The diverse experience of our investment professionals gives us the depth to provide clients with meaningful perspective. When you have been around as long as we have, you have seen investment strategies come and go, markets rise and fall, objectives shift and change. But one thing remains constant: Our ability to attract and retain knowledgeable, experienced, committed professionals. Our people are the foundation of our business.
Thomas H. Dodd, CFA, FSA, President
Mr. Dodd is President of Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. He serves as lead consultant and relationship manager for many Stratford clients. Mr. Dodd has primary responsibility for managing the delivery of strategic investment advice to Stratford clients. He is a frequent speaker and has written articles related to salient investment management issues. Mr. Dodd joined Stratford as a senior consultant in 1994 and has been President since 2003. He has 37 years of investment and actuarial experience and is a member of Stratford’s Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. Dodd was a Principal at William M. Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. His investment experience includes three years as an independent futures trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and nine years as a consulting actuary at The Wyatt Company and A.S. Hansen, Inc.
Mr. Dodd serves as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Youth Guidance Foundation. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of Chicago and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Bradley University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University.
Susan N. McDermott, CFA, Chief Investment Officer
Ms. McDermott is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. She serves as lead consultant and relationship manager providing strategic investment advice to institutional retirement funds, healthcare organizations, endowments, foundations, and private wealth clients. She addresses professional groups, provides educational seminars to plan sponsors and continues to compose several of Stratford’s research papers on a variety of investment related subjects. Ms. McDermott joined Stratford as a consultant in 1991. As Chief Investment Officer, Ms. McDermott serves as Chair of Stratford’s Investment Committee and has 29 years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Ms. McDermott was an Associate at Ennis, Knupp & Associates and was a Portfolio Manager and Trust Officer at the First National Bank of Chicago.
Ms. McDermott is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University.
Alyssa B. Cheatham, CFA, Senior Consultant
Ms. Cheatham is a senior consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. She provides strategic investment advice to healthcare organizations, pension funds, foundations, endowments, defined contribution and deferred compensation plans. She is also responsible for supervising investment analyst and senior analyst staff members and serves as team leader for research on hedge fund strategies. Ms. Cheatham joined Stratford in 1999. She has eleven years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Ms. Cheatham was an Investment Associate at Evanston Capital Management, a hedge fund of funds. At Evanston she worked exclusively with the portfolio manager in analyzing and investing in hedge fund strategies for nearly $1 billion in hedge fund of funds assets. Ms. Cheatham also assisted in the launch of Evanston’s second offering, a market neutral fund of funds strategy.
Ms. Cheatham is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Cori E. Trautvetter, Senior Consultant
Ms. Trautvetter is a senior consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. She provides strategic investment advice to endowments, foundations, defined contribution plans, defined benefits plans, healthcare organizations, and Taft-Hartley funds. She is responsible for supervising investment analyst and senior analyst staff members and serves as team leader for research on real estate investment managers. Ms. Trautvetter joined Stratford in 2000. She has ten years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Ms. Trautvetter served for five years as an associate banker at Illini Bank in Springfield, IL. At Illini Bank, her responsibilities included managing consumer loans for numerous clients.
Ms. Trautvetter earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Eastern Illinois University.
Antonio DiCosola, CFA, Consultant
Mr. DiCosola is a consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. He provides strategic investment advice to endowments, foundations, defined contribution plans, defined benefits plans, healthcare organizations, and Taft-Hartley funds. He also serves on the fixed income research team. Mr. DiCosola joined Stratford in March 2010. He has seven years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. DiCosola was an Investment Analyst at ArcelorMittal USA, Inc. for four years. At ArcelorMittal, he provided investment advice to the investment committees for the Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Defined Contribution Plan, and VEBA Plan. He was also responsible for research efforts across all asset classes within the portfolios including domestic equity, international equity, fixed income, real estate, distressed debt, hedge fund of funds and opportunistic strategies managers. Mr. DiCosola's investment experience includes three years at Allstate Financial, where he held roles within the asset and liability mangaement group specializing in derivative transactions and planning & analysis group specializing in investment modeling.
Mr. DiCosola is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. He also earned a Bachelor of Science with honors degree in Finance from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Business Administration with distinction in Finance from DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
Kerry L. Elsass, Consultant
Ms. Elsass is a consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. She provides strategic investment advice to endowments, foundations, defined contribution plans, defined benefits plans, healthcare organizations, and Taft-Hartley funds. She also serves on the hedge fund research team. Ms. Elsass joined Stratford in March 2008. She has eight years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Ms. Elsass was a Senior Investment Analyst at Ennis, Knupp & Associates. At EnnisKnupp, she worked with primary relationship managers to provide investment advice to institutional consulting clients. She was also responsible for research efforts on hedge fund of funds and opportunistic strategies managers. Ms. Elsass’ investment experience includes three years at Mesirow Advanced Strategies, Inc., a Chicago-based hedge fund of funds, where she held roles in client services and hedge fund manager research.
Ms. Elsass earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Miami University in Ohio and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
Charles J. French, CAIA, Consultant
Mr. French is a consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. As lead for Stratford’s sales and marketing efforts, he is responsible for identifying and securing new business opportunities. He joined Stratford in 2008. He has 11 years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. French served as president of a start-up multi-manager fixed income hedge fund designed specifically for regulated institutions. In addition, Mr. French previously served as a financial solutions consultant at Clark Consulting. At Clark Consulting, he designed nonqualified benefit arrangements. These benefit programs were financed utilizing alternative investments such as corporate owned life insurance (COLI).
Mr. French is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) as designated by The American College.
Additionally, Mr. French is a member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA). Mr. French received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Master’s of Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Lucas W. Mansberger, CFA, Consultant
Mr. Mansberger is a consultant with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. He provides strategic investment advice to defined contribution plans, defined benefits plans, healthcare organizations and Taft-Hartley funds. He also serves as team lead for research on international equity investment managers. Previous to serving as the lead for international equity, he led Stratford's research on fixed income investment managers. Mr. Mansberger joined Stratford in 2005 and has five years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. Mansberger served as a junior investment analyst with Clark Consulting in Chicago, IL, where he was responsible for manager research and performance analytics.
Mr. Mansberger is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Christopher J. Van Dyke, CFA, CAIA, Consultant
Mr. Van Dyke is a consultant and Director of Manager Research with Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. He provides strategic investment advice to endowments, foundations, defined contribution plans, defined benefits plans, and healthcare organizations. Mr. Van Dyke joined Stratford in 2007. He has ten years of investment experience.
Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. Van Dyke was an Assistant Vice President/Associate Consultant at CTC Consulting, Inc. in Portland, OR. At CTC Consulting, he worked exclusively with foundations and ultra-affluent families with aggregate assets under advisement exceeding $2.5 billion. His responsibilities included constructing, monitoring and evaluating client portfolios with investments spanning traditional assets, customized direct hedge fund of funds and customized direct private markets fund of funds portfolios.
Mr. Van Dyke is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. Additionally, he is a member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Program. Mr. Van Dyke earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a minor in Finance from the University of Oregon.
Christine L. Horvath, CCEP, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer
Ms. Horvath is Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Stratford Advisory Group, Inc. She is responsible for managing Stratford’s financial, compliance, IT, and human resource operations. She directs Stratford's investment advisor compliance program. Ms. Horvath joined Stratford as an accounting manager in 2001.
Ms. Horvath received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a minor in Accounting from Winona State University and a Masters of Business Administration with distinction from DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. She is also a member of Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society in Business.
Ms. Horvath is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional as designated by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. She has also been designated as an Investment Adviser Compliance Specialist by National Regulatory Services. Ms. Horvath is a member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE).