Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions Team

Paul Zemsky, CFA

Paul is the Head of Asset Allocation and Multi-Manager Investments with responsibility for traditional and alternative investment solutions. Under his leadership, traditional funds are supported by asset allocation, manager research, and multi-manager capabilities. Within alternatives, fund-of-funds and private equity report to Paul. His team has capabilities in derivatives/financial engineering, risk management, portable alpha, asset allocation, liability modeling and pension accounting, and multi-manager portfolio structuring. Paul joined ING Investment Management in 2005 as Head of Derivative Strategies. In this role, he oversaw derivative strategies for credit, interest rate, and equity products, and supported the organization on a number of key areas, including product development and risk management for both proprietary and third-party businesses. Paul spent 18 years at JPMorgan Investment Management, where he held a number of key positions, including Head of Investments for over $300 Billion of Fixed Income assets. He was one of the first on Wall Street to identify the potential for portable alpha strategies and liability targeted portfolios. Prior to his role at ING, he co-founded CaliberOne Private Funds Management, a macro hedge fund. He holds a dual degree in finance and electrical engineering from the Management and Technology Program at the University of Pennsylvania and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Seth D. Finkelstein, CFA

Seth Finkelstein is responsible for a variety of Multi-Asset Strategies including traditional asset allocation products, portable alpha strategies, and customized asset/liability solutions that address clients’ plan level investment objectives. He co-founded the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions (MASS) Group in late 2006 with Paul Zemsky. Seth has direct portfolio management responsibility for portable alpha strategies and other custom multi-asset solutions. In addition to his responsibilities within MASS, Seth oversees the broader team of Portfolio Specialists across asset classes, and is involved extensively in new product development in the institutional and retail product arenas. Seth joined ING Investment Management in 2005 as Senior Portfolio Specialist, responsible for a variety of Fundamental Equity strategies, including 130/30, Research Analyst Portfolio, and sector-specific portfolios. Seth has 16 years investment experience spanning a variety of traditional and alternative asset classes, and has worked with a broad spectrum of retail and institutional client segments. Prior to joining ING, Seth was with Seneca Capital Management where he served as a portfolio advisor on the firm’s growth equity and domestic fixed income strategies. Earlier in his career, he was a lead product manager for JPMorgan Investment Management’s retirement business. Seth graduated summa cum laude with a B.B.A. in finance and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Pierre Couture, A.S.A., E.A., M.A.A.A.

Pierre Couture joined ING in March 2007 as a senior actuary in the Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions group. He is responsible for developing customized investment solutions using traditional investment products, alternative investments, portable alpha strategies, and long duration strategies to address sponsors’ investment objectives. Prior to joining ING, Pierre was with Mercer Investment Consulting and consulted to U.S. (public, Taft-Hartley and corporate) and multinational clients seeking integrated financial risk management advice for their pension plans. He specialized in asset/liability modeling, strategic asset allocation, funding, and accounting policy analysis. Before joining Mercer’s New York office in 1994, Pierre worked in the Mercer’s Montreal office for over four years. Pierre holds a BSc in actuarial sciences from Universite Laval in Quebec City. He is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary under ERISA, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Tom Applegate, CFA

Tom Applegate is a Senior Portfolio Specialist with the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions Group which manages multi-asset portfolios from target date retirement funds and discretionary asset management programs to complex portfolios using sophisticated risk management and hedging techniques to help pension plan sponsors improve the correlation of assets to liabilities while managing inherent market risks. Tom also focuses on product development initiatives, such as retirement income solutions, and supports institutional and advisor marketing efforts. Tom has experience in investments and financial services most recently managing the investment solutions and consulting team for the Merrill Lynch Retirement Group where he oversaw a staff of plan consultants and actuaries focusing on risk management strategies for pensions and optimal plan design structures for 401(k) plans. He also served as an Institutional Investment Consultant and held roles in sales and marketing of retirement plan record keeping and investment services during his 18 year tenure with Merrill Lynch. Tom holds a B.A. in business and accounting from Muhlenberg College. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Ben Chen, Ph.D., CFA

Ben Chen is head of quantitative analysis and portfolio manager within the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions Group (MASS). His team provides quantitative supports for the multi-asset portfolios managed by the MASS; participates in new multi-asset product development; and develops customized investment solutions for both retail and institutional investors. Additionally Ben is responsible for manager due diligence, portfolio construction, derivatives hedging and risk management for the portable alpha portfolios. Most recently, Ben worked for the Structured Derivatives Strategies Group at ING Annuities where he designed a sophisticated quantitative fund analytics framework to evaluate fund managers and constructed multi-asset fund portfolio for variable annuity business, developed hedging strategies for performance guarantees offered in variable annuity products. Prior to that, he was a vice president responsible for portfolio and risk management at Starview Capital Management, a fund of hedge funds. Previously he worked as a senior quantitative analyst for Guzman & Company in Miami, FL. Ben holds a B.A. in economics from Xiamen University and a M.A. in Economics from Peking University, both in China. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Syracuse University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Eugene Lancaric, CFA

Eugene Lancaric is head of macroeconomic analysis for the Investment Solutions group. He joined ING Investment Management in 2001 from Alliance/Bernstein, where he was senior vice president and chief investment officer of the Regent Investor Services division. He previously held the position of research analyst at Strategic Economic Divisions, a leading-edge investment research and software development firm. He has an extensive background in the application of economic analysis to investment management. Eugene received an M. Phil. in economics from the City University of New York, and graduated with honors in sociology from McGill University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

William Evans, CFA

Bill Evans is the Head of Manager Research and Selection within the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions Group (MASS). His team is responsible for manager due diligence and selection for all of the MASS team’s multi-manager products, including risk-based, target date, portable alpha and other asset class fund of funds solutions. The team is also responsible for the investment due diligence of all ING sub-advised funds for the Mutual Fund Boards. Bill is a key member of the Investment Committee, responsible for all of ING’s asset allocation products that are distributed through variable annuity, variable life, defined contribution, rollover payout and retail channels. He joined ING as Senior Fund Analyst in 2002. Prior to joining ING, Bill worked at Fleet Investment Advisors as a Portfolio Manager for high net worth and institutional clients. Bill holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Providence College. He is a FINRA registered representative, a Registered Investment Advisor and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Elias Belessakos, Ph.D.

Elias Belessakos is a member of the Asset Allocation and Multi-Asset Solutions team and portfolio manager to the ING Tactical Asset Allocation Fund. Prior to joining ING Investment Management, he was a senior portfolio manager and director of quantitative research for New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM). Prior to NYLIM, Elias was at Bankers Trust/Deutsche Asset Management and JPMorgan Investment Management. Elias earned a B.A. in economics and finance from The American College of Greece in Athens and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics and from the University of Pennsylvania.

Heather Hackett, CFA

Heather Hackett is the Portfolio Manager for the Multi-Asset Strategies group primarily responsible for outcome oriented asset allocation products and customized portfolios for institutional clients. She joined ING Investment Management in 2005 as a Portfolio Specialist supporting the International Equity and Asset Allocation teams. Prior to joining ING, Heather was an analyst in the Consulting Group of Smith Barney and she was a registered associate with Schroder & Co. Heather graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in business economics from State University of New York and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Eleonora (Nora) Omarova

Eleonora (Nora) Omarova joined ING Investment Management in July 2007 as a Senior Quantitative Analyst in the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions Group. Prior to joining ING, she worked as a senior global risk analyst with Citigroup. She developed Citigroup internal sovereign rating and currency devaluation models, and a methodology for setting limits on options vega exposure for proprietary trading portfolios. Prior to Citigroup, she worked for Travelers Investment Group, where she developed a sovereign bond model to predict spread movements and determine investment strategy for an emerging markets portfolio. Nora holds a M.A. degree from Columbia School of International Affairs, a M.S. in Finance from Columbia Business School and is a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at Columbia Business School. She is a recipient of the National Association for Business Economics Contributed Paper Award for her publication in the Business Economics journal.

Rafael Cordero

Rafael Cordero joined ING Investment Management in August 2007 as a Quantitative Analyst. Most recently, Rafael worked for the Structured Asset and Innovation Group where he provided quantitative testing of new product proposals including empirical back-tests for innovative mutual funds. Additionally, he performed the ongoing analysis of the firm’s existing closed-end fund offerings which included the development of tax management and option attribution systems and reporting. Prior to ING, Rafael was a Director at UBS Wealth Management where he led investment manager due diligence and constructed investment portfolios focused on quantitative and derivative strategies. Previously he worked for Allston Trading in Chicago where he developed automated trading programs, implemented statistical risk measures and spearheaded their spin-off in the real time trading market. He also worked for five years trading derivative products for proprietary accounts. Early in his career, Rafael spent five years as a Project Engineer in the Oil industry. Rafael holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Statistics from New York University (Stern School of Business) and graduated with Distinction (Beta Gamma Sigma Honor). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Richard Yuen

Richard Yuen joined ING Investment Management in 2008 and is currently a Quantitative Analyst in the Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions group. Previously, Richard was a vice president at Beecher Investors, a fundamental equity investment firm and hedge fund, where he worked for five years with responsibilities in research, operations, and IT. Richard earned a B.S.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. in Accounting, Finance and Economics from Columbia Business School, where he attended the Value Investing Program. Richard holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery, Beta Gamma Sigma, and the New York Society for Security Analysts.

Jody Hrazanek

Jody Hrazanek joined ING Investment Management in October 2005. In her current role she is a derivatives trader with responsibility for ING’s third-party business as well as the firm’s general account. Prior to joining ING she was a convertible bond trader at Advent Capital Management. She had previously been a bond and risk arbitrage trader at Merrill Lynch Quantitative Advisors and Deutsche Bank Asset Management and an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Jody graduated Summa Cum Laude from Fairfield University with a B.S. in mathematics and a M.S. in statistics and operations research from New York University.

Jason Rausch, CFA

Jason Rausch joined ING Investment Management in April 2007. He came from Jennison Associates where he most recently worked as a Portfolio Assistant. In his current role, Jason is part of the team responsible for trading derivatives for ING’s third-party accounts. He graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Marist College and a B.B.A. in Accounting from Dowling College. Jason holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts.

Rachael Camargo

Rachael Camargo is a Portfolio Specialist within ING Investment Management’s Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions team. She is responsible for driving asset growth and retention activities for traditional asset allocation products, portable alpha strategies and customized solutions with ING’s distribution, external parties and key clients. Rachael manages the business and commercial aspects of the investment team in partnership with product management, sales and client service groups. Previously, Rachael was responsible for the firm’s fundamental equity strategies, including Large Cap Core, 130/30, and sector-specific portfolios such as global natural resources, technology and financials. Her experience also extends to closed-end funds from concept through launch. Rachael joined ING Investment Management in 2001. Prior to joining ING, she worked at Grey Global Group and Wechsler Ross & Partners. She received a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Susan Viston

Susan Viston is the Portfolio Specialist supporting ING’s fundamental equity and multi-asset products. Susan joined ING Investment Management in 2002 and worked as a performance attribution specialist in the ING Investment Risk Department. She received a B.A. in economics from Drew University.