Speaker

Richard Bernstein

Chief Investment Officer and CEO, Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Richard Bernstein is the chief executive officer/chief investment officer of Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC.

Mr. Bernstein founded Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC (RBA) in 2009. The firm utilizes a unique top-down approach to investing, focusing on macro trends rather than individual stock selection. RBA is one of the fastest growing money management firms, is among Morningstar’s Top 10 ETF Model Managers in assets and partners with some of the world’s leading financial institutions.

Mr. Bernstein has over 38 years’ experience on Wall Street, and was formerly the Chief Investment Strategist at Merrill Lynch & Co. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1988, he held positions at E.F. Hutton and Chase Econometrics/IDC.

A much-noted expert on equity, style and asset allocation, Mr. Bernstein was voted to Institutional Investor magazine’s annual “All-America Research Team” eighteen times, and is one of only fifty-seven analysts inducted into the Institutional Investor “Hall of Fame”. He was also twice named to both Fortune magazine’s “All-Star Analysts” and to Smart Money magazine’s “Power 30”, and was a member of Registered Rep’s “Ten to watch” for 2012. His book “Style Investing: Unique Insight into Equity Management” is widely viewed as the seminal book on style-oriented investment strategies. He donates the profits from that and his other book, “Navigate the Noise: Investing in the New Age of Media and Hype,” to charity.

Mr. Bernstein is chair of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation endowment’s Investment Committee (~$2.0 billion) and sits on the Hamilton College endowment’s Investment Committee (~$1 billion); he is a trustee of both institutions. He is also a member of the Journal of Portfolio Management’s Advisory Committee, a Program Reviewer for the CFA Curriculum, and former adjunct faculty of the NYU/Stern Graduate School of Business.

Rich holds an MBA in finance, with Beta Gamma Sigma distinction, from New York University, and a BA in economics from Hamilton College. He has lectured on finance and economics at numerous colleges, universities and professional forums.

Speaker

Gargi Chaudhuri

Managing Director & Head of iShares Investment Strategy, Blackrock

Gargi Pal Chaudhuri,Managing Director, is Head of iShares Investment Strategy, Americas. Based in New York, she and her team focus primarily on delivering global macro thought leadership, investment insights and content to both retail and institutional clients of the firm. With over two decades of experience in the financial services industry, Gargi has built her career around portfolio management in the fixed income markets, trading and macro strategy.

She joined BlackRock’s Global Fixed income group as a sector specialist in 2010, focusing on real and nominal rate relative value and trading. In 2013, she transitioned to the global inflation portfolio management team as senior portfolio manager, focusing on alpha generation, risk management and portfolio positioning for global inflation-linked bond portfolios, including BRIP and GILB. From 2017 to 2020, she served as a member of the Fixed Income Product Strategy team for the Global Fixed Income (GFI) business as head of Platform Strategy and Canadian fixed income, focusing on global macro thought leadership applied to platform conversations with institutional and retail clients.

Prior to joining BlackRock, she spent nine years on the sell side at Jefferies & Co. and Merrill Lynch. As a VP at Jefferies & Co., she ran the US inflation trading desk, built the Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) franchise and provided liquidity in TIPS to institutional clients. She began her career in 2001 on the government bond trading desk at Merrill Lynch, focusing on providing liquidity and market making in TIPS and treasury securities.

She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2001.

Outside of BlackRock, she is an avid runner, hiker and a triathlete and has completed multiple marathons, ultra-marathons, half Ironmans and the New York Ironman.

Speaker

Marci McGregor

Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Marci Mcgregor is a financial advisor working out of New York, New York, who has been in the financial industry for 20 years. Mcgregor currently works for Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. They have spent their entire time as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. Mcgregor has a Series 66 license, certifying them as both a securities agent and an investment advisor representative, and is able to advise clients in New Jersey and Texas.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc is a company that has its headquarters in New York, New York. The investment advisory business has offices in 3,374 locations and a total of 34,906 people on staff. It manages $1 trillion in assets among its 2,825,602 client accounts, placing it among the largest firms in the United States by assets under management. The firm serves 5,339 charitable organizations. Of its 2,825,602 accounts, just 9% are held by high-net-worth individuals who have more than $1 million in assets available to invest. The company performs a wide range of services, such as portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, portfolio management for institutional clients, pension consulting services, selection of other advisers and other services.

Moderator

Raj Sharma

Private Wealth Advisor, Head of The Sharma Group, Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group

Raj is Managing Director – Wealth Management and Head of The Sharma Group, a high end boutique within Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investment Group and has over three decades of experience in customized investment management and sophisticated estate and tax planning for entrepreneurs, corporate executives, families and endowments. Raj runs a national private wealth management practice based in Boston comprised of 15 professionals.

Raj was recognized by Forbes in August of 2021 as one of the Top 10 advisors in the US. Additionally, Barron’s Magazine named Raj as the number one advisor in Massachusetts and in the top 100 in the country. In addition, Raj has also been recognized in Barron’s magazine’s America “All Stars” Hall of Fame list– one of a small group of advisors who have appeared in Barron’s ranking of America’s Top 100 Advisors for ten consecutive years. He was also recognized by the Financial Times of London ranking of top Global Advisors for five consecutive years. Raj was featured on the inside cover of the September 2019 issue of Forbes Magazine.

He is a regular contributor to local and national media and his articles and interviews have appeared in publications such as The Boston Globe, Barron’s Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, Boston Business Journal to name a few.

Raj is an active member of the community and is involved in many local and global organizations. He is a current trustee and former Chairman of The Boston Harbor Island Alliance. Raj is a member of the Board of Trustees for Emerson College and a trustee and board member emeritus of the American India Foundation (AIF), an organization devoted to disrupting poverty in India through a spectrum of programs. In addition, Raj is Chairman of the Board of Youth LEAD, an internationally recognized organization promoting cultural understanding and tolerance among high school students. Raj was the 2013 recipient of the “Solas Award” from the Irish International Immigrant Center for his commitment to promoting cross-cultural dialogue and for his inspirational example of achievement and civic engagement as an immigrant. In 2016, he was recognized as one of the hundred most influential people of diversity in Boston by Get Konnected, a networking organization.

*Barron’s does not receive compensation from advisors, participating firms and their affiliates, or the media in exchange for rankings. Rankings and recognition from Barron’s are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results, and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor. Barron’s is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

*The Forbes rankings were developed by SHOOK Research and are based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings to evaluate each advisor qualitatively, a major component of a ranking algorithm that includes: client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC and not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Rankings and recognition from Forbes are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results, and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receives compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking. Forbes is a trademark of Forbes Media LLC. All rights reserved.