Ashok Bakhru Chairman of the Board Goldman Sachs Group of Mutual Funds Ashok Bakhru is President of ABN Associates, a management and financial consulting firm working with mid-size firms. Ashok served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Coty Inc. in New York City with responsibility for treasury, controllers, tax, public relations, legal, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, human resources and other administrative functions. Prior to that he served for 25 years at Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia, where he managed five businesses with sales of $500 million. Previously, he worked as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and in several other financial positions. Ashok serves as Chairman of the Board of the Goldman Sachs Group of Mutual Funds with assets of over $250 billion. He serves on the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Council (IDC) which is associated with the Investment Company Institute (ICI). He also serves on the Advisory Board of BoardIQ, an investment publication. He serves on the board of directors of the Apollo Investment Corporation in New York City. In addition, he has served, until 2007, on the boards of Equity-Linked Investments II, Private Equity Investors III and IV, which are private equity partnerships based in New York City. Ashok has been actively involved with Cornell University, having served on the Council and its Administrative Board over the past several years. In the past, he has served on the boards of Coty Inc., Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company, Scholarship America, Walnut Street Theatre, Institute for Higher Education Policy and the International House of Philadelphia. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Goldman Sachs Fund of Funds, a registered hedge fund and as Chair of the Board of LSI Inc. Ashok graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, India with a Bachelor of Technology (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.
Barry Benjamin LLP Phone: (410) 659-3400 Email: barry.p.benjamin@us.pwc.com Barry Benjamin is s US Asset Management Practice Leader and assurance partner resident in the firm s Baltimore office. He has over 25 years experience serving major investment company complexes and has extensive experience with investment company operations including fund accounting, transfer agency and 401(k) plan record keepers. He also has deep knowledge of risk management, fund profitability and fund valuation matters. He has also advised our clients on fund reporting issues associated with multi-tiered products, internalization of fund accounting and financial reporting operations, evaluation of service providers (pricing agents, transfer agents, and custodians), and assessments of internal control environments. Barry has been one of the authors of s Assessing Controls at Investment Company Service Agents and the biennial Investment Company Institute s Transfer Agent Trends and Billing Practices Survey. Barry has also co-authored s whitepaper Risk Management Building Competitive Advantage for Tomorrow s Leading Investment Managers. Barry graduated from Boston College (BA) and Northeastern University (MBA) and is a member of the Maryland Association of CPA s and the AICPA.
Thomas Biolsi LLP Phone: (646) 471-2056 Email: thomas.biolsi@us.pwc.com Tom Biolsi is a in the Financial Services Regulatory Practice and has 30 years of industry experience. He is a subject matter expert on regulatory issues and serves s financial services industry clients helping asset managers in identifying, assessing, and controlling business, operational, and compliance risk. Tom recently rejoined after completing three years in the New York Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission as the Associate Regional Director. At the SEC, Tom was responsible for the Investment Management Inspection Program, overseeing more than 2,000 registrants with over $10 trillion in assets under management. Tom also led training programs for foreign regulators in Asia, Europe and Central America. Prior to serving as the Associate Regional Director at the SEC, Tom served as a Managing Director in Regulatory Consulting Practice for ten years. He developed a mock SEC audit inspection program and numerous other initiatives related to developing protocols and risk controls for the asset management industry. His expertise is frequently requested from law firms on behalf of asset management firms and from regulators. Tom also worked for seven years as a Chief Compliance Officer for a global asset management corporation. Tom is a Cum Laude graduate of Chapman College. He is a frequent speaker for organizations such as the Practicing Law Institute, the New York City Bar Association, Harvard Law School, New York University Law School, and many other industry and academic conferences.
Anthony Evangelista LLP Phone: (267) 330-7380 Email: tony.evangelista@us.pwc.com Tony Evangelista is a financial services partner in the Philadelphia office of. During his twenty years with the Firm he has served in numerous capacities and in various cities, including, most recently, the Firm s London office where he led the Investment Management Risk Assurance Services practice, prior to that, New York, where he led the Firm s Investment Management Regulatory Compliance practice, and prior to that, the Boston office, where he provided audit and controls consulting services to registered investment companies, advisers and industry service providers. In addition to, Tony spent two and a half years in the Washington, D.C. office of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Division of Investment Management s Office of the Chief Accountant. During that time he participated in the development and review of investment company and investment adviser rules and regulations; served in a consultancy capacity for the SEC s Enforcement and Inspections staff and participated in the development and deployment of the SEC s national examiner training program. During his tenure at the SEC, and subsequently with, Tony assisted foreign governments with the development of their investment management regulatory framework primarily through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other volunteer organizations. He has met with numerous foreign regulators including those in the US, Europe, China and Japan to discuss topical industry matters and control issues impacting regulators and their registrants. Tony received a B.S. in Accounting from St. Francis University and holds an MBA in international finance. He holds a CPA designation in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs. He is the Firm s representative on the Investment Company Institute (ICI) Independent Accountants Advisory Group; is a past member of the Firm s Investment Management US Operating Committee and is a past member of the Massachusetts Society of CPA s Investment Companies Committee and the National Investment Company Service Association (NICSA) Compliance Committee.
John Hildebrand LLP Phone: (973) 236-4993 Email: john.r.hildebrand@us.pwc.com John Hildebrand is currently serving as the Asset Management in our National Professional Services group, specializing in consulting on Asset Management accounting issues. John has a diverse background in the asset management industry, with experience planning, executing and reporting to management of public and private companies on financial statement audits, internal control reviews, due diligence studies and special projects. As a member of the Asset Management Industry Services Group, John has spent substantially all his time serving asset management clients, most significantly as the engagement partner serving several large fund groups. His clients have included domestic mutual funds, exchange traded funds, common and collective trust funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, and public and private investment managers. John also has led SAS 70 reviews for a number of clients. John has participated in numerous client presentations and internal and external panels covering breaking accounting issues in the asset management industry. John is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (BS) and holds a CPA designation in California and New Jersey.
Kenneth Rathgeber Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Fidelity Funds, Fidelity Investments Ken Rathgeber is executive vice president and chief compliance officer for the Fidelity Funds for Fidelity Investments, the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans and a leading online brokerage firm. Mr. Rathgeber joined Fidelity in 1995 as chief financial officer and treasurer of Fidelity mutual funds. He was named acting president of Fidelity Brokerage Services, the Fidelity Brokerage Group operating unit based in the United Kingdom, in 1996. Mr. Rathgeber was named president of Fidelity Brokerage Group in August 1997. In February 1998, Mr. Rathgeber became executive vice president and chief operating officer for Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc. He was head of Risk Oversight from November 2002 through June 2008. Mr. Rathgeber has been chief compliance officer for the Fidelity Funds since August 2004 to the present. Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Rathgeber worked for Goldman Sachs for over 17 years from 1978 to 1995 finishing as chief operations officer for Asia, responsible for the operations, technology and finance functions. During his tenure with this large investment banking concern, Mr. Rathgeber had a variety of assignments, including: global co-controller, vice president of proprietary accounting/risk analysis as well as other positions in the firm s Information Technology & Operations and Accounting divisions. Previously, Mr. Rathgeber worked as a finance manager for Dillon Read & Company, a senior examiner for the New York Stock Exchange and an auditor for Price Waterhouse & Company. Born in 1947, Mr. Rathgeber received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Manhattan College in 1970 and an MBA from Long Island University in 1976, where he graduated cum laude. Mr. Rathgeber is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of New York.
Robert Tarola Director Legg Mason Funds Robert Tarola is President of Right Advisory LLC and has extensive experience as a public company director, public company CFO and public company auditor. He is a former Chief Financial Officer of W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA) and MedStar Health, Inc. both of which are multi-billion dollar businesses with complex multi-national operations. In these positions he had responsibility for worldwide financial services, which included financial accounting and reporting, treasury and taxation, financial planning, investor relations, internal auditing, and investment management. Prior to serving 12 years as a CFO, Mr. Tarola was a partner with Price Waterhouse LLP. During his twenty-two year tenure with Price Waterhouse, he served in a variety of capacities, including regional managing partner for a strategic industry segment, a partner in its National SEC Services Group and an engagement partner for major client accounts. Mr. Tarola is a director of public mutual funds sponsored by Legg Mason, Inc., a director of publicly traded TeleTech Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC), a director of the American Kidney Fund, and has served on the boards of directors of several health, and community organizations. Mr. Tarola holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Temple University and has chaired the Advisory Board to the President of the University. Mr. Tarola is an at-large member of the governing council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a member of its Assurance Services Executive Committee, a past member of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, and holds licenses to practice accountancy in four states. He served on the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, is a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Accountancy of the University of Denver and of the Merrick School of Business of the University of Baltimore and is listed in the International Who s Who of Professionals.
Shyam Venkat LLP Phone: (646) 471-8296 Email: shyam.venkat@us.pwc.com Shyam Venkat leads US Financial Risk Management Practice leader for the financial services industry. He is a founding member of this practice being one of the first firms to deploy a specialized and dedicated consulting practice in the discipline of financial risk management as far back as 1987. Over the course of his 20 plus years of consulting experience, Shyam has been advising clients on a broad spectrum of business issues, relating to both institutional and retail sectors within financial services, ranging from strategic considerations to operational aspects of superior business execution and process improvement. Shyam s expertise has enabled him to advise on and implement solutions for clients in areas of risk management strategy and policy, organization structure, valuation models, market and credit risk measurement techniques, asset/liability management, middle and back-office operations, and risk management information systems. Much of his recent work has been in the area of assisting clients with the design and implementation of business solutions for economic capital allocation and performance measurement to enhance corporate value creation. Shyam s financial services clients include several of the largest US and non-us commercial banks; virtually all of the bulge bracket US investment banks; super-regional and regional banks; insurance companies and asset managers; mortgage banks and thrift institutions; government sponsored enterprises, non-bank financial institutions; and multilateral financial institutions. Shyam has also been active in applying and transplanting risk management practices from the financial services industry into the corporate sector, most notably for energy companies. He has worked with energy sector clients to develop and implement risk management capabilities for energy trading activities, physical generation assets, and transmission assets.