John Davi
Astoria's founder, John Davi, is an award-winning research strategist and has over 20 years of experience spanning across Macro ETF Strategy, Quantitative Research, and Portfolio Construction. Before starting Astoria, he was the head of Morgan Stanley's Institutional ETF Content and advised many of the world's largest hedge funds and asset managers on ETF portfolio construction. John published hundreds of reports in his research career across a variety of topics from ETFs, indices, futures, and structured products.
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John began his career in 2000 doing research on ETFs in Merrill Lynch's Global Equity Derivatives Research group. John structured ETF portfolio solutions as early as 2002 for Merrill Lynch's client base where several billion in assets were raised and executed. John's research has been recognized and featured on ETF.com, ETFTrends.com, InsideETFs, Institutional Investor Magazine, and he is a regular contributor to CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media outlets. He was recognized by Bloomberg as an "ETF Master Chef."
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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.
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Bruce Lavine, CFA
Senior Strategy Advisor
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.
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Gregory Sanderson
Director of Sales
Gregory Sanderson is Director of Sales 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.
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Michael Stulic, CFA, FRM, PRM
Director of Capital Markets
Michael Stulic is the Director of Capital Markets for Astoria Portfolio Advisors. Within this capacity, he oversees all trading execution and front-to-back client account management. Michael brings over 20 years of experience within the financial industry and sell-side banking. His banking experience, largely within bulge bracket firms, consists of JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Barclays. Having worked within Credit Derivatives, Emerging Markets, and Correlation trading along with more recent risk management experience within the liquidity, capital, and contingent liability risk stripes, Michael brings a diversified background and unique perspective to the firm.
Michael has achieved several notable designations over his career, consisting of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and Professional Risk Manager (PRM) designations. He is a graduate of Binghamton University with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Economics and Chemistry.
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Nick Cerbone, CFA
Vice President, Quantitative Strategy
Nick Cerbone serves as a Vice President and Quantitative Strategist 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.
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Frank Tedesco III
Analyst
As an Analyst at Astoria Advisors, Frank Tedesco contributes to both the sales and portfolio management teams, providing them with the perspective and understanding of the other. He works with high-net-worth clients and institutional investors, delivering customized solutions and strategies based on their goals and risk profiles.
Frank holds a BS in Finance from Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business, where he graduated magna cum laude and received multiple honors and certifications. Frank is passionate about helping clients achieve their financial objectives and grow their wealth.
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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.
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.
Heiko Ebens, PhD
Investment Committee Member
Heiko Ebens is a member of Astoria Portfolio Advisors' Investment Committee. Heiko has 20 years of combined sell and buy-side experience in alternative investments, asset allocation, and derivatives. He is recognized for industry innovations in the areas of asset allocation and systematic alternative investments, has popularized “volatility” as an asset class, and maintains a strong academic record in the field of financial engineering. Heiko is the founder of Lucidium, an investment advisor that focuses exclusively on the management of its risk-parity program, the Multi Asset Risk Premium Strategy.
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Prior to founding Lucidium in 2014, he was a Portfolio Manager and Director of Research at Guggenheim Partners. Heiko was part of the portfolio management team for three managed futures funds with USD 1.5 Billion in combined assets. Heiko also led the firm’s alternative investment research efforts and he and his team were responsible for the investment process underlying the iShares Canada Managed Futures ETF, the second in its class globally.
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He previously served as Global Head of Research at Capstone Investment Advisors where he oversaw the research platform across Capstone’s New York, London, and Singapore offices and was responsible for tailoring custom solutions for investors with a specific focus on tail-risk hedging solutions, protecting USD 30 Billion in assets.
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Until 2009, Heiko was the Head of Global Equity Derivatives Research at Merrill Lynch. He built the firm’s research-driven structured product platform which raised USD 13.6 Billion in assets with products ranging from alternative investments to broad-based asset allocation solutions. Heiko and his team were consistently recognized for their structured product and flow research in the Pan-European Thompson-Extel Polls and Institutional Investor Sell-Side Surveys in the Americas and Pacific Rim. His hedge fund replication work is highlighted in the Merrill Lynch 2007 European Structured Funds House of the Year award. A volatility fund he developed ranked 3rd best in the 2008 European Morningstar fund survey.
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Heiko was an Associate in Morgan Stanley’s Quantitative Strategies Group until 2002. He implemented volatility forecasting models and advanced the firm’s proprietary equity sector rotation model.
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He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University in 2000. His academic work is recognized for advances in forecasting risk and asset allocation and is published in the Journal of Financial Econometrics and the Journal of Alternative Investments.
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Heiko resides with his wife Geeva and sons Ari and Max in Queens, New York.
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