2023 AGENDA

Tom Heck, CFA is Chief Investment Officer Emeritus and former Treasurer of the Ball State University Foundation. In 2011 Mr. Heck led the foundation through the process of transitioning the investment program from a traditional consulting model to the OCIO model, including the selection of a provider. He now provides consulting services to notfor-profit organizations on investment and endowment policy and governance, OCIO searches, risk management and financial modeling.
Mr. Heck is a past chairman and currently serves on the investment committee of the United Methodist Foundation of Indiana, is chair of the investment committee of the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, and has served on boards of several other church and not-for-profit organizations. He has also been a member of the limited partnership advisor boards for several private equity funds.
Mr. Heck received a B.S. in Education from Purdue University in 1976, an M.S. in Accounting from Ball State University in 1983, and the CFA Charter in 2007.

Eric Cantor is Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Moelis & Company, a global independent investment bank, and serves as a member of its board of directors. He advises clients on issues spanning the intersection of public policy and industry. Mr. Cantor, who has more than 30 years of political and business experience, was formerly United States Representative from Virginia. He served as U.S. House Majority Leader from 2010-2014 and led the public policy and legislative agendas. During the 112th Congress, Mr. Cantor served as the House designee to the Biden Commission, where he worked closely with the Vice President on issues surrounding the federal budget and levels of indebtedness. One of his many accomplishments as Majority Leader was the passage of the JOBS Act, which makes it easier for start-up and emerging growth companies to access capital. Mr. Cantor is regularly featured in publications focusing on a wide range of topics including both domestic and international matters. 

Mr. Cantor holds a B.A. from The George Washington University, a J.D. from The College of William and Mary, and an M.A. from Columbia University. He co-authored the New York Times best-selling book, “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders”. Mr. Cantor serves as a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Executive Council on Infrastructure and has been named a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served on the U.S. Department of Defense Policy Board, a group tasked with providing the Secretary of Defense with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of defense policy, from 2017-2020.  

Stephanie Thomes is a Senior Investment Consultant within the U.S. Insurance Practice at Mercer.  Her expertise includes investment and risk strategy, alternatives, asset allocation, and capital efficient investing for general accounts. Prior to joining Mercer in 2023, Stephanie was the Head of Investment Strategy and the Head of Alternative Investments for Allianz Investment Management across a $150b GA. She formerly worked in asset management for companies including AB Carval Investors and Black River Asset Management, and was a Controller for a technology start-up company. Stephanie currently serves on the Foundation Board and Investment Committee for the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, and was a prior member of the Advisory Board for OWNS; an impact ETF focused on equality in minority home ownership.

Stephanie received her B.S. in finance and economics from St. Cloud University and her MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School. 

Robert F. Cataldo serves as Vice President and Chief Investment and Strategy Officer.

Mr. Cataldo joined UFG as a Senior Portfolio Manager in 2011. In 2015, he was promoted to Assistant Vice President. In 2018, he was named Vice President and Strategy Officer. In 2020, Robert was elected Vice President and Chief Investment and Strategy Officer.

Mr. Cataldo holds a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Drake University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) professional designation.

Aaron Diefenthaler is Chief Investment Officer & Treasurer of RLI Corp. and its subsidiaries. RLI Corp. (NYSE: RLI) is a specialty insurer serving niche property, casualty and surety markets. The company provides deep underwriting expertise and superior service to commercial and personal lines customers nationwide. RLI’s products are offered through its insurance subsidiaries RLI Insurance Company, Mt. Hawley Insurance Company and Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company. Aaron joined RLI in 2012 as Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and was promoted to Chief Investment Officer & Treasurer in 2014. Apart from his investment responsibilities, Aaron serves on RLI’s risk and strategy committees, and leads the company’s investor relations and corporate development efforts. Prior to joining RLI, he was Principal and Portfolio Manager for Asset Allocation and Management LLC (AAM).He has 25 years of investment and operations experience. Aaron is a member of the Maui Jim Inc. Board of Directors and also volunteers on the board of JDRF–Illinois Chapter and Children’s HomeAssociation of Illinois. A graduate of Indiana University–Kelley School of Business, Aaron has an MBA in finance from DePaul University–Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. He completed the Chicago Management Institute Executive Education Program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Aaron holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago.

Michael Lohmeier joined IMPACT in 2017 as Chief Invest­ment Offi­cer and has over­all respon­si­bil­i­ty for the strat­e­gy and exe­cu­tion of IMPACT’s invest­ment pro­grams, includ­ing man­ag­ing more than $1.0B of invest­ments for major insti­tu­tion­al investors. Prior to join­ing IMPACT, Michael spent 19 years in com­mer­cial lend­ing and invest­ment man­age­ment, includ­ing near­ly 12 years at Wes­path Ben­e­fits and Invest­ments, serv­ing as its Man­ag­ing Direc­tor – Invest­ment Man­age­ment since 2013. As Man­ag­ing Direc­tor, Michael led Wespath’s Equi­ty, Fixed Income and Pos­i­tive Social Pur­pose Lend­ing Pro­gram (PSP) teams, pro­vid­ing oper­a­tional over­sight, tac­ti­cal invest­ment and risk man­age­ment sup­port as well as lead­ing broad strate­gic invest­ment ini­tia­tives. Michael’s pri­or expe­ri­ence includes sig­nif­i­cant work with Fan­nie Mae, the Illi­nois Hous­ing Devel­op­ment Author­i­ty and the North­ern Trust Company. Michael holds a B.A. degree in Eco­nom­ics and Polit­i­cal Sci­ence from North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty and a Mas­ter of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy degree from The Har­ris School of Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Stud­ies, Uni­ver­si­ty of Chicago.

Maya Sibul is a Reporter and Content Producer at Clear Path Analysis. She works across InsuranceInvestor.com and FundOperator.com, conducting interviews and writing news analysis pieces. She previously worked in financial services and editorial.

Steve Bartolini is a portfolio manager in the Fixed Income Division. He manages the US Core Bond Strategy and US Investment Grade Core Bond Strategy. Steve is the president and chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee for the New Income Fund. He co-heads the Global Interest Rate and Currency Strategy team and is a member of the portfolio strategy team for the Core/Core Plus bond strategies. He also is a member of the Asset Allocation Committee. Steve is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Trust Company.

Maya Sibul is a Reporter and Content Producer at Clear Path Analysis. She works across InsuranceInvestor.com and FundOperator.com, conducting interviews and writing news analysis pieces. She previously worked in financial services and editorial.

Sreeni is a co-founder, Managing Partner and Group Chief Investment Officer at Angel Oak Capital and is responsible for the overall investment strategy of the firm. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and President at Angel Oak Mortgage REIT, Inc. (NYSE: AOMR).

Prior to founding Angel Oak in 2008, Sreeni was the Chief Investment Officer of the investment portfolio at Washington Mutual Bank in Seattle where he managed a $25 billion portfolio. He was also part of the macro asset strategy team at the bank. Sreeni previously worked for six years at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, where he was responsible for investment strategies and served as Head Portfolio Manager for the $3 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities portfolio. He began his career at SunTrust in 1998 as a Bank Analyst focused on asset/liability management and liquidity strategies.

Sreeni holds a B.B.A. degree in Economics from Georgia College and State University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Georgia State University.

Maya Sibul is a Reporter and Content Producer at Clear Path Analysis. She works across InsuranceInvestor.com and FundOperator.com, conducting interviews and writing news analysis pieces. She previously worked in financial services and editorial.

Eric has more than 30 years of investment management experience working with multiple fixed-income products. Before joining Fidelity in 2013, he served as investment manager for a Wall Street hedge fund and worked at a registered investment advisory firm in New York, specializing in leveraged finance.

Miguel sets investment strategy and leads the firm’s risk management function while collaborating with investors to formulate strategies that leverage Adams Street’s global investment capabilities. He works closely with investors in the management of their portfolios, including the development and ongoing monitoring of their private market programs. He is actively involved in the portfolio construction and monitoring of our various fund of funds programs and separate accounts. Previously, Miguel was Head of the Performance Analysis Group in the Asset Allocation/Currency Group of Brinson Partners where he oversaw the design and management of Brinson’s performance attribution and analytics systems. Miguel is a member of Adams Street’s Executive Committee, Portfolio Construction Committee, New Product Committee, and Investment Pricing Committee, and Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. He is also a member of the CFA Society of Chicago and the CFA Institute, as well as a board member of the Institute for Private Capita

Kevin Lawi is a managing director in Credit Suisse Asset Management’s Credit Investments Group (CIG).  He joined CIG in 2021 to lead the origination and structuring of transactions across the capital structure for Private Credit Opportunities within CIG.  

Mr. Lawi was previously a Senior Director in the Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s (PSP) Credit Investments group.  Mr. Lawi was a founding member of the team at PSP responsible for building out the firm’s private credit direct investing activities in 2016.  At PSP, Mr. Lawi had senior origination, underwriting, structuring and portfolio management responsibilities for both liquid and illiquid credit strategies across the capital structure including unitranche loans, second lien loans, high yield bonds and structured equity.  He led Credit Investment’s investing activities in the industrial and financial institution industry verticals and represented the firm in Board of Director meetings of portfolio company investments.  

Prior to joining PSP, Mr. Lawi was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co. in the Leveraged Finance Group.  At Goldman Sachs he was responsible for underwriting and structuring debt financing transactions with leading financial sponsors and sub-investment grade corporates.  He began his career at JPMorgan as a Credit Analyst. Mr. Lawi graduated from Duke University with a J.D./M.B.A. and a B.A. from Columbia College.

Gregg has 25 years of Fortune 100 insurance company experience for 6 different companies across the fields of investments, finance/actuarial, and risk management.  He is currently an Investment Strategist with American Equity Investment Life.  His role consists of bridging the gap between the Portfolio Management and the Investment Operation teams for the enablement of value added investment analytics.  Further, he drives quantitative assessment of the underlying third party investment analytic models to improve efficiency of all down stream process.  On a conversation starting note he is active in his community, an advocate for veteran hiring, and his hobbies include glass blowing, wood working, and he recently entered the world of motorcycle enthusiasts. 

Stephanie Thomes is a Senior Investment Consultant within the U.S. Insurance Practice at Mercer.  Her expertise includes investment and risk strategy, alternatives, asset allocation, and capital efficient investing for general accounts. Prior to joining Mercer in 2023, Stephanie was the Head of Investment Strategy and the Head of Alternative Investments for Allianz Investment Management across a $150b GA. She formerly worked in asset management for companies including AB Carval Investors and Black River Asset Management, and was a Controller for a technology start-up company. Stephanie currently serves on the Foundation Board and Investment Committee for the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, and was a prior member of the Advisory Board for OWNS; an impact ETF focused on equality in minority home ownership.

Stephanie received her B.S. in finance and economics from St. Cloud University and her MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School. 

Tom Heck, CFA is Chief Investment Officer Emeritus and former Treasurer of the Ball State University Foundation. In 2011 Mr. Heck led the foundation through the process of transitioning the investment program from a traditional consulting model to the OCIO model, including the selection of a provider. He now provides consulting services to notfor-profit organizations on investment and endowment policy and governance, OCIO searches, risk management and financial modeling.
Mr. Heck is a past chairman and currently serves on the investment committee of the United Methodist Foundation of Indiana, is chair of the investment committee of the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, and has served on boards of several other church and not-for-profit organizations. He has also been a member of the limited partnership advisor boards for several private equity funds.
Mr. Heck received a B.S. in Education from Purdue University in 1976, an M.S. in Accounting from Ball State University in 1983, and the CFA Charter in 2007.

Adam is responsible for growing Angel Oak Capital’s assets under management and new business development focused on the Institutional allocator markets. Adam has over 24 years of institutional capital markets experience.

Prior to joining the firm, he served as the Business Development Director for an Atlanta-based boutique investment firm and was responsible for identifying collateralized real estate assets for acquisition and for finding investors to acquire the assets purchased. Adam was also the founder and CEO of Bank Capital Management, LLC, a community bank-centric private equity firm focused on investing in banks as well as sale leaseback vehicles for community banks. Adam also served as Vice President at J.P. Morgan in the Global Execution Services division, where his duties included managing client relationships with J.P. Morgan’s largest accounts and new global sales.

Adam holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from Eckerd College and a degree from the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.