John Davi
Astoria's founder, John Davi, has 20 years of experience spanning across Macro ETF Strategy, Quantitative Research and Portfolio Construction. John was Head of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional ETF Content where he produced hundreds of reports over an 8-year period. While working for Morgan Stanley, John advised many of the world's largest Hedge Funds, Asset Managers and Pension/Endowments. John’s ETF content was top ranked twice by Institutional Investor magazine under the Sales and Trading category and once by ETF.com.
John began his career in 2000 doing research on ETFs in Merrill Lynch’s Global Equity Derivatives Research group. During his tenure in research, John produced several hundred reports on ETFs, Futures, Options, & Indices. John was part of a team that was ranked top 3 by Institutional Investor magazine in 6 of his 8 years. John structured ETF portfolio solutions as early as 2002 for Merrill Lynch’s client base where several billion in assets were raised and executed.
CEO and CIO
David Clark
President and Head of Business Development
David Clark is President and Head of Business Development for Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. David spent the first 18 years of his career at Merrill Lynch (subsequently Bank of America), holding various institutional sales management and business development leadership roles in London and New York. David was Head of Merrill’s European Convertible Bond, Equity Derivative, ETF and Delta One sales, and sat on the firm’s European Markets Operating Committee. He also served as Head of B of A’s Americas International Derivative and Swap sales. Additionally, David was Head of Americas Global Delta One, ETF and Stock Loan Distribution and Product, and a member of the North American Equity Sales Operating Committee. He later spent six years at Société Générale, where he was head of U.S. Sales for Global Securities Financing, overseeing distribution of ETF, Swap and Structured Financing products. David graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, and currently sits on the school’s President’s Advisory Council. He lives in Chatham, New Jersey with his wife and three children.
Bruce Lavine
Bruce Lavine is a Senior Strategy Advisor of Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Bruce has a long history in the ETF and asset management business beginning with Barclays Global Investors over 20 years ago. He was one of the earliest employees at iShares and had roles including CFO, Head of Product Development and CEO of iShares Europe. In 2006, Bruce joined WisdomTree as President and Chief Operating Officer. He was there for 10 years as an employee and remains active with WisdomTree today as a member of their Board of Directors. Most recently, Bruce was the CEO of 55 Capital. Bruce has an MBA and BS both from the University of Virginia and he is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Senior Strategy Advisor, CFA
Gregory Sanderson
Director of Capital Markets
Gregory Sanderson is Director of Capital Markets for Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. He has more than 15 years of experience in the financial industry. Gregory began his career as a specialist clerk on the American Stock Exchange. He has worked for several investment banks including Credit Lyonnais and JP Morgan, always in a trading capacity. Over the course of his career, he has worked with many different financial products including equity, bonds, credit default swaps, and collateralized loan obligations. Gregory is a graduate of Fordham University.
Nick Cerbone
Portfolio Analyst
Nick Cerbone serves as a Portfolio Analyst for Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. In this capacity, Nick assists in all aspects of portfolio construction and optimization of our cross-asset ETF portfolios. Nick is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Finance.
Elisabetta Basilico
Investment Committee Member, CFA, PhD
Elisabetta Basilico is a member of Astoria Portfolio Advisors' Investment Committee. Elisabetta is a seasoned investment professional with expertise in turning academic insights into investment strategies. Her expertise spans the range from asset allocation to active quantitative investment strategies and she has helped several institutional investors and family offices evaluate and optimize stable returns from their global wealth portfolios. She also co-founded and is co-editor of academicinsightsoninvesting.com.
Elisabetta has been a Chartered Financial Analyst since 2007 and has a PhD from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. She has taught at various international universities and co-authored numerous papers that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. She recently co-authored a book titled "Smart(er) Investing: How Academic Insights Propel the Savvy Investor" and published by Palgrave MacMillan.
Brian Archer
Investment Committee Member
Brian Archer is a member of Astoria Portfolio Advisors' Investment Committee. Brian has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, Brian served for ten years as the Head of Global Credit Trading for Citigroup. Prior to this role, Brian held various management and trading positions in New York and London for Citigroup and JP Morgan where he gained an expertise in numerous fixed income and equity products, including derivative instruments. Prior to his career in financial services, Brian worked as a C.P.A. in the audit department of KPMG. Brian has served as a board member of the International Swap Dealers Association (ISDA) and was an inaugural member of the Securities and Exchange Commission Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee (SEC FIMSAC). He also serves on the Board of Trustees at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, NJ as well as the Investment Advisory Committee of the University of Scranton. Brian has an MBA with a concentration in finance from the Stern School of Business at NYU and a B.S. in accounting from the University of Scranton.
Ben Lavine
Investment Committee Member, CFA
Ben Lavine is a member of Astoria Portfolio Advisors' Investment Committee. Ben is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over two decades of experience in global investment management, Chief Investment Officer responsibilities, and institutional consulting. Ben has served as a portfolio manager on the developed markets equity team at Batterymarch Financial Management, and as a senior executive within the Funds Management Division at Wilshire Associates. Ben currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer of 3D Asset Management, an industry leading ETF managed portfolio firm with over $800 million in total assets. Ben is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science and received his MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles with a concentration in Finance and Business Administration.
Marcus Novacheck
Investment Committee Member
Marcus Novacheck is a member of Astoria Portfolio Advisors' Investment Committee. Marcus has almost two decades of experience in the institutional asset management industry. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Community State Bank in Bradley, Arkansas. Additionally, he serves as the Chief Investment Officer of Banyan Court Capital, a specialty finance asset management company. Prior to founding Banyan Court, Marcus was a senior member of Cubist Systematic Strategies, a subsidiary of Point 72, formerly SAC Capital for seven years. He traded in a similar role at Credit Suisse for eight years on the Global Arbitrage Trading desk, focusing on market inefficiencies across stocks, indexes, ETFs, futures, options, and swaps. Marcus earned his B.S. in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and served as a Captain in the 25th Infantry Division (Hawaii). He also holds an MBA in Finance from Stern School of Business at NYU.