Archives: People
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Jon Peress, CFA
Jon focuses on quantitative portfolio implementation in credit engagements. He is authorized to trade fixed income securities. Prior to joining NISA in 2022, Jon spent nine years at AQR, where he was a managing director and portfolio manager for systematic credit strategies. Before that, he spent six years at Morgan Stanley as a quantitative analyst…
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Jordan Rouff, CFA
Jordan joined NISA in 2005. He oversees the daily monitoring of derivative portfolios within the Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management Group. He is authorized to trade fixed income and derivative instruments. Jordan earned a BSBA in finance and real estate and an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
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Vinod Sadasivam
Vinod monitors derivative portfolios within the Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management Group. Prior to joining NISA in 2006, he worked for Emerson as a lead engineer in electric drives and motor control. Vinod earned an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Ohio State University and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
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Kyle Schmidt
Kyle oversees portfolio construction, risk management, implementation and client performance communications for NISA’s quantitative equity strategies. Prior to joining NISA in 2025, he was a member of the Multi-Asset Strategies Group at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, where he led quantitative equity efforts and served on both the investment committee for the Multi-Asset Strategies…
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Matt Stapf
Matt leads the Portfolio Management Process Oversight team, which oversees process-oriented production activities within Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management. Prior to joining NISA in 2019, Matt spent more than 24 years with a commodities trading advisor in various technical capacities, ultimately serving as chief technology officer. Matt holds a B.S. in computer engineering from…
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Zac Stevens, CFA, CAIA
Zac provides general support to the Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management Group in daily portfolio maintenance, performance attribution and special projects. He is authorized to trade derivative and equity instruments. Zac joined NISA in 2013. He earned a B.S. in computational informatics from the University of Michigan.
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Mark Utlaut, CFA
Mark provides support to the Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management Group in corporate bond credit research. Prior to joining NISA in 2016, Mark worked in leveraged finance groups at Merrill Lynch, GE Capital, and U.S. Bancorp. He holds a B.S. in finance from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an MBA from the University of Illinois…
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Mike Vanous, CFA
Mike oversees the day-to-day monitoring and management of equity portfolios. He is authorized to trade equity securities. Prior to joining NISA in 2016, Mike served as a portfolio manager and head of investment analytics, where he focused on quantitative screening models, portfolio construction and trading global equities. He also served as an investment officer for…
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Ann-Marie Gehring, CFA
With more than 15 years of investment experience in both hedging and absolute-return-focused strategies, with a particular emphasis on derivative-based solutions, Ann-Marie builds and maintains strong relationships with institutional investors and their advisors to advance NISA’s overall business objectives and solution-oriented positioning. She holds a BSBA in international business and an MBA from the University…
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Susan Gerard
Susan oversees NISA’s marketing and communications. She focuses on building broad, sustained recognition of NISA as a leader in institutional investing. In addition, Susan coordinates internal communications designed to further strengthen NISA’s mission, vision and values. Prior to joining NISA in 2022, Susan was chief marketing officer at Moneta, worked as an independent marketing consultant…