Executive Director

E. Craig Asche
 

Craig Asche is the Executive Director for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association, overseeing all areas of the Association's growth, including examinations, curriculum and development.

Mr. Asche joined the CAIA Association in February 2003 after being approached by Thomas Schneeweis, the current director at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM), to help head up the fledgling organization. 

At the CAIA Association, Mr. Asche has worked to solidify the Association's prestige among members of the financial community as the foremost program for alternative investment professional and education development. 

Full biography...

Director of Curriculum

Kathryn Wilkens-Christopher, Ph.D., CAIA

Kathryn Wilkens-Christopher received her Ph.D. in finance at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1998, and received a Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM) fellowship in 1997. She has been on CAIA's advisory board since the program's inception in 2002.

Dr. Wilkens-Christopher founded the first CAIA preparatory company, KalmAI Inc., in 2002, to support the new association and assist the first CAIA candidates studying for the exams. In 2006, KalmAI operations were sold to Institutional Investors, Inc., and she joined the CAIA Association as its full time Director of Curriculum.

Dr. Wilkens-Christopher works with CAIA's Advisory Board, Curriculum and Exam Committees, and Curriculum Subcommittees to develop the curriculum based on the contributions of these experts in alternative investments. She is ultimately responsible for selecting the required readings and outlining the learning objectives of the program.

Full biography...

Director of Exams

Nelson Lacey, Ph.D., CFA

Nelson J. Lacey is an associate professor of finance at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts.  He came to Amherst in 1985 after having earned his PhD in finance from the Pennsylvania State University.  At Penn State he studied corporate finance and fixed income markets, topics that would guide his research over the next twenty or so years.  He also worked in modeling the state economy, and designed a set of leading indicators for Pennsylvania.  He earned an MBA from the Arizona State University in 1980, and became a CFA charterholder in 1999.

Professor Lacey joined CAIA at its inception.  He has been active in working on the program's curriculum and examinations since 2003, and became Director of Examinations in 2004.  With the help of the CAIA Advisory Board and Curriculum and Examination Committee, he has been instrumental in designing the current CAIA exam format. 

Full biography...

 

Director of Member Services

Maia Porter 

Maia Porter joined the CAIA Association in 2006. She manages the registration process for CAIAA's growing membership and acts as the point of contact for members. Maia provides support for CAIAA's existing global chapters and works with members worldwide to establish new chapters. 

The editor of the monthly Member Update, she works closely with her colleagues to strengthen and increase member benefits, with an emphasis on professional networking and educational opportunities. Keeping members informed about the growth and direction of the Association is paramount, and members are encouraged to contact Maia with their questions and input. 

A graduate of Smith College, where she earned a combined degree in Anthropology and Art, her professional background is in arts and academic administration. Prior to joining the CAIA Association, she owned a contemporary art and furniture gallery near Boston, was managing director of a major American craft gallery, and served on the staff of Harvard College's Dean of Freshmen. In her spare time she enjoys restoring her circa 1840 farmhouse and exploring the old New England villages that surround Amherst.

Director of Candidate Services

John Annable

As our Director of Candidate Services, John manages the global exam registration and scheduling efforts, focusing on getting candidates into and through the program as efficiently as possible. He is also the chief liaison to our testing provider, Pearson VUE, and oversees CAIA exam delivery throughout their worldwide network of testing centers.

John joined CAIA in 2004, after six years at Merrill Lynch Corporate Headquarters in Strategic Planning and Business Technology Services. Prior to that, he worked extensively in events production and management at both commercial and academic/nonprofit organizations.

He also has experience as a film editor and promotional consultant for a New York-based production company and is an ardent film enthusiast.

 
Director of Marketing and Outreach

Mary Westervelt

As the Director of Marketing and Outreach, Mary Westervelt is responsible for all public relations, advertising campaigns, strategic partnerships, industry outreach, and brand management.  She works closely with all areas of the CAIA Association and considers this one of the highlights of her position. 

Mary has been with the CAIA Association since its inception in 2002, when she was a member of the operational team that organized and launched the first exam in February 2003.  Following a sabbatical in South America in 2004, she returned to the CAIA Association full time, assuming responsibility for marketing the CAIA charter program.

She earned a BA in Anthropology summa cum laude from the College of William and Mary in 2001 and is an alumna of Schneeweis Partners and Abacus Technology.

Director of Operations

Dee Weber

Dee Weber provides a range of operational support service to the CAIA Association:  with primary responsibilities in accounting,  IT support, database oversight and analysis. In addition, she maintains the CAIA website job board and bibliography.

Dee has worked with CISDM (Center for International Derivatives and Securities Markets) as a research associate for over ten years overseeing the database and software at the Research Center and providing operational support to the faculty and students.

She received a BA in Sociology from Bates College and a Masters Degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts.

Associate Director of
Industry Relations - EMEA

Steve Wallace, MSI, CAIA

Steve Wallace joined the CAIA Association in June 2008 and is based in England. Steve is responsible for building awareness of the CAIA designation and program to potential CAIA members in all financial sectors throughout the EMEA region.
The importance of alternative investment education and the professionalism of the organization are the factors that drew Steve to the CAIA Association. He earned his CAIA designation in 2007 and was instrumental in helping to build the highly successful CAIA London chapter.

Prior to joining the CAIA Association, Steve managed client relations for several UK firms - most recently with an emerging market equity hedge fund as well as ING Wholesale Banking and Societé Generale Corporate & Investment Bank. In addition, Steve spent seven years working in the Private Wealth Management sector in Australia, primarily in investment strategy for high net worth individuals at firms, including the Private Bank division of National Australia Bank and AXA Australia.

Steve graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, with a Bachelor of Business in Financial Planning and has also completed the Certificate of Investment Management. He is also currently a member of the Securities and Investments Institute (SII). In his spare time Steve takes the opportunity to brush up on his fencing and is a member of the British Fencing Association.

Senior Advisor - Examinations

Don Chambers, Ph.D., CAIA

Dr. Chambers assists the Director of Examinations in all areas of the examination process, including but not limited to item development, exam development, and item analysis. He also assists in the delivery of CAIA Level I and Level II examinations.

Dr. Chambers is the Walter E. Hanson KPMG Professor of Finance at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He has published forty articles and several books in investments, corporate finance and risk management. He received a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Accounting from SUNY-Binghamton.

Dr. Chambers began at Lafayette College after serving at the University of Baltimore as the Frank Baker Research Chair in Finance. His prior academic positions were at Rochester Institute of Technology, Penn State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Chambers served at The Bank of New York on a consulting basis in risk management regarding the bank's many diverse operations involving credit risk, event risk, capital cost allocation, operational risk and liquidity risk. He also served at Karpus Investment Management of Pittsford, NY.

Dr. Chambers earned the CAIA charter in September 2003 as a member of the first group of candidates to complete the requirements.

In his spare time, Dr. Chambers enjoys jogging, reading and exercising his dog, a boxer named Tiger Lilly.

Global Events Coordinator

Lisa Rivera

Lisa works with the Director of Member Services and the Executive Director to coordinate events including presentations, outreach and speaker events to promote CAIA's educational program.  She brings several years of project management experience to her role.

Lisa moved to the Pioneer Valley to attend Smith College where she graduated with a degree in Anthropology as well as a keen interest in Marine Ecology and applied economics.  She divides her time between Vermont and Massachusetts.

Senior Advisor

Hossein Kazemi, Ph.D., CFA

Dr. Kazemi is the Academic Liaison for the CAIA Association, assisting in the development of the CAIA educational program and sitting on the Curriculum and Examination board.  In addition, he works with universities and industry organizations to introduce them to the CAIA program.

Dr. Kazemi is also a Professor of Finance at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  He is an Associate Director of Center for International Securities & Derivatives Markets, a nonprofit organization devoted to research in the area of alternative investments and home to CISDM Hedge Fund/CTA Database.  He is an Associate Editor of The Journal of Alternative Investments and The Financial Review.

His research has been in the areas of valuations of equity and fixed income securities, asset allocation for traditional and alternative asset classes, evaluation and replication of active management investment products.  He is a managing partner of Alternative Investment Analytics, LLC, an investment and consulting firm offering investment products and services in hedge fund, CTA and commodity areas.  He has a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Michigan.

Candidate Services Assistant

Matreya Hughes

As the first point of contact for CAIAA, Matreya acts as liaison between Association personnel, members and candidates. In keeping with the CAIA Association's strong commitment to ethical industry standards and professionalism, Matreya works to aid in the process of running CAIAA's administrative hub smoothly. She also works closely with the Director of Candidate Services to facilitate the candidate registration process.

Matreya brings several years of experience in Sales and Customer Relations to her role here at CAIAA. She is committed to facilitating the enrollment process and supporting the growth of the CAIA designation around the globe.

Matreya holds a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In her spare time she enjoys painting, hiking and traveling.

Office Administrator

Ruth Carolan 

Ruth joined us in September 2007 to manage our day-to-day developmental and administrative operations. She works collaboratively with the Executive Director and the Director of Member Services to establish the global chapters. She handles legal contracts and obligations; acts as liaison between the Association and its various contracted legal teams; and, liaises with the off-site technical support team and office staff.

Ruth also provides office support and oversight of the administrative staff, human resources support, and office maintenance. Her more than fifteen years of paralegal experience with law firms and biotechnology companies in the Washington, D.C. area are a great asset. Ruth enjoys spending time with her family, hiking and exploring New England.

Curriculum Resource Coordinator

Jeanne Miller

Jeanne works with the Director of Curriculum and acts as a liaison between the Director and various committees, CAIA members, exam item developers, practitioners and academic experts. She is also responsible for organizing and maintaining the Curriculum Library and providing administrative support to the Director of Curriculum.

Jeanne received a B.A. in Management from Western Michigan University. Most recently a transplant from New York, Jeanne is excited to be closer to nature and skiing and looks forward to exploring New England.

Asia Regional Coordinator

Sue Lynn Oliveiro 

Sue Lynn is the Asia Regional Coordinator for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, Singapore Chapter. She is the point of contact in Asia for CAIA matters.

Sue Lynn graduated with a degree in Arts and Social Sciences from the National University of Singapore where she majored in Economics and English Language.

She started her career with Morgan Stanley in an operational support role after which she spent the next 5 years in business development in the automotive manufacturing and IT industries in Singapore.

Sue Lynn enjoys meeting people and is fluent in both English and Mandarin and conversant in Malay.