Team

After the editorial team at Barron’s discovered MarketGrader.com and recognized the significant synergies in investment philosophy, Carlos partnered with the leading investment publication to construct the Barron’s 400 Index in 2006. The Index allowed investors to track a broad, fundamentals-based, equally weighted segment of the U.S. market. Following the Index’s growing popularity, he then led MarketGrader Capital’s efforts in launching the Barron’s 400 ETF (NYSE Arca: BFOR) in partnership with ALPS Advisors, in 2013.

In 2014, Carlos oversaw the expansion of the MarketGrader.com platform to collect and grade international equities, and the construction of international and global equity indexes, utilizing the firm’s proprietary fundamentals-based selection parameters.

Concomitant with the extension of global coverage, Carlos brought together the MarketGrader Capital team to build a suite of investable products based on MarketGrader.com’s distinctive equity indexes.

Carlos earned a BS in Economics from Pepperdine University.

With over 40 years of experience in financial and capital markets, having been a member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, as well as a managing principal of LL Chandos, a broker dealer and financial advisory firm, David brings a wealth of expertise to MarketGrader Capital. Of special importance to his role with the firm is his international expertise, having advised foreign governments in Eastern Europe in the development of their capital markets.

In 1986, David worked with the U.S. Congress and the USDA to pass legislation in the Food Security Act, developing a new price support system designed to save billions in subsidies funding as well as developing asset backed securities for privatization of grain stores and sale of USDA assets and in Europe, where he worked with the European Community to develop price floors and revenue streams for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

In 1995, David began working extensively in the Russian Federation and former Soviet Republics through The Pragma Corporation, leading a series of USAID-funded projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Moldova to develop the capital markets of those countries, including credit bureaus and mortgage markets. With the successful completion of his assignments, David was appointed a Senior Counselor to The Pragma Corporation in 2009 for Policy and Financial Sector Development prior to joining MarketGrader.com in 2010.

David received his BA from Purdue University in 1968. In 1971-72, his post-graduate studies specialized in Soviet Military Education at the Russian - East European Institute at Indiana University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1978, he attended the National Security Forum, Air War College, The Air University, USAF. He was a member of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations for over twenty years before relocating to Russia and is a former director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. At present, he serves as a trustee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute situated in Philadelphia.

Prior to joining the team at MarketGrader Capital, Xiao was a Director at Armored Wolf, an investment manager based in Orange County, CA specializing in a global macro strategy employing real assets, where she was tasked with product development, operations and business development, particularly in China. Before moving to California, Xiao was Managing Director at Sumberg, a Beijing-based boutique research firm providing Chinese institutions with global views on macroeconomic issues and markets, and in-depth Chinese market research to the international buy-side.

From 2006 until 2010, Xiao was a Vice President in the Fund of Funds group at alternative investment manager Investcorp in New York City. At Investcorp, Xiao sourced and monitored hedge funds investing across geographies, asset classes and strategies, and worked closely with the CIO in a strategist role, providing market outlooks and inputs for global asset allocation and risk management frameworks. Xiao started her career in 2003 as a Portfolio Manager at Macquarie Allegiance Capital in Huntington Beach, CA, where she managed fixed income portfolios and was a voting member on the firm’s Investment Committee, contributing global top-down macro analysis.

After such rich and varied experience, Xiao was drawn to MarketGrader Capital due to a shared belief in the ability of fundamentals-based equity index strategies to capture superior long-term growth in all geographies and enhance client portfolios. She holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University, a Master’s in Financial Engineering from the University of California, Berkley and a Bachelor of Economics degree from Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

His work has been published in numerous journals including The Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of Indexes and The Journal of Investing. Francis earned his B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Mumbai and his Ph.D. in Economics from New York University.