James B. Auden is a managing director and Property/Casualty Sector head for Fitch Rating’s North American Insurance Rating Group. He holds the CFA designation, and is a member of the CFA Institute and the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago.
Brian Battle is vice president of Performance Trust Capital Partners, LLC. He joined the trading staff at the Performance Trust Companies as a municipal trader and underwriter in May 2005. Prior to Performance Trust, he spent the previous decade at Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, Inc. He began his career at American National Bank & Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Chicago (JP Morgan).
David W. Chellgren is a vice president in Conning’s Investment Accounting & Reporting division, where he is responsible for setting and communicating GAAP/Stat/Tax accounting policies. Prior to joining Conning in 1999, he was employed by Aetna Inc., where he worked for 22 years, including 14 years in the Investment Department.
Alton Cogert, CFA, CPA, is president and chief executive officer of Strategic Asset Alliance. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He has written several articles for BestWeek, has served as a technical advisor to the NAIC Invested Assets Working Group and is a former member of the Board of Directors and former chairman of the Investment Committee of the National Alliance of Life Companies.
George T. Cook is institutional consulting director for Graystone Consulting, a separate business unit of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (formerly Citi Institutional Consulting). He is responsible for strategic policy, portfolio optimization and investment manager selection. Cook is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association and serves on the board and the Best Practices Committee of the Association of Investment Consultants.
Akiva Dickstein, managing director and portfolio manager, is a member of BlackRock's Fixed Income Portfolio Management Group. He is a senior mortgage sector specialist. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2009, Dickstein spent eight years at Merrill Lynch, where he served as managing director and head of the U.S. Rates & Structured Credit Research Group.
Thomes M. Farina, CFA, director, is senior portfolio manager and head of the Corporate Sector team for Insurance Fixed Income New York for Deutsche Insurance Asset Management. He joined the company in 2006 after 12 years of experience including roles at Greenwich NatWest, DnB Asset Management, and, most recently, Merrill Lynch Investment Management (MLIM).
Paul J. Imwalle holds the position of senior vice president of Member Services, with oversight for the Marketing and Communications and Public Affairs departments at Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati. He is responsible for the marketing of all financial services offered by the FHLBank as well as new membership activity, financial modeling for member institutions, community outreach and corporate communications.
Christopher Low is chief economist for FTN Financial, the institutional investment arm of First Tennessee Bank National Association. Before joining FTN Financial, he served 11 years as an economist and money manager at HSBC in New York. He is a frequent and popular conference speaker with a reputation for simplifying the most complicated economic concepts. His forecasts and commentaries have generated a large national following, and he is frequently quoted in the business press.
James M. Olsen, CPA, is senior director, Accounting and Investment Policy, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). He serves as a staff liaison for PCI’s Accounting and Investment Subcommittees and is responsible for keeping the association’s 1,000-plus member property/casualty insurers informed about the latest developments in investment regulation and financial reporting.
Patrick Sheridan, CPA, holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Reinsurance (ARe), and Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF) designations. His diverse 17-year career in risk management, reinsurance, finance, accounting, and management has included roles in the manufacturing, service and insurance industry sectors.
Ric Thomas is a senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors and is head of Alternative Investments. He works across and with SSgA's investment teams to build alternative and absolute return solutions for clients. Previously, Thomas served as the Head of the North American Enhanced Equity team, where he helped design and manage large-cap, small-cap, and 130/30 strategies.
Christina Urias was appointed director of insurance, Arizona Department of Insurance, in November 2003, and recently was reappointed to a six-year term. Prior to her appointment, she was a partner at the law firm of DeConcini McDonald Yatwin & Lacy, P.C. (1989-2003). She maintained a broad-based litigation practice, primarily involving insurance defense and consumer protection matters.
Deborah Whitmore is a partner in the Assurance and Advisory Business Services Professional Practice Department of Ernst & Young LLP. She provides assistance on accounting and reporting issues relative to the insurance industry. Prior to joining E&Y in October 1997, she worked for more than 10 years with The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, most recently as vice president and deputy controller.
