Bruce is a tax partner with Grant Thornton LLP and has more than 35 years of experience in executive compensation, tax planning relating to compensation arrangements and international human resource consulting.  Before joining Grant Thornton, Bruce was the partner-in-charge of Arthur Andersen’s North American and Latin American Human Capital Practice and the Divisional President of a consulting practice for a publicly traded company.

 

Bruce has broad consulting experience in many industries with companies ranging from closely held family businesses and single family offices to multi national corporations.  His experience includes advising clients and executives on all aspects of strategic compensation planning, benefits and human resource issues, including competitive total compensation arrangements for executives, change of control and severance arrangements, qualified pension, stock bonus plans, life insurance planning, welfare benefit plans, and nonqualified executive compensation arrangements.

 

He also has extensive experience in the design and implementation of long-term, equity-based incentive plans for single family offices, privately held and other publicly held companies.

 

Bruce is a certified public accountant and a member of both national and state organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.  

 

Bruce has written numerous articles dealing with compensation and tax issues that have been published in such journals as The Tax Advisor, Taxes, Small Business Taxation, Trusts and Estates, Tax Ideas and Journal of Accountancy.  He lectures frequently on executive compensation and business planning, focusing primarily on designing incentive plans (with a special emphasis on simulated equity plans) and organizational structures to motivate corporate performance and drive growth.

 

Bruce holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and a Masters in Accountancy with an emphasis in taxation from the University of Oklahoma.

 

 

As the President and founder of Ascent Private Capital Management of US Bank, Michael Cole is fulfilling one his family’s core values. 

 

“My parents taught me and my two sisters that we are all citizens of a larger planet and that we needed to look for ways to give back,” Cole said from his San Francisco office. “For me, the greatest way to give back is to empower people who have great wealth to use their resources – both financial and personal – to do great things for themselves and their families, live great lives and make a positive impact on the planet.” 

 

Through Ascent Private Capital Management, Cole and his team provide ultra-high net worth clients with a unique and distinctive suite of wealth-management services that combine traditional wealth management offerings – financial planning, investment consulting, financial administration, private banking, trust and estate services – with cutting-edge “wealth impact” services that help some of the country’s wealthiest families with governance, risk management, education, stewardship, family leadership and communication. Ascent, since its creation is 2010, has won numerous industry awards and recognition. From the time that he was a 23-year-old financial advisor selling pensions and employee benefits to wealthy businessmen in the New York City area, Cole has been a student of success. “I learned early that ‘knowledge is power’ and that I needed to learn everything there was to know about my work – from the technical side of the business to rapport with people,” Cole said. “I also learned what it took to succeed and what the activities were that led to success. Cole was such a student of success that, when he was only 35, Merrill Lynch named him president of Merrill Lynch Trust after working at the firm for only two years. He then went on to even greater professional success at Wells Fargo, where he held senior wealth management positions and was selected to build, develop and serve as national director of the Family Wealth Group and the Wealth Planning Center at Wells Fargo. The Family Wealth Group, which was subsequently rebranded as Abbott Downing, is now one of the largest Multi-Family Offices in the United States.  Now Cole spends the majority of his time sharing his vision of how Ascent Private Capital Management can help families with exceptional net worth act strategically to make an impact with their wealth. “I believe there is no higher calling than to help people move forward in a direction that creates a positive change in how they manage their wealth and impact the world,” he said. 

 

Cole also spends a great deal of time interacting with clients and working with his team. He prides himself on knowing how to hire great people and empower them to execute his vision. “My management style is to have fun and be passionate,” he said. “I find it exceptionally rewarding and challenging to work with clients and team members in a business where you interface with .interesting, successful people who have the resources and abilities to do amazing things” 

 

Cole earned a bachelor’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a Certified Financial Planner.

 

 

Mr. Jeyarajah joined Select Equity in July 2015 to lead Astor Place Holdings, the firm’s long-term private investing effort.  Prior to joining Select Equity, Mr. Jeyarajah was an Executive Vice President, Corporate Development at Rexnord Corporation.  Prior to Rexnord Corporation, Mr. Jeyarajah was a Managing Director at Cypress Group, LLC.  Mr. Jeyarajah was also a Managing Director in The Carlyle Group’s U.S. leveraged buyout fund.  Mr. Jeyarajah has a B.A. from Rutgers College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business.

 

 

 

Mr. Loening founded Select Equity in January 1990. He has been responsible for the portfolio management of the Small-Mid Cap strategy (the Firm’s US long-only strategy) since its inception in January 1991, of SEG Partners (the Firm’s US long/short strategy) since its inception in April 1998, of the SEG Blackwall Fund (the Firm’s US core long-only strategy) since its inception in January 2008 and the co-portfolio management of the Vandam Street Fund (the Firm’s global long-only strategy) since its inception in November 2013. Mr. Loening is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Loening received a B.A. from Columbia University. 

 

Abigail Noble joined as CEO of The ImPact in August 2015 after five years at the World Economic Forum where she created and led the Impact Investing initiatives. The ImPact is a nonprofit social enterprise which helps families make more impact investments, more effectively. The ImPact is both a curated private network of family offices who commit to make impact investments and a data-driven platform through which those families can access insights to arrive at more informed investment decisions. At the World Economic Forum, she co-authored six reports including the frequently cited “Margins to Mainstream” and “Impact Investing: A Primer for Family Offices. Prior, Abigail was Head of Africa and Latin America for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. She is a graduate of Harvard and Tufts, and is a Fulbright Scholar and CFR member.

 

Stu Porter is the Founder and CEO of Denham Capital, a $7.9 billion global private equity firm focused on oil and gas, power and mining. Denham has been at the forefront of building a global energy and resources investment platform, with offices in Boston, Houston, London, São Paulo and Perth. Stu has almost three decades of senior investment experience. Prior to founding Denham, Stu was a founding partner of Sowood Capital Management, a Vice President at Harvard Management Company and an associate at Goldman Sachs and Cargill Financial Markets. Stu began his career in his teenage years as a runner at the Chicago Board of Trade during the summers while he attended the University of Michigan. Stu also used his tuition money to trade as a local in the bond pit at the Chicago Board of Trade while he attended The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. In addition to his full time role at Denham Capital, Stu is a founder and seed investor in, and serves as Chairman of, Phase Capital, a quantitative investment firm focused on risk based asset allocation. He is also a seed investor in Potamus Trading, a market-making firm built by cutting-edge computer scientists, and an early investor in a number of other early-stage ventures covering a range of interests. Stu also serves on the boards of St. Sebastian's School and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and is co-head of the New England Development Committee for the University of Michigan's Capital Campaign.

 

 

 

With more than 25 years in executive positions with some of the industry’s most respected organizations, Dan has both broad and deep experience in economic and investment strategy, portfolio construction, investment risk management, private investment structures and alternative investments, including hedge and private capital funds. In addition to advising clients on portfolio strategy and risk, he has been instrumental in developing proprietary risk assessment practices, SEC-registered hedge funds and over a decade of managing hedge fund of funds.

 

Prior to joining Ascent, Dan was President of Wells Fargo Alternative Asset Management, LLC, as well as the founder and head of Wells Fargo’s RiskOptics (SM) investment risk assessment practice. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Dan was a Director with Charles Schwab’s Investment Management and Retirement divisions. Prior to Schwab, Dan was the head of U.S. Bank’s Qualivest mutual fund complex.

 

Dan earned an MBA in finance and investments/real estate investment analysis from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh. He has served on boards for Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross, and Hedge Fund Research LLC, and The Clearing House.

 

 

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. is Chairman of WL Ross & Co. LLC which he founded in 2000 to buy private equity funds which he had begun at Rothschild Inc. He previously had been Executive Managing Director of Rothschild for 24 years. Invesco acquired WL Ross & Co. LLC in 2006.

 

Mr. Ross has assisted in more than $400 billion of corporate restructurings and is the only person elected to both the Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround Management Hall of Fame. Among his most notable turnaround investments are International Steel Group, International Coal Group, Bank United, Bank of Ireland, American Home Mortgage Corp, Assured Guaranty and Navigator Holdings. He is Chairman of WL Ross Holding Corp, a $500 million equity Special Purpose Acquisition Corp. listed on NASDAQ, and Vice Chairman of Bank of Cyprus. He is a board member of ArcelorMittal, EXCO Resources, Sun Bancorp and other corporations. He also is a trustee of the Brookings Institution and the Chairman of its Economic Studies Council. He previously served as privatization advisor to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund. Mr. Ross serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of Harvard Business School and on the board of the Yale University School of Management and its new International Center in Beijing. President Kim Dae-jung awarded him a medal for helping South Korea during its financial crisis and in November 2014, the Emperor of Japan awarded him The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

 

Mr. Ross holds a CFA and is a graduate of Yale University and of Harvard Business School (with distinction). He currently is listed as number 190 on the Forbes 400 list. 

 

 

 

Oakleigh Thorne founded, and serves as CEO of, Thorndale Farm LLC, which oversees the Thorne family investment portfolio, including investments in Gogo, Inc.; ShopperTrak RCT Corporation; Helix Education (formerly Datamark, Inc.), and MachineryLink, Inc., as well as a diversified portfolio of indirect investments.

 

Thorne served as Chairman and CEO of eCollege.com [NASDAQ: ECLG], a leading provider of outsource services to the postsecondary education industry, from May of 2000 until July 2007, when the company was sold to Pearson PLC. Prior to founding Thorndale Farm in 1996, he served as CEO of Commerce Clearing House, Inc. (CCH) a leading provider of tax and business law information, software, and services. Thorne led the sale of CCH for $1.9 billion to Wolters Kluwer, a Dutch publishing company, in January of 1996. Prior to joining CCH in 1986, Thorne received his MBA from Columbia University and before business school was a newspaper reporter at the Boston Globe and the Baltimore News American. He received his MS in journalism from Boston University in 1980. Thorne's extracurricular activities include playing polo, fly fishing and rooting for the Boston University Terrier hockey team.

 

 

Stephen J. Toy, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of WL Ross & Co. LLC. He is Chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Toy is one of the founding members of WL Ross & Co. and has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its formation. Over the last eighteen years, Mr. Toy has executed investments in the automotive, media, telecommunication, banking, railcar leasing and building materials sectors. Mr. Toy currently serves on the board of directors for Amalgamated Bank, Compagnie Europeenne de Wagons, International Automotive Components Group, Permian Basin Materials LLC, Plascar Participacoes SA and WL Ross Holding Corp. From 1996 to 2000, he worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Restructuring Group of Rothschild Inc. and from 1994 to 1996 he worked in the Public Finance Group at O’Brien Partners Inc. Mr. Toy graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Business Administration in 1994 from the State University of New York at Albany.  

 

 

Linda was previously the CFO of a large Midwestern family office and served on the investment screening committee for the family’s direct investments.  In that role she also worked directly with the portfolio companies’ financial and technology teams.  Linda is a former manager at Price Waterhouse Coopers (both audit and consulting).  She was Vice President in the M&A group of a Fortune 100 company.  Subsequently, she was co-founder, partner  and CFO of Shepro Braun Systems, whose flagship product, Total Return, provided comprehensive back office solutions to family offices and hedge funds.  From 2011 to 2014 Linda served as Founder, Co-Managing Partner, CFO and COO of FDX Holdings LLC, d.b.a. FDX Capital LLC.

 

Linda earned her B.S. in Accounting and Finance, graduating magna cum laude from Indiana University.  She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and is a CPA.  

 

 

Charles B. Grace, III is Managing Director at FOX.  Charlie works on strategic planning projects for families and family offices as well as wealth management advisor clients.  Assignments have included work on advisor selection, education of the next generation, leadership and succession, governance, family office structuring, among others.  Charlie is active on the family office and advisor membership and research sides at FOX, including investment focused studies and other initiatives.  He has experience facilitating member and client meetings for FOX.   

Charlie has been active for over twenty years in the family office community advising high net worth families and serving as a resource to high net worth families and family offices.  He advised on investment portfolios and wealth management generally for almost 10 years working day-to-day at the multi-family office Ashbridge Investment Management LLC and the single family office Ashbridge, LLC.  His responsibilities included client relationships, business development, and membership on the firm’s investment committee, as well as business operations and firm strategy as Chairman of the Management Committee of the $1 billion investment advisory firm.   Charlie has been quoted in various publications on the subject of private wealth management, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Worth Magazine and presented at many conferences focused on private investors and family offices. 

 

In addition to his responsibilities at FOX, Charlie has been active on the Board of the single family office Ashbridge, LLC since 1992 and in 2010 was named President.  He is a Trustee and member of the Investment Committee of the non-profit Tuttle Fund, Inc. in New York City.  

 

Charlie graduated from the Washington College of Law with a J.D. and is a member of the New York State Bar.  He received a B.A. and M.A. in history from Bates College and the American University, respectively. 

 

 

 

With over 25 years experience advising families of wealth, Karen Clark is responsible for running several FOX Peer Councils, which are the fastest growing part of the FOX service offering. Karen’s expertise includes creating strategies and partnering with advisors to develop, coordinate and facilitate thoughtful strategies for clients and their families. She works with families focusing on matters such as family governance, education, intergenerational wealth transfer, philanthropy, and creating successful successors.

 

In her role as a family office executive, Karen was responsible for structuring/planning for cross-border families and their related entities. She developed comprehensive ecosystems to support those families, including education programs for the families’ rising generation leaders. Karen also facilitated the development of an ESG investing program.

 

Karen is a respected speaker on subjects of direct investing, cross-border planning and the traits of a successful family office. As a seasoned investment professional, Karen advises on all aspects of sound planning and investment management including tax-efficient structures, the importance of asset location, asset allocation, manager selection, ongoing monitoring and insightful reporting. 

 

Karen’s past experience includes a Director at Sandaire Limited, and similar roles at BNY Mellon Private Wealth Management in Los Angeles and Bank of America's Private Bank in Miami and San Francisco. She is a member of the Financial Planning Association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.