Bob Adams is chief operations officer and head of the Operations and Services Group (OSG), a division of Fund and Brokerage Operations & Technology (FBOT). FBOT is a division of Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to more than 27 million individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries. Additionally, Mr. Adams proudly serves as FBOT’s Diversity & Inclusion executive sponsor.

As COO and head of OSG, Mr. Adams is responsible for all brokerage operations and services for Fidelity's institutional and retail businesses. During his 32-year Fidelity career, he has led virtually every operations and services function within OSG. He was instrumental in establishing and providing oversight to the firm’s Client Services and Support Division. The business unit's primary objective was to provide client call support and problem resolution for the division’s four operating functions (Trade Processing, Money Movement, Asset Servicing, and New Accounts). He also guides the firm’s internal Fidelity Fund Transfer Agent Board.

Mr. Adams joined Fidelity in 1992 as the director of client services. He assumed responsibility for Mutual Fund Processing from 1994 – 2002. During his leadership, the organization supported significant growth generated from Fidelity’s FundsNetwork offering, assisted with the consolidation of internal Transfer Agent platforms, and initiated a series of process improvement changes that resulted in greater efficiency, control, and output quality. Under his guidance, critical advances were made in the areas of applied technologies, talent acquisition and retention, risk oversight, and service delivery.

In 1984, Mr. Adams began his financial services career as a member of the E.F. Hutton Management Associate Program and then assumed a management role in the Direct Investment Processing Organization. In 1988, he was instrumental in coordinating the merger between the Direct Investment Departments of E.F. Hutton and Shearson Lehman Brothers. Mr. Adams was then promoted to Vice President responsible for all Direct Investment Operations. In 1990, he transitioned into a new leadership position in Shearson Lehman Brothers Mutual Fund Organization. He also played an active part in Shearson Lehman Brothers' move toward a "Total Quality Management" and "Service Excellence" work environment.

Mr. Adams holds a Bachelor of Science and an MBA in finance from St. John's University. He also holds NASD Series 7, 24, and 27 licenses. His industry participation includes membership in DTCC’s Operations Advisory Committee where he presently serves as vice chair and SIFMA’s Operations and Technology Committee. Mr. Adams is also a member of St. John’s Tobin School of Business Advisory Board, serves on the St. John’s University President’s Dinner Executive Committee, and participates in the University’s Day on Wall Street Program. Additionally, he supports Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Omar Aguilar is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Schwab Asset Management, responsible for leading, developing, and overseeing the firms’ investment strategies. He is also responsible for the Schwab Center for Financial Research, a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., which provides quality research and education, timely market insights, and practical guidance to help millions of investors make informed financial decisions. 

Mr. Aguilar has more than 25 years of broad investment management experience in the equity markets, including managing index, quantitative equity, asset allocation, and multi-manager strategies. Prior to joining Schwab Asset Management in 2011, Mr. Aguilar worked at Financial Engines where he was responsible for managing more than $40 billion in assets from leading retirement plan sponsors in the defined contribution market. Before that, he served as head of quantitative equity for ING Investment Management (now known as Voya Investment Management), building and developing the group and managing more than $20 billion in assets with 15 global active, index and enhanced index strategies for pension funds, variable annuities, and mutual funds. Mr. Aguilar also served as head of quantitative research for Lehman Brothers' alternative investment management business and as a director of quantitative research and a portfolio manager with both Merrill Lynch Investment Management and Bankers Trust.

Mr. Aguilar was a Fulbright Scholar at Duke University’s Institute of Statistics and Decisions Sciences where he earned a Master of Science and a doctorate. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in actuarial sciences and a graduate degree in applied statistics from the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM).

EY, Partner, Wealth & Asset Management Consulting

Co-Chair NICSA Diversity Project

Cheryl is a Co-Leader of Asset Management Business Transformation for EY. She has worked extensively with leading global asset management firms, focusing on executing transformational projects that help clients recognize efficiency gains and improve alpha generation. She works with asset managers to define and implement a strategy for the digital age by harnessing the power of innovation and building a diverse and inclusive culture.

Erika is Citi’s Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent, responsible for developing global diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and driving Citi’s agenda on talent planning, succession planning and leadership development.

Prior to joining Citi, Erika was Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs from 2018 to 2021 and Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Bloomberg from 2015 to 2018. Prior to this, she led executive and diversity hiring efforts at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers.

Erika's background includes a range of banking and finance roles, including Head of Business Development for Black Entertainment Television, Senior Associate in High Yield Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and Senior Policy Analyst for Domestic Finance for the United States Department of the Treasury. She began her career as an Analyst in Public Finance at Lehman Brothers.

Erika is Vice Chair of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and serves on the Boards of Columbia Business School and the Riverside Hawks.

Erika earned a BS in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Columbia Business School

Gary Casagrande is the Head of US Fund Administration at Northern Trust with oversight of the Financial Reporting, Regulatory Reporting, Expense & Budgeting, and Performance Reporting teams.  In this capacity Gary is responsible for setting and executing strategy across the Fund Administration organization to ensure client satisfaction with team deliverables and to advance the quality of the Fund Administration product that NT delivers to its clients.  

Prior to joining NT earlier this year, Gary spent the prior seven years at Confluence as the Head of Global Market Strategy with responsibility for understanding trends across the front, middle, and back office to help Confluence build and deliver viable solutions to real business problems.  Prior to Confluence, Gary was the Head of Financial Reporting and Expense Administration at BBH and at JPM in a leadership role before that.  Throughout his career, Gary has focused on continuous operational improvements, efficiency, and client service. Gary has a Bachelor’s Degree from Bryant University in Business Administration with a focus on Finance.

Myra is the Director, VP, Insights and Analytics at Capital Group. She has 20 years of experience in the field of data analytics. In her current role, Myra leads the insight discovery and analytics solution development for sales, marketing, and digital function. She values the strategic partnership with business leaders and works closely with them to promote and enable data and insights driven decision making. In addition, Myra is a leader of the firm’s Women in Data and Analytics (WIDA) community. She is aspired to nurture next generation analytics professionals, deliver value-add analytics services and advance data & analytics as a strategic competitive advantage.

Prior to joining Capital Group, Myra was the Head of Advanced Analytics at John Hancock Retirement Services. Myra spent her entire career within Financial Services industry. She had a successful track record of leading advanced analytics teams and delivering analytics solutions to different business departments. 

Myra holds a MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. She serves on the editorial board of the CDO Magazine. She was recognized by the OnCon Icon Award as the top 100 Data & Analytics Professionals in both 2021 and 2022. She is bilingual, fluent in Mandarin and English.

Nick Cherney is Head of Innovation at Janus Henderson Investors. In this role, he is responsible for helping the firm and its clients to identify, understand, and execute on longer horizon developments that have potentially disruptive impact to the way business is managed, and clients manage their investments. He is also responsible for the firm’s exchange traded funds (ETF) business and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Janus Detroit Street Trust, and Clayton Street Trust. Nick is a member of the firm’s Strategic Leadership Team, is the executive sponsor of the Black Professional Network, and is committed to advancing DEI in financial services. Previously, Nick was the Chief Investment Officer and co-founder at VelocityShares until Janus’ acquisition of the company in 2014. Earlier, he held product management and development responsibilities for iPath ETNs at Barclays Capital. Before that, Nick was a portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investors managing over US$25 billion of ETF assets.

Nick received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of California – Berkeley, where he graduated with highest honours. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has 19 years of financial industry experience.

Shannon Daigh currently leads (AM Operations) Global Middle Office Product & Fixed Income Middle Office based in New York. Shannon is responsible for implementing advanced oversight data insights and instrumentation platforms as well as supporting the GFICC Business.

Shannon has 19 years of Transformation, Technology, and Operations leadership across multiple verticals and brings substantial expertise in holistic end to end strategic delivery and execution.

Shannon  is a member of the JP Morgan LGBTQ+ Executive Forum, co-chairs the JPMAM Operations DEI Council, and co-chairs the NICSA Industry engagement council

Shannon holds a B.S Business Administration from the State University of New York at Geneseo with accreditations from Oxford University New College and American University Rome.

Richard M.F. Ernesti is Managing Director, and a Senior Client Executive covering firmwide strategic relationships and is responsible for the cross-sale coordination of Custody, Fund Services, and Securities Lending service offerings.  Richard has developed a deep understanding his client needs and to deliver strategic organizational initiatives. He brings over 30 years of financial services expertise and has worked in many different cities across three continents including, London, New York, Singapore, Frankfurt , Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

During his tenure at Citi, Richard has taken on several key leadership roles including Asia Pacific Regional Head of Securities Services for Global Transaction Services business, Head of the Prime Finance Client Management team and prior to assuming his current position in early 2016, as the Senior Client Executive covering strategic relationships.

Prior to joining Citi in 2001, Richard was Managing Director, Head of Customer Management and Global Sales Head for Global Securities Services at Deutsche Bank. Richard began his career at State Street Trust and Banking in Tokyo, followed by a move to Chase Manhattan Bank, where he completed the Management Development Program and worked in Chase Private Banking.

Richard is an advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Citi and in the financial services industry. He leads the DEI initiatives for Securities Services in North America, is an active member of Citi’s Pride Network, and serves as a mentor for the LGBTQ+ community.

He is a frequent speaker on industry panels and sits on the CEO Advisory Council of the Nicsa Diversity Project North America and the Investment Company Institute’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He is actively engaged with and provides thought leadership for LGBT Great, Out Leadership and Out and Equal as well as with the clients which he covers.  He also is an active volunteer as a mentor to young LGBT professionals and leaders in the finance industry.

Jim Fitzpatrick is the President and CEO of Nicsa, a global asset management trade association with a mission of connecting industry participants in order to advance leading practices. Jim joined Nicsa in 2015 with 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles within the asset management industry. Working closely with the Board of Directors, Jim has set the strategic direction of Nicsa, which includes the launch of the Diversity Project North America in late 2018. The Diversity Project promotes an inclusive asset management industry and seeks to achieve diversity across all dimensions through collaborative leadership from senior business executives.

Previously, Jim was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management with responsibilities that included senior leadership responsibilities in both global operations and global sales roles during his career. In addition, he served as an officer of the Goldman Sachs Funds for fourteen years and served as an Independent Trustee for the Hays Series Trust until December 2017. Jim began his career with The Boston Company and later First Data Investor Services Group, a subsidiary of the surviving entity, First Data Corporation, where he held several senior management positions during his tenure.

CAROL FULP is the CEO of Fulp Diversity LLC where she builds upon research from her book, Success through Diversity: Why the Most Inclusive Companies Will Win to consult with CEOs to advance organizational inclusion. Her book has been praised by Publishers Weekly, The World Economic Forum, and the Freedom Institute Forum. More than one hundred organizations have engaged Fulp, from Microsoft to PBS, Deloitte, the Boston Red Sox and more. She also has designed and teaches the Inclusive Leadership MBA Series at Boston College. Fulp previously served as CEO of The Partnership Inc., the national firm that enhances organizational competitiveness by developing multi-cultural executives and professionals.

While in office, President Barack Obama appointed Fulp as Representative of the United States to the United Nations 65th General Assembly. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Eastern Bank as well as their Foundation. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of the American Student Assistance Corporation as well as a Vice Chair for the Board of Trustees for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Fulp serves on the Board of Advisors for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation and the Institute of Politics, Policy, and History of the University of the District of Columbia. She is also a Member of the National Finance Committee for the Biden-Harris Re-election Campaign. She is the recipient of many honors, including the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Bostonian Award and the Museum of African American History’s Living Legend Award. During her career, Boston Business Journal listed Fulp as one of the 50 Most Influential Bostonians, and Boston Magazine named her one of the 21 Most Powerful People in Boston Business.

Frieda Lewis is an accomplished financial services professional, with more than 30 years of experience helping coordinate significant global relationships, executing diversity strategies, and deepening client relationships through strategic thinking in the financial services industry.

Frieda joined Broadridge in 2008, where she served as the Managing Director of Global Relationship Management and was responsible for coordinating global relationships that cross multiple lines of business. In this position, she helped to deepen and extend client relationships by understanding their tactical needs.

In 2017, Frieda was appointed as the Chief Commercial Diversity Officer to enhance Broadridge’s record of diversity. She currently serves as a business catalyst, executing a diversity strategy that enables Broadridge to win in the global marketplace. She also launched the Women’s Leadership Forum at Broadridge. 

Prior to joining Broadridge, Frieda held many senior executive positions including President of IFMG Securities Inc., a third-party provider of financial services to banking institutions nationwide and division of Sun Life Financial, Chief Operating Officer for Bankmark, a division of Mellon Financial and various roles at Fleet Financial Group where she held an 18-year tenure. During her service, she served as President and CEO of Fleet Brokerage Securities and its wholly owned subsidiary Fleet Clearing Corporation, a national discount brokerage firm. 

Frieda graduated from City University of New York at Lehman College where she received her B.S. in Psychology and later earned her M.B.A. from Baruch College. She is a member of the Board of the National Investment Company Service Association (NICSA) and the Women’s Bond Club.  She also serves as a Governing Member of the Wall Street Women’s Alliance, member of the SIFMA Diversity Committee and a member of the Bank Insurance & Securities Diversity Committee.

Justine Phoenix is Head of Diversity Project North America and Vice President of Distribution & Broker Dealer Engagement at Nicsa. Justine joined Nicsa with over 30 years of experience in asset management and intermediary distribution in the areas of relationship and client management, business development and operations. In her current role, Justine is responsible for building and enhancing Nicsa programs that engage and support distribution and BD executives. Before joining Nicsa, she was Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager at Fidelity Investments. In this role, she was head of relationship management for Fidelity FundsNetwork® and was responsible for overseeing all functions related to managing relationships with over 600 asset managers. Prior to joining Fidelity Investments, Justine was Director of Operations for the Investment Company Institute (ICI). In her role, she was responsible for all activities associated with mutual fund operations and distribution, including the Transfer Agent Advisory Committee and the Broker Dealer Advisory Committee. She also held leadership roles at Massachusetts Financial Services and Boston Financial Data Services prior to joining the ICI.

Byron Pitts was named co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” in 2014. He has covered national news stories and in-depth features for the network, reporting across the news division, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight with David Muir," “This Week” and “20/20.”

Pitts is a multiple Emmy award winning journalist and news veteran with over 20 years of experience known for his thoughtful storytelling, on-the-ground reporting and in-depth interviews. After less than 24 hours at ABC News, Pitts immediately joined the network’s live special coverage of the Boston marathon bombing investigation. Since then, Pitts has gone on to report live from Baltimore, Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., during each cities’ recent riots and protests. He also co-anchored a special edition of “Nightline” with Juju Chang from Los Angeles looking back on the city 25 years after the riots that broke out following the Rodney King verdict.

During the 2016 election, Pitts was a key part of the network’s coverage, from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and the first presidential debates to seven hours of live election night coverage. In the 30 days leading up to the election, Pitts traveled around the country for “Inside the Final 30,” a daily docu-series produced by “Nightline,” to speak with voters as they were coming to their final decisions about who should be the nation’s next President. It took viewers behind the scenes on the campaign trail and focused on the issues that matter most to Americans as well as revisited key moments that shaped the direction of the race.

Prior to joining ABC News, Pitts spent 15 years at CBS News where he served as Chief National Correspondent for The CBS Evening News, filed regularly for 60 Minutes, and won an Emmy for his coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was named the National Association of Black Journalists Journalist of the Year in 2002. His 2009 memoir, “Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges” chronicled his journey overcoming illiteracy and a stutter to become a journalist. In 2017, Pitts profiled six young adults that overcame hardship with hope in his book “Be the One.”

Pitts began his career at WNCT-TV in Greenville, N.C., where he covered local news and served as weekend sports anchor. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1982, where he studied journalism and speech communication. Pitts is a native of Baltimore and currently lives in New York City.

Eugene Smith is a Vice President and Chief of Staff to the CDO, and Global Head of Talent at Citi. In this role he is responsible for supporting the advancement of Citi’s strategic global diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, specifically supporting the firm’s Black Heritage, LGBTQ+, Interfaith and Client Strategy initiatives. As Chief of Staff, Eugene is also responsible for the planning and execution of colleague and external engagement from the CDO and Global Head of Talent office including: reporting to Citi’s Executive Management Team, participation in panels and media recordings, written communications, and client engagement. Prior to working at Citi, Eugene worked on the Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion team at Goldman Sachs, where he first started his career there as an intern. Eugene earned his BA from Wesleyan University, and is a proud 2023 NICSA Rising Star Nominee, and Gates Millennium Scholar.

Kwesi Smith brings 20+ years of experience and expertise to his role as CEO of Greenwood Project. The organization envisions a finance industry without barriers to entry or advancement.

Before this new role, Smith was a seasoned Global Research Analyst with William Blair, where he acted as a strategic partner to Portfolio Managers. His expertise is in evaluating equity investments across various market caps and industries worldwide. As a past Greenwood Project Board President, Smith saw the value and the opportunity in bringing the industry together to scale solutions.

This role is a career pivot that combines his extensive career expertise with his dedication to diversity and inclusion and his passion for mentoring. With his unique blend of financial acumen and dedication to creating a more equitable future, Smith is at the forefront of driving positive transformation within the finance industry.

Michelle Thompson-Dolberry is an executive vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at MFS Investment Management® (MFS®). She is responsible for building out and enhancing the firm’s enterprise‐wide DEI strategy. She is member of the MFS Management Committee.

Michelle joined MFS in 2022 from American Express, where she was head of strategic inclusion and diversity partnerships, culture initiatives and diversity recruiting. She was previously the head of J.P. Morgan Chase & Company’s campus recruiting and pipeline development and the JPMC Advancing Black Scholars program for three years. She also spent nearly 10 years working in brand and  multicultural marketing supporting small and medium‐sized businesses at American Express. Before that, she spent time at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse in DEI‐ and human resources‐related roles.  She began her career in financial services in 1996 with Société Générale.

Michelle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in French from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in business administration and management from Pennsylvania State University. She was awarded a certificate of completion from Wharton’s CHRO Executive Education Program and is a DiversityFIRST™ certified professional

Fee is a seasoned client relationship executive with 20+ years of hands-on experience in leading complex middle and back-office transformation programs at top tier investment management firms. Delivering large scale business/operations in tech-enabled initiative, she brings a blended perspective of people, process and technology to her clients as well as applied experience in cost reduction and increasing operational efficiency. Serving as a DEI Leader across the Investment Management practice she focuses on ensuring that DEI is at the core of everything she does.

Cinda Whitten joined the firm in 2022 as the Head of Nuveen Global Investment Operations and is accountable for advancing Nuveen’s operations strategy, including delivering a transformational plan to modernize and scale operational practices, integrate currently unsupported affiliates, improve service reliability, manage regulatory risk and reduce operating costs to align with Nuveen’s focus on becoming the world’s premier provider of investment solutions.

Cinda is a seasoned, dynamic, results driven operations leader with over 20 years of global expertise and success in driving operational improvements, with measurable results in the investment management industry. Specifically, Cinda has built out and led global teams, has experience with large institutional global clients with unique requirements and understands the complex landscape of the regulatory environment that impacts operations in markets we operate. 

Cinda strongly believes in winning the hearts and minds of key stakeholders, championing the development of teams through mentoring and coaching and leading process improvements across teams for the betterment of clients, team members and the organization.

Prior to joining TIAA, Cinda was Managing Director at Principal Global Investors, where she drove a multi-year global transformational program resulting in modernized technology and business processes for the Global Investment Book of Record, supported more than $350b AUM through the transformation of core investment operations, integrated unsupported affiliates and transitioned affiliates supported that were sold and developed and led the implementation of a business enablement program within operations focused on advancing technical skills of business team to build and deploy automation capabilities.

Cinda is active in the industry and has served on client advisory board with asset servicers, technology applications and conference events. She is also a member of the CIPM Association and holds a certification in Investment Performance Measurement by the CFA Institute. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Bachelor’s of Finance from Northwest Missouri State University.