensive experience with implementing and using various accounting and investment performance analysis systems, including StatPro, PORTIA, CAPS, Xamin, and InvestOne. Debi is a graduate of Temple University with a B.A. in Psychology. After college she went to work for a retail brokerage firm and has been involved with performance measurement and analysis ever since. Leppla Capital utilizes Debi's performance assessment skills extensively.
Hunter Schiess serves Leppla Capital as an entry level Financial Analyst and data management supervisor. He finds the finance industry to be fascinating and enjoys the numbers and helping others financially when capable. He first found the passion of financial literacy during high school when he became the supervisor of the West Salem High School Maps Credit Union branch. Since then, understanding how businesses work and financial stability have become topics of interest.
Hunter is an Eastern Oregon University alumnus who holds a B.A. in Business Administration and a B.A in Accounting with a minor in Accounting.
Job Titles:
- President
- Vice Chairperson
John Burke currently serves as the President of a 900-member Yale University alumni organization. He
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer
Robert Bradford ("Brad") Leppla, BA, MS, LCDR (Retired) U.S. Navy. Brad is a former Naval aircraft carrier combat pilot. Brad flew over 40 missions in Desert Storm and is the featured pilot in Discovery Channel's "Fortress at Sea." He is also a computer engineer and teaches enterprise technology systems at the graduate school level. Brad holds a BA in forestry from the University of California at Berkeley and an MS in computer science from Colorado Technical University.
Job Titles:
- Certified Public Accountant
- CFO & CO - Chief Investment Officer
Timothy Gillihan is a Certified Public Accountant with over 15 years of experience as a forensic accountant and economist. Mr. Gillihan has analyzed, consulted on and valued hundreds of companies across most industries, including real estate, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and hospitality. He has testified as an accounting and economic expert witness in trials and enjoys the experience of explaining complex financial information in a way that is easy to follow and understand.
Mr. Gillihan has always had a passion for applying the same dynamic to the financial markets. Investments often intimidate people, and there are many investment businesses that take advantage of that by pressuring clients into expensive, low-quality investments that make money for the advisor and their company, but do not deliver the results deserved by the client. Tim joined Leppla Capital as a co-owner because he has the expertise to deliver on its basic values -- Leppla Capital delivers solid results for clients on a fair basis.
Timothy graduated from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business with degrees in both finance and accounting, and he hold a master's degree in economics.