Polly LeBarron joined National Quality Review (NQR) in 1995 and has senior leadership and relationship management responsibilities across NQR’s suite of services. She also serves as a principal consultant for NQR Institute and, since 2011, has been a key member in developing NQR’s services designed to assist with intermediary and service provider oversight. Polly continues to provide expertise in operations, shareholder communications, customer satisfaction, compliance, and data management and insight into industry objectives in supporting NQR’s clients.

Prior to joining NQR, Polly was a writer and editor for Wilson Business Abstracts, a publication of the H.W. Wilson Company, and an analyst at AIC Investment Advisors.

Polly received a B.A. in Political Economy from Williams College. She earned a Six Sigma Black Belt from the University of Michigan and holds the Quality Improvement Associate and Quality Auditor certifications from the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Polly currently serves on the ASQ Board of Directors.

Vernét Hatcher is a Vice President at Capital Group, American Funds Service Organization. As a Certified Public Accountant, Verne’t joined American Funds in 2000 in Norfolk, VA. During her tenure she has worked in several roles focused on risk management, compliance and Intermediary oversight. In 2019, Vernét joined Capital International Management Company Sarl to focus on Distribution Oversight for the Luxembourg Funds. 

Most recently, Vernét moved back to the US to assume the role of the Hampton Roads (HRO) Site Director with responsibility for offices in Norfolk, VA. She is responsible for the welfare and safety of over 500 associates locally. She also supports the Shareholder Services’ teams in HRO in developing and executing on service strategy and fostering a work  environment that empowers associates and creates a positive experience. 

Vernét is a graduate from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia with a degree in Accounting and holds a certified public accounting license. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Verne’t has one daughter, Alivia.

Steve Krueger serves as our head of the Transfer Agent and has been with U.S. Bank for more than 26 years. Steve was previously our manager of the Transfer Agent’s Technology and System Support team and had been our Information Security Officer, providing consultative services to our organization’s clients by sharing the U.S. Bank and specifically the U.S. Bank Global Fund Services cybersecurity and information security posture. Steve provided these services to both client boards and chief compliance officers. Steve began his career at U.S. Bank in 1991 within our Technology and Operations Services group, implementing and supporting the bank’s network infrastructure. Prior to Steve’s career with the bank he was an operations officer at an independent bank in one of our local communities.

Janet Bienkowski is a Vice President and Sr. Director of Client Services at the MFS Service Center. She leads the teams that are responsible for shareholder and intermediary servicing and oversight for the US and non-US retail Transfer Agent relationships. Janet has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry dedicated to shareholder servicing and Transfer Agency Operations. Prior to joining MFS in 2014, Janet was with John Hancock Signature Services where she was the Head of Transfer Agent Operations. Janet is a current member of the Nicsa Board of Directors and Executive Committee. She is also a co-chair for the Nicsa Content Committee. Janet earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Simmons College.

Maren Stadler-Tjan is a partner in the Investment Funds practice of Clifford Chance’s Luxembourg office.

She is a qualified lawyer in both Luxembourg and Germany and has over 10 years of experience in asset management. She is an expert in advising investment funds and institutional clients in relation to the setting-up, structuring and investment into alternative investment funds (with a strong knowledge of the D-A-CH markets). She has a special focus on Private Equity, Real Estate and debt funds. Her areas of expertise include general regulatory matters, carried interest and co-investment arrangements and general corporate law. Maren also leads the ESG initiative for the Luxembourg funds practice. Maren is a member of the Koblenz Bar (Germany) and the Luxembourg Bar. She is also a member of the German-Luxembourg Lawyers’ Association as well as the Fondsfrauen Association and is a regular speaker at international conferences and seminars.

Serra Ahmetrasit is part of the Structuring Solutions business unit, based in London. She focuses on regulatory and marketing matters and structuring private markets commingled fun offerings. She has been with Partners Group since 2010 and has 15 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Partners Group, she worked at Man Investments AG in Switzerland. She holds a masters degree in law from the London School of Economics, UK.

Veronica Aroutiunian, partner, is a member of the Investment Management practice group in our Luxembourg office. She focuses on structuring and formation of alternative investment funds, particularly within the real assets sector. She is also a member of the Real Estate Industry focus team and the Regional Team France.

Veronica specialises in fund structuring, with a special focus on private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds. She advises clients on the regulatory and corporate aspects of structuring, establishing, operating and marketing Luxembourg regulated investment vehicles (Part II UCIs, SIFs and SICARs) and unregulated investment vehicles (including RAIFs and Luxembourg partnerships).

Before joining Loyens & Loeff, Veronica served as an associate in the financial services and investment management departments of various top-ranked law firms in Luxembourg. In the early stages of her career, she gained a broad experience in funds with liquid strategies (hedge funds) and retail investors (such as UCITS).

Tarun Nagpal is the founder of S64 Capital Innovation, a fintech alternatives investment platform focussed on delivering innovative private markets access to private wealth and retail globally. Tarun has over 20 years experience in finance across asset management, wealth management and investment banking. Before founding S64, Tarun was the Global Head of Alternatives & Solutions at Deutsche Bank and a member of the Executive Committee of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and DWS where he oversaw over $65b of assets across Private Equity, Private Credit, Infrastructure, Hedge Funds and Multi-Asset Solutions with a team of over 250 professionals. Tarun holds a Master of Arts in Law from Pembroke College, Cambridge and is a Qualified Solicitor in England and Wales.

Meredith leads the firm’s syndicated research and evidence-based consulting focused on the financial advisor market and is the lead author of the Advisor Brandscape® report. She has close to 20 years experience managing research initiatives in the wealth management industry and has explored a wide range of business issues working on the client and supplier side. Prior to joining Escalent, Meredith worked for Chatham Partners, State Street, Charles Schwab and Synovate (now Ipsos). She holds an MBA with an emphasis on marketing and consulting from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University.

Bill Finnegan has extensive financial services experience in leadership roles within marketing and sales. His more than 30-year career encompasses working in and across the asset management, retirement, insurance, and banking industries. Most recently, Bill was leading global marketing for Seismic software’s financial services business, the firm’s largest vertical.

Before Seismic, Bill was the Chief Marketing Officer for AMG where he led the marketing efforts for a family of more than 100 funds and SMAs managed by more than 35 independent and autonomous sub-advisers. Prior to that, Bill was Senior Managing Director of Global Retail Marketing at MFS. There he was responsible for leading the marketing strategy, content marketing, digital marketing, and client engagement for MFS’ global retail marketing business, the firm’s largest.

As a company spokesperson, Bill has been quoted extensively across consumer and industry publications regarding investor behavior and the application of technology and data to improve outcomes. At Broadridge, Bill is leveraging his integrated digital, data, and technology experiences to guide asset management clients as they apply software and data to improve client engagement.

Bill earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and a minor in economics from the University of Massachusetts. He has held Series 7, Series 24, Series 51, and Series 63 securities licenses as well as state life insurance & annuity licenses.

Matthew Goulet is head of Asset Manager Services & Business Development at Fidelity Institutional® (FI), the Fidelity Investments business that offers financial professionals and institutions access to the investment, technology, and platform solutions they need to service their clients and grow their businesses. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals. 

In this role, Mr. Goulet leads a team that manages relationships with third party asset managers who offer mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), collective investment trusts (CITs), alternative investments, and separately managed accounts (SMAs) to Fidelity platform clients. 

Prior to this role, Mr. Goulet held a number of executive positions leading Fidelity’s model, SMA, and portfolio construction solutions and driving business development efforts in support of Fidelity’s ETF offering. He has extensive experience building teams that consult, design, and execute strategies to support Fidelity’s institutional clients’ ability to optimize their portfolio construction strategy through custom solutions and integrations with industry fintech solutions. 

Before joining Fidelity in 2012, Mr. Goulet was vice president and product specialist for the iShares Product & Investment Consulting team at BlackRock. In this capacity, he focused on the iShares lineup of ETFs and was primarily responsible for working with financial advisors and RIAs to help them better understand the structural differences between various ETFs. Previously, Mr. Goulet worked in several sales and product roles within State Street Global Advisors’ North American Intermediary Business Group. He has been in the financial industry since 2006. 

Mr. Goulet received his bachelor of business administration degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

Austin Lewis is the Director of Global Business Intelligence at Janus Henderson Investors, a position he has held since 2018. In this role, he is responsible for providing distribution enablement and advanced analytics to the global distribution division. Previously, he was the firm’s global CRM Support Manager and Business intelligence Manager since 2012. Austin is a member of the IMEA Data steering Committee and frequent speaker at other Industry events. Austin received his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and received his Masters of Business specializing in International Business and Business Strategy from the University of Colorado.

Daniel Shannon is the Director, Advisor Solutions Group for Delaware Valley region. In this role, he consults directly with Janus Henderson-related products and the Knowledge Labs® curriculum, which offers high-impact business and life-enhancing programs. Prior to joining Janus in 2018, Mr. Shannon was a regional marketing director at Putnam Investments. 

Mr. Shannon attended Fairfield University. He holds FINRA Series 6, 7, 63 securities licenses. He has 15 years of financial industry experience.