CutterResearch Member Meeting

Robert “Bob” Ruck joined Cutter Associates in 2017, bringing more than two decades of experience in financial services. Before joining Cutter, Bob was Strategic Client Director with FIS/SunGard where he managed a team of client service professionals and developers and provided oversight for multiple simultaneous large scale consulting projects. Previously, Bob was a Director at Advent Software and responsible for leading a team of 40 that supported the Geneva portfolio accounting system. He managed several high-profile client relationships including several of the largest fund administrators and prime brokers. Bob has also held Client Services roles at Omgeo, where he was responsible for client-related functions across Omgeo’s suite of products including Central Trade Manager, Alert, and Oasys, and at Thomson Financial Services, where he managed client related activities for the firm’s performance measurement product. Bob began his career at State Street Bank and Trust providing mutual funds technical support. Bob holds a B.A. in Economics and Religion from the University of Massachusetts.

Cindy Castellano is the CEO of Cutter Associates and has over 30 years of experience in the investment management industry. She formerly led Cutter Associates’ Client-Facing and Wealth practices, advising asset and wealth management firms on their sales and distribution, marketing, product development, consultant relations, client service, and client reporting. Cindy has conducted system searches for CRM, marketing automation, portals, pitchbooks/client presentation, content management, client reporting, client onboarding, and RFP systems. Prior to joining Cutter, Cindy served as Vice President and Head of Operations for a division of Guggenheim Investments, where she led mutual fund accounting and administration; institutional accounting, billing, and client reporting; SMA operations, performance reporting (GIPS); and fixed income performance, attribution, and risk reporting. As Vice President and Head of Equities, Cindy led the firm’s investment team and supervised equity trading activities.

Cindy also spent 10 years as a Senior Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst, managing over USD 500 million in AUM for mutual funds and VITs using social awareness (ESG), large cap growth, and mid-cap growth investment strategies. She developed the investment process, directed research analysts’ day-to-day efforts, and created the firm’s social criteria and proxy voting guidelines. Cindy, a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a bachelor’s of business administration from Washburn University. 

Mary Storrs has more than 35 years of experience in the investment management industry. She has been with Cutter Associates for more than 20 years, first as a consultant focusing on front-office projects and then with Cutter Research since its inception. Mary has authored Cutter Research reports on many topics, including trading, portfolio management, transaction cost analysis, investment research management, and market data systems. She led the Research and Benchmarking division for eight years, overseeing all content development and helping members understand their capabilities compared with industry peers and best practices. Since 2019 she has been responsible for spearheading firm-wide management and delivery programs. Mary holds a BS from Boston College and an MBA from Babson College.

Shankar Subramanian has over 25 years of industry experience in investment management and technology solutions. Shankar has a deep understanding of investment data management, portfolio management, risk management, investment accounting, and alternative investments. At Cutter Associates, he heads the Risk and Compliance practice, helping client with investment risk management, and asset allocation, as well as providing support for compliance with consulting on trading forensics, communication surveillance, regulatory reporting, and guideline compliance. He advises on, and designs, operating models, selects systems, and implements business and technology solutions. He also leads development of Cutter’s alternative investments practices and the firm’s efforts to provide thought leadership and strategic and tactical advice to asset owner clients.

Prior to joining Cutter, Shankar held senior roles at IBM Global Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), advising clients and leading global delivery teams in large engagements. Shankar holds a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance and information systems from the Indian Institute of Management.

Angela Centeno has more than 25 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining Cutter in 2015, Angela worked for The Northern Trust Company in multiple roles including sourcing and procuring enterprise market data, investment operations outsourcing, and vendor and custodian relationships. She previously held senior positions in operations management, project management, data management, and solutions implementation. Angela earned a bachelor of science in accounting and a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Kansas, as well as an MBA in finance from DePaul University. She is a registered CPA.

Recent research assignments and publications include the following:

• AI Use Cases in Investment Management: Infinite Possibilities
• Alternative Investments
• Client Reporting Systems
• Cutter Benchmarking: Alternative Investments
• Cutter Benchmarking: Derivatives and Collateral Management
• Cutter Benchmarking: Firmwide ESG Capabilities
• Derivatives and Collateral Management Solutions
• ESG Data Management
• ESG: It’s a Jungle Out There ─ A Look at the Data Provider Landscape
• ESG Investing: One Vision, Many Lenses
• Market Data Administration
• Private Debt

Jon Chandler has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Cutter Associates in 2014, Jon was a senior business analyst for State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), where he was involved in a number of projects for the front and middle office, including UAT design and execution for an order management system (Fidessa IMS), the implementation of a web-based due diligence platform (FundInsight), and an enterprise solution to support blended benchmarks. Prior to his project roles, Jon was a principal in fixed income trade operations at SSGA. He has extensive experience with post-trade operations and applications, such as OASYS/CTM, PORTIA, MBSExpert, and FailStation. Jon earned a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Florida and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Recent research assignments and publications include the following:

• Alternative Investment Systems
• Cutter Benchmarking: Alternative Investments
• Cutter Benchmarking: Derivatives and Collateral Management
• Cutter Benchmarking: Investment Risk
• Cutter Benchmarking: Performance Measurement and Attribution
• Derivatives and Collateral Management Solutions
• Execution Management Systems
• Managed Data Services
• Order Management Systems
• Outsourcing Solutions
• Performance Measurement and Attribution Systems
• Portfolio Analytics Solutions
• Private Debt
• Risk Management Systems
• The Evolving Front Office Support Model

Kathy McDermott has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Kathy, who joined Cutter Associates in 2011, has authored multiple Cutter Research reports on a wide range of topics. She spent ten years as a consultant for a variety of asset management firms, with a focus on business analysis for front- and middle-office projects. Kathy was previously the senior business analyst, equity trading systems, at Wellington Management, specializing in the firm’s proprietary electronic and basket trading applications. Earlier in her career, Kathy worked for Thomson Financial Services (now Thomson Reuters), supporting FirstCall and PORTIA clients in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, and later went on to manage PORTIA implementations. She also worked at LongView (now Linedata) as an account manager and then product manager of electronic trading. Kathy earned her bachelor of arts in mathematics from Hamilton College.

Recent research assignments and publications include the following:

• Alternative Data and the Expanding Universe of Investment Information
• Cutter Benchmarking: Data Management
• Cutter Benchmarking: Market Data Administration
• DataOps: In Theory and Practice
• Enabling Data Analytics
• The Evolving Front Office Support Model
• Evolving Data Governance: Building a Data Culture
• Making Snowflake Part of Your Modern Data Platform
• Managed Data Services
• Market Data Administration
• Order Management Systems
• Outsourced Trading: Has the Time Come?
• Reference Data Management Solutions

Patrick Castellani is a Valuation Team Manager on Capital Group’s Investment Operations team, focused on valuation and liquidity. He joined the firm in 2010 and has been working on their liquidity process since 2013. Prior to joining Capital Group, Patrick spent four years in the fund accounting and operations department of Gleacher Fund Advisors in Greenwich, Connecticut and New York City. He earned an M.A.T. degree from Manhattanville College in New York, and a B.A. in Finance from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Patrick is based in Irvine, California.

Manish Ghayalod is Managing Director of the Investments Technology organization supporting the Portfolio Management, Trading, Investment, and Credit Risk teams at Charles Schwab Investment Management. In this role, he manages the firm’s software development life cycle including coordination, prioritization, and communication across business product areas. Manish joined Schwab in April 2016 from JPMorgan Chase Asset Management, where he was Global Head of Portfolio Management Technology in Multi-Asset Solutions from 2012 to 2016. Prior to JPMorgan, Manish was at Goldman Sachs for six years where he held various positions, most recently Vice President managing Credit Risk and Compliance Technology. Prior to that, he worked as an architect for the Securities Industry Automation Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange. Manish earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Bombay in India, and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida. He is also a CFA Charterholder.