On the verge of a new investment paradigm

Speakers

Richard Bernstein

CEO/CIO, Richard Bernstein Advisors

Mr. Bernstein founded Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC (RBA) in 2009. The firm utilizes a unique top-down approach to investing, focusing on macro trends rather than individual stock selection. RBA is one of the fastest growing money management firms, is among Morningstar’s Top 10 ETF Model Managers in assets and partners with some of the world’s leading financial institutions.

Mr. Bernstein has over 40 years’ experience on Wall Street, and was formerly the Chief Investment Strategist at Merrill Lynch & Co. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1988, he held positions at E.F. Hutton and Chase Econometrics/IDC.

A much-noted expert on equity, style and asset allocation, Mr. Bernstein was voted to Institutional Investor magazine’s annual “All-America Research Team” eighteen times, and is one of only fifty-seven analysts inducted into the Institutional Investor “Hall of Fame”. He was also twice named to both Fortune magazine’s “All-Star Analysts” and to Smart Money magazine’s “Power 30”, and was a member of Registered Rep’s “Ten to watch” for 2012. His book “Style Investing: Unique Insight into Equity Management” is widely viewed as the seminal book on style-oriented investment strategies. He donates the profits from that and his other book, “Navigate the Noise: Investing in the New Age of Media and Hype,” to charity.

Mr. Bernstein is chair of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation endowment’s Investment Committee (~$2.0 billion) and sits on the Hamilton College endowment’s Investment Committee (~$1 billion); he is a trustee of both institutions. He is also a member of the Journal of Portfolio Management’s Advisory Committee, a Program Reviewer for the CFA Curriculum, and former adjunct faculty of the NYU/Stern Graduate School of Business.

Rich holds an MBA in finance, with Beta Gamma Sigma distinction, from New York University, and a BA in economics from Hamilton College. He has lectured on finance and economics at numerous colleges, universities and professional forums.

Michael Contopoulos

Director of Fixed Income, Richard Bernstein Advisors

Michael Contopoulos is the Director of Fixed Income at Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC. Mr. Contopoulos heads all research and strategy for the Fixed Income portion of RBA’s portfolios and is a senior member of the Investment Committee.

Michael started his career at Tudor Investment Corporation in 2000 before joining the research department at Credit Suisse First Boston in 2002. In 2004 he left to build Bank of America’s quantitative credit strategy team and in 2011 he became the firm’s head of Convertible Strategy and created the Relative Value and Credit Derivatives Strategy teams. In 2012 Mr. Contopoulos became Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Head of High Yield and Leveraged Loan Strategy where he was ranked the #2 Credit Strategist in Institutional Investor Magazine across multiple categories. Prior to joining RBA, Mr. Contopoulos was Anchorage Capital’s Chief Investment Strategist.

He is a frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg television and often quoted in Barron’s, the Wall Street Journal and other publications for his keen insights and unique market color.

He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A., majoring in Economics and Political Science. He also received an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, Langone Program.

Terry Ober

National Director - Portfolio Specialist Group, Richard Bernstein Advisors

Terry Ober is the National Sales Director, Portfolio Specialists Group with Richard Bernstein Advisors.

Before RBA, Mr. Ober was a regional vice president for ING U.S. Investment Management. Prior to joining ING in 2012, he was senior vice president, portfolio specialist with Cohen & Steers Capital Management. Terry has over 31 years of investment experience.

Terry has a BS from Babson College in Wellesley, MA. He is based in the Boston, MA area.