Executive Team and Key Investment Professionals
Management Team
Rosemary Janousek
Jack Hansen, CFA
Richard Ballsrud, CFA
Thomas Lee, CFA
Investment Professionals
Daniel Wamre, CFA
Justin Henne
Richard Bartell, CFA
Jeffrey Rodgers
Christopher Haskamp
Alex Zweber
Amanda Barhite Carter, CFA
Megan Zhou
Marketing Professionals
Benjamin Lazarus
Christopher Uhas
Management Team
Rosemary Janousek
Director of Operations & Principal
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Rosemary Janousek joined The Clifton Group in 1978. In her current position, she directs and executes corporate duties which include budgeting, corporate planning, and compliance. Ms. Janousek has managed all of the back office operations since she joined the firm and currently oversees a staff of twelve. She works in the highly specialized area of futures and options. She has thirty-five years of experience in back office operations of synthetic instruments. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Janousek had extensive back office operational experience with two regional broker/dealers.
Jack Hansen, CFA
Chief Investment Officer & Principal
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Jack L. Hansen joined The Clifton Group in 1985. As Chief Investment Officer, his responsibilities include the management of investment operations and portfolio management. Mr. Hansen has traded futures and other contracts in the overlay program since 1986. He continues to develop the overlay and core programs to better serve client needs with a focus on U.S. Equity replication and risk control policies. Mr. Hansen earned a BS degree in finance and economics from Marquette University and a MS in finance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A CFA charterholder and member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts, Mr. Hansen writes and lectures on the use of derivatives in portfolio management.
Richard Ballsrud, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager & Principal
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Richard E. Ballsrud joined The Clifton Group in 1984. Mr. Ballsrud has traded futures and other contracts in the overlay and core programs since 1984. As Senior Portfolio Manager, he is responsible for overlay trading with an emphasis on fixed income replication. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, he spent ten years with two subsidiaries of The St. Paul Companies. Mr. Ballsrud is a CFA charterholder and member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts. He holds a BS degree in business administration from Mankato State University and an MBA degree in finance from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Ballsrud has been a frequent presenter at industry conferences and authored several articles on portfolio applications of fixed income futures and options.
Thomas Lee, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager & Principal
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Thomas B. Lee joined The Clifton Group in 1994. Mr. Lee has traded futures and other contracts in the overlay program since starting with the firm. His focus is on fixed income instruments. He is responsible for providing the portfolio management and research required to manage the firm’s overlay portfolios. Mr. Lee has been instrumental in developing and enhancing synthetic fixed income strategies which track commonly referenced fixed income benchmarks. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, he spent two years working for the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. In this position, he gained experience in modeling and forecasting interest rates and related monetary variables. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts. Mr. Lee earned a BS in economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota.
Investment Professionals
Daniel Wamre, CFA
Portfolio Manager
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Daniel M. Wamre joined The Clifton Group in 1995 working part-time in the company’s internship program and started full-time in 1998. As a Portfolio Manager, he is responsible for overlay trading with an emphasis on international index replication and hedging. Mr. Wamre earned a BS in history from North Dakota State University and an MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, Mr. Wamre spent four years as a Platoon Commander/Executive Officer in the United States Marine Corps. Upon completion of graduate school, Mr. Wamre spent ten months working as a commercial banking credit analyst for U.S. Bank in Minneapolis. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts.
Justin Henne
Portfolio Manager
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Justin Henne joined The Clifton Group in January of 2004 as an Investment Analyst. In 2006, he was promoted to Portfolio Manager and is a member of the Portfolio Management Team. He has overlay portfolio management responsibilities and oversees overlay performance monitoring systems. His tasks also include generating reports necessary for the daily management of investment portfolios, maintaining proprietary databases, and assisting in research projects. Mr. Henne holds a BA in Financial Management from the University of St. Thomas. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, he worked for four years at the Minnesota State Lottery and for four months as a fixed income research analyst intern at Jeffrey Slocum & Associates. He is a Level III candidate in the CFA Program.
Richard Bartell, CFA
Portfolio Manager
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Rich Bartell joined The Clifton Group in June of 2001 as an Investment Analyst. In 2006, he was promoted to Portfolio Manager for Clifton’s enhanced index product offerings. His current duties include trading enhanced cash securities, monitoring portfolios for the enhanced index programs, and assisting in research projects. Rich holds a BA in Financial Economics and Mathematics from Gustavus Adolphus College. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, he worked for three years at United Parcel Service and spent a summer as a financial services intern at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. Rich is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts.
Jeffrey Rodgers
Assistant Portfolio Manager
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Jeffrey Rodgers joined The Clifton Group in June 2004 as an Investment Analyst. In 2007 he was promoted to Assistant Portfolio Manager working mainly in the Policy Implementation Overlay (PIOS) program. His current duties include monitoring client exposures and trading overlay positions. He also assists in the Alpha Transport, Duration Management, and Option Hedging programs. Mr. Rodgers holds a B.S.B. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He has passed all levels of the CFA Program and is currently waiting to receive his charter.
Chris Haskamp joined The Clifton Group in June 2006 as a Summer MBA Intern. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, he spent three years as a scientist at the medical device firm Beckman Coulter Inc. Mr. Haskamp earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota, a M.S. in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA in finance from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. He started full time as Assistant Portfolio Manager at The Clifton Group in June of 2007. He is a Level II candidate in the CFA Program.
Alex Zweber
Assistant Portfolio Manager
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Alex Zweber joined The Clifton Group in May 2006 as an Investment Analyst. In 2008 he was promoted to Assistant Portfolio Manager working mainly in the Policy Implementation Overlay (PIOS) program. His current duties include monitoring client exposures and generating daily tracking reports. He also assists in the management of commodities exposure and Option Hedging programs. Mr. Zweber earned a BA in Economics from Macalester College. He is a Level II candidate in the CFA Program.
Amanda Barhite Carter, CFA
Special Projects Manager
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Amanda Barhite Carter joined The Clifton Group in September 2004 as the Special Project Manager. Her responsibilities include: the management of over-the-counter documentation, oversight of RFP and RFI requests, and the creation of presentation materials, newsletters, and special interest articles. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, Ms. Carter was employed for ten years as a Senior Consultant with Global Markets Consultants Ltd. where she worked with investment banking clients in the area of derivatives and capital markets training. Ms. Carter has also worked at JP Morgan as a Vice President in Global Derivatives Sales and Trading where she executed over-the-counter transactions for institutional clients. In addition, Ms. Carter has experience in corporate finance at DLJ and Merrill Lynch. Ms. Carter holds a BA in economics from Yale and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Carter is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts.
Megan Zhou
Special Projects Manager
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Megan Zhou joined The Clifton Group in 2006 as a Special Projects Manager, working mainly in swap valuation and options hedging program. Megan is also responsible for generating the daily reports for the Policy Implementation Overlay Service (PIOS) Program, creating special interest articles, maintaining Investment Policy and Investment Management Agreement database, and managing OTC documentation. Prior to joining The Clifton Group, she was a research analyst at the Metals Economics Group. Megan holds a B.A. in Economics, a B.S. in Accounting, and an M.A. in Economics. She has passed all levels of the CFA Program and is currently waiting to receive her charter.
Marketing Professionals
Benjamin Lazarus
Director, Sales and Marketing
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Benjamin S. Lazarus is the Director of Sales and Marketing for The Clifton Group. He is responsible for developing, coordinating, and executing the sales and marketing strategies for The Clifton Group’s unique family of products with special emphasis on business development in the Western and Southern United States. Prior to joining The Clifton Group in July of 2004, Mr. Lazarus was the Director of Sales Strategy at Deluxe Corporation in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Lazarus holds a BA in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego and an MBA in Marketing and Strategic Management from the University of Minnesota. He is a Level II candidate in the CFA Program.
Christopher Uhas
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
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Chris Uhas joined The Clifton Group in 2007. He is responsible for developing, coordinating, and executing the sales and marketing strategies for The Clifton Group’s unique family of products with special emphasis on business development in the Midwestern and Eastern regions of the United States. Prior to joining The Clifton Group Mr. Uhas was involved in public and private equity portfolio management with a boutique asset management firm. Before entering the investment management field Mr. Uhas served as the Director of New Product Launch for Seagate Technology, based in Singapore. Additionally, he spent 5 years as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the United States Navy. Mr. Uhas holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. He is a Level III candidate in the CFA Program.