My professional expertise in the field of investments and finance spans a wide range of experiences. I’ve led investment programs at public pension funds, corporate retirement plans, and foundations. I’ve been an innovator in the application of practical portfolio management techniques. I have been a thought leader in plan design for retirement plans. I’ve developed and managed financial well-being programs at corporations and credit unions. I’ve served as a staff member, a board member, and a consultant. I’ve written technical textbooks and journal articles as well as lighter how-to books. I’ve taught classes at the graduate and undergraduate levels and given numerous professional presentations to business groups large and small. I’ve even run for, and was elected to, a seat on a city council espousing a platform of financial responsibility. In my last corporate role, I was Senior Director, Benefits, at Target Corporation, where I supervised the administration of the company’s qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, health plans, and absence management plans as well as directed the investment programs of the company’s $10+ billion defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans. Before that I was a managing partner of Richards & Tierney, a Chicago-based pension consulting firm specializing in quantitative risk control techniques. Prior to that position, I was assistant executive director of the Minnesota State Board of Investment, which manages the pension assets of Minnesota public employees. I've published numerous articles about pension management and co-authored the textbooks Investments and Fundamentals of Investments with William F. Sharpe and Gordon J. Alexander. I also co-authored the Research Foundation of CFA Institute publications A Primer for Investment Trustees and Controlling Misfit Risk in Multiple-Manager Investment Programs. I am a member of the CFA Institute Research Foundation board of trustees and a director of the University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisers. I received a BA in economics from Oakland University and an MA in economics and MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota.
