Featured speakers

Mr. Roesler is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Multi-Sector Credit for Obra Capital. Before joining Obra in 2022, Mr. Roesler was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Apollo Global Management. He was responsible for synthetic structured credit investing, solutions, capital relief transactions, and secured financing. He was also a voting member of Apollo’s structured credit investment committee responsible for all CLO, ABS, and esoteric corporate structured credit investments. Previously, Mr. Roesler was a Director at Citigroup on the Credit Correlation desk, responsible for all risk management and bespoke asset origination and trading. Before Citigroup, he began his career at Deutsche Bank in a variety of transaction management and fixed-income structuring seats. Mr. Roesler graduated from the College of New Jersey with a B.S. in Finance.

Todd Rosenbluth is the Head of Research at VettaFi. He oversees the firm's research into ETFs, product trends, and advisor behavior. He was previously the head of ETF & Mutual Fund Research at CFRA. Todd is frequently quoted in the financial press at outlets like Barron's, the Financial Times, Investment News, and the Wall Street Journal, and has spoken at various ETF conferences.

Tyler Rosenlicht, Senior Vice President, is a portfolio manager for Global Listed Infrastructure and serves as Head of Natural Resource Equities. Prior to joining the firm in 2012, Mr. Rosenlicht was an investment banking associate with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and an investment banking analyst with Wachovia Securities. Mr. Rosenlicht has a BA from the University of Richmond and an MBA from Georgetown University. He is based in New York.

Robert Russo is the Founder and CEO of Independent Advisor Alliance. Combining his expertise as a former financial advisor with his entrepreneurial drive, Robert has fueled IAA's explosive success, growing the firm from just $100 million to more than $22 billion in assets under supervision. He is responsible for setting the long-term business strategy, identifying key growth opportunities, advisor recruitment, and overseeing all firm operations, empowering independent advisors to thrive. Robert holds a B.S. in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee.

Dana Ryan is the Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Independent Advisor Alliance. Dana manages all media relations and strategic communications, ensuring key business initiatives reach the right audiences. She also supports IAA’s advisor-focused marketing service, Creative Capital. Dana brings more than two decades of communications expertise from diverse organizations, including NBC News, Comcast, and The American Red Cross. She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from West Chester University.

Jessica Sexton is Chief Compliance Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance and is instrumental in safeguarding the firm and its advisors. With a focus on stability and integrity, Jessica proactively manages IAA's compliance landscape, ensuring adherence to complex regulatory requirements and internal policies. Her extensive background includes leadership roles at LPL Financial, as well as experience with TriCapital Financial Group and Progressive Insurance. Jessica holds a B.A. in English from Baldwin-Wallace University and maintains her Series 7, 24, and 66 licenses.

Jeffrey Sherman, DoubleLine’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer, is a thought leader, portfolio manager and public speaker in the industry. Mr. Sherman is a member of DoubleLine’s Fixed Income and Global Asset Allocation committees, and he serves as lead portfolio manager for the firm’s multi-sector and derivative-based strategies. In his role, Mr. Sherman guides the investment teams in developing top-down macro views and collaborative asset allocation processes throughout a market cycle. Additionally, he is a member of DoubleLine’s Executive Management Committee. In 2018, Money Management Executive named Mr. Sherman as one of “10 Fund Managers to Watch” in its yearly special report. Prior to joining DoubleLine in 2009, Mr. Sherman was a Senior Vice President at TCW, where he worked as a portfolio manager and quantitative analyst focused on fixed income and real-asset portfolios. Prior to that, he was a statistics and mathematics instructor at the University of the Pacific and Florida State University. Mr. Sherman taught Quantitative Methods for Level I candidates in the USC/CFALA CFA® Review Program for many years. He holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of the Pacific and an M.S. in Financial Engineering from Claremont Graduate University. Mr. Sherman is a CFA® charterholder.

Todd Sohn is an ETF and Technical Strategist for Strategas Research Partners. He leads Strategas’ ETF research, examining industry trends and how investor flows fit with, or against, the consensus. His research acts as a complement to the firm’s Asset Management offering. Todd is also a member of the firm’s Institutional Investor ranked Technical Research team, providing weekly sector research as well as actively working with Strategas’ clients on tailored analysis for securities around the world. Todd has been featured on various financial press outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining Strategas, he worked in various roles at JPMorgan. Todd has earned the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation and is a graduate of Syracuse University along with an MBA from Fordham University. He resides in New York City and is proud to have completed four marathons.

As Chief Experience Officer at IAA, Jamie leads the firm’s advisor experience strategy to create a seamless, proactive, and high-quality experience across every stage of the advisor journey. With over 23 years in the financial services industry, Jamie brings deep expertise and a proven track record of enhancing operational efficiency and client- focused solutions. Before joining IAA, he held key positions with GuideStone Financial Resources, TIAA, and The Vanguard Group. He holds Series 6, 63, SIE, and Life & Health Insurance licenses and earned his BASc in Business Administration and Management from Belmont Abbey College.

Legendary podcaster and reporter Kara Swisher has been reporting on the tech industry since the early 90’s for outlets like The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She was once called “Silicon Valley’s most feared but revered journalist” by New York magazine, where she is now an editor-at-large. She is the host of On with Kara Swisher and a co-host of the Pivot podcast. She also hosted HBO’s award-winning Succession podcast and is a regular contributor to CNN. Swisher has even appeared on HBO’s Silicon Valley and The Simpsons, as herself. Additionally, she recently authored the New York Times bestselling tech industry expose “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.”

Sandra Testani is Head of ETF Product and Strategy for American Century Investments. She is based in the New York City office. In her role, Sandra drives strategic product initiatives to launch new products and oversees the existing offerings. She works closely with chief investment officers, portfolio managers and analysts to understand each strategy's investment process and is responsible for developing messaging, competitive positioning and sales force education. In addition, she conducts in-depth market, asset class and category research studies that support her coverage areas. Prior to joining American Century Investments in 2015, she spent 15 years as a vice president at AllianceBernstein, focusing on product management and development for the firm's alternatives platform across its private client, institutional and retail distribution channels. She was a member of the Alternative Investment Management Committee, which oversaw the firm’s multimanager hedge fund offerings. She had previously held roles focused on asset allocation recommendations and research within its private client group. She has worked in the investment industry since 2000. Sandra holds a bachelor's degree in international relations with a concentration in business and economics from Boston University. She is a CFA and CAIA® charterholder.

Jan is the CEO of VanEck Funds, a global investment manager founded in 1955. VanEck has become one of the world’s largest ETFs sponsors, offering over 180 ETFs and ETNs globally across international equities, global resources, and international and domestic fixed income. The firm has operations in Europe, Australia, and Asia, and manages over $132 billion. The firm was an early advocate of gold investing (1968), commodities, emerging markets, and digital assets. Jan joined the firm in 1991 and became CEO in 2010. In 2006, he founded the firm’s ETFs business. He holds a J.D. from Stanford University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College with a major in economics. Mr. van Eck is on the advisory board of USC’s Marshall Business School, the board of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and the Williams College board. He has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and has been producing VanEck’s quarterly investment outlook. He was a 2013 Finalist for Institutional Investor's Fund Leader of the Year and was the recipient of ETF.com’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. His Twitter handle is @janvaneck3, and he is on LinkedIn. He enjoys teaching business history to summer interns and is a New York Islanders hockey fan.

Danika Waddell is the president and founder of Xena Financial Planning and a dynamic speaker on financial life planning. A Certified Financial Planner and Registered Life Planner, she integrates coaching and life planning with traditional financial planning to help individuals align their financial decisions with their values and well-being. Danika also challenges traditional financial planning models, guiding advisors to embrace a more holistic, life-centered approach to client relationships. Recognized as one of Investopedia’s Top 100 Advisors in 2022 and 2023, she is committed to redefining financial planning as a profession rooted in meaning, purpose, and human flourishing.

Tim Wickstrom is the Co-Chief Investment Officer at Reckoner Capital Management. With a deep background in credit trading and active portfolio management, Tim previously served as a Managing Director at Panagram Structured Asset Management. During his tenure, he led the firm’s trading activity and served as co-portfolio manager for its flagship CLO ETFs. Tim’s experience also includes senior roles at Eldridge and Security Benefit Life Insurance Company. He brings a specialized perspective on market liquidity and the evolving landscape of exchange-traded debt products. Tim earned his A.B. in Economics from Bowdoin College.

With more than 22 years of professional investment experience, Jim has experience as an advisor, in building and overseeing multiple advisory platforms, and in managing two mutual funds. Jim has built fundamental, risk-based, and quantitative investment strategies using mutual funds, ETFs, and equities as well as those focused on alternatives or technical analysis. He has built models emphasizing active management, passive management, a blended Core-Satellite approach, and single or multi-factor approaches. More recently, Jim helped oversee the portfolio management, analysis, and due diligence for $4 billion of managed assets at Allworth Financial. Jim holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and the Chartered Market Technician designation. He also is a full member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association®. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in International Business Management from Brigham Young University –Hawaii with Mandarin as the foreign language. Prior to college, Jim served a two-year mission for his church in the Philippines. He speaks fluent Tagalog.

Tushar Yadava, Director, is a Senior Strategist on the Model Portfolio Solutions team within BlackRock's Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions group, leading the Market Architecture and Market Strategy functions. In this role, Tushar supports BlackRock’s suite of Target Allocation and Target Income models and mutual funds to both retail and institutional clients. The Target Allocation model families have been awarded 4 gold medals by Morningstar, their top medal designation 1. Tushar’s service with the firm dates back to 2006, including his years with Barclays Global Investors. Prior to his current role, he was an investment strategist in the iShares U.S Investment Strategy team. Tushar earned a BS with Honours in Economics and Management in 2003, and a MA with Merit in European Business in 2004, both from the Royal Holloway at the University of London. Tushar’s interests include the evolving ETF industry and its connection with model portfolios, and the impacts of geopolitics in financial markets, especially in Europe. In his spare time Tushar enjoys being outdoors with his children and travel with friends and family. Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions (MASS) meets client demand for active asset allocation strategies and whole portfolio solutions through funds, model portfolios, and more. MASS draws on the toolkit of BlackRock's index, factor, and alpha-seeking capabilities to deliver cutting-edge insights and investment outcomes.