Student Managed Investment Fund

Sara Burnett is ReFED’s executive director, providing organizational leadership with direct oversight of ReFED’s programs, operations, and administration as well as contributing to the organization’s strategic vision. Most recently, she served as founder and principal consultant at Burnett Strategy and Communications, helping purpose-driven organizations grow their businesses while driving positive impact. Prior to this, Sara served for 18 years as the vice president of Food Beliefs, Sustainability, and Public Relations at Panera Bread and Panera Brands, where she pioneered the company’s clean food commitment and led Panera Bread’s Day-End Dough-Nation program and the Panera Bread Foundation.

Sara began her career as a food scientist and supply chain expert, leading programs in ingredient quality, food safety, climate strategy, and animal welfare. She was a Pathfinder Environmental Fellow at Washington University – St. Louis, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology. She also holds an M.B.A. from Webster University – St. Louis.

Jason Cavich, Ph.D., is an associate professor of management at the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship with 23 years of university teaching experience, including courses in strategic management, organizational behavior, and human resources. His research interests include strategic management, corporate governance, and shareholder activism, as he has multiple publications in these areas. He is a former banking vice president, certified corporate director, and Hogan-certified management consultant comprising 20 years of corporate experience.

He holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas – San Antonio, an M.B.A. from Oklahoma State University, a B.A. in Sport Management from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and he studied religion at Oral Roberts University.

As the senior partner of a $13 billion asset management firm, Barbara spent over 30 years in institutional investment management, which compliments her board experience at Acadian Asset Management.

In addition to managing the firm at Mercator Asset Management LP, she jointly shared responsibility for investment decisions and new business development as well as directing the finance, audit, and compliance functions. During her 18 years at Mercator, assets under management grew from $2 billion to a peak of over $13 billion. Barbara has extensive global business experience, having managed portfolios invested in international equities and emerging markets. Over three decades, she traveled extensively to more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa, developing in-depth knowledge of politics, economics, markets, and companies.

For the past six years, Barbara has served on the board of Acadian Asset Management (NYSE: AAMI), a global asset management company with $120 billion under management. In addition to chairing the Compensation Committee, she also serves on the Nominating and Governance Committee and Audit Committee as a qualified financial expert.

During her tenure on the Acadian Asset Management board, Barbara has helped lead the company through a multitude of significant corporate events, including C.E.O. and C.F.O. transitions, the entry of a large activist shareholder, corporate rebranding, re-domicile from the U.K. to the U.S., a major share repurchase program, and significant asset sales.

Barbara also serves as co-chair of the South Florida Chapter of Women Corporate Directors and as a member of the NSU Board of Trustees, where she serves as chair of the Finance Committee. She earned a B.S. in Business Administration (Finance) from the University of Florida and holds a Graduate Diploma in Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics. She was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1992.

Barbara enjoys tennis, skiing, and travel. She lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband, Michael Landry, and daughter, Michaela.

Rosanne Model is thrilled to be a member of the Board of Advisers for the Student-Managed Investment Fund. Interacting with the students and helping them understand the importance of their own ethical leadership as well as how to evaluate the governance structures of their potential investments is an opportunity to make a real contribution to the future success of NSU students. Because of her experience turning around global compliance programs in publicly traded companies and resolving regulatory investigations, she can give students real-life lessons from an array of industries and regions. 

Rosanne is an international commercial lawyer who focuses on issues at the intersection of business, law, and public policy. Most recently, Rosanne was the vice president-legal, chief ethics and compliance officer, and head of commercial operations for Fresh Del Monte Produce (NYSE: FDP), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated producers, distributors, and marketers of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, sold in more than 90 countries around the world. Rosanne’s experience has also included leadership positions in avionics, energy, life science, hotels, technology, and the restaurant industry, especially in high-risk jurisdictions. She worked for multiple years in Asia, having responsibility for Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Russia.

Rosanne’s leadership experience has included crafting and implementing the global remediation required by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission resulting from violations of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; she oversaw the development of effective compliance teams, counterparty risk management programs, policies, processes, accounting controls, information technology systems, and global training and communication programs.

Rosanne is now the principal of Ethics Without Borders LLC, which provides ethics and compliance services to a large cross-section of global industries that want to reduce their risk and protect their reputations.

Rosanne received her M.P.A. from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, where she was a member of the Harvard Law Review. She earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, which included studies at l’Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris as a Mary Vance Young Scholar.

Sal Naro is CIO and senior managing director of Coherence Credit Strategies at Tiptree Advisors, LLC, a division of Tiptree Inc. Across a highly successful career of more than four decades, Naro has consistently showcased his acumen and expertise within the fixed-income sector, establishing himself as a prominent industry figure. 

While leading Coherence Credit Strategies for the last 12 years and overseeing the liquid long/short credit hedge fund, Naro's team has achieved notable acclaim. The fund won the Fund of the Year in the Credit Long/Short category at the With Intelligence HFM 2024 U.S. Hedge Fund of the Year awards. The fund also received the prestigious title of Fund of the Year in its category from Hedgeweek U.S. in both 2022 and 2023, as well as past awards from AI Hedge Fund Global Fixed Income Focused Alternative Investment Firm of the Year in 2014 and Alt Credit Intelligence for U.S. Performance Awards 2016 for Long/Short Credit Under $300M. Naro's exceptional investment expertise is highlighted by the fund's impressive performance, boasting an annualized return of 8% since its inception and a sharp ratio of 1.50. 

From 2020 to 2023, Naro served as managing director at Lazard Asset Management following its acquisition of his company, Coherence Capital Partners LLC, which he founded and led as chief executive officer and managing member from 2012 to 2020. 

Previously, Naro held the role of vice chairman at Jefferson National Financial, which held more than $2B in assets. His strategic vision and leadership were instrumental in the successful sale of the insurance carrier, which led to the formation of Coherence Capital. 

From October 2008 to March 2011, he was an executive vice president and head of the acquisitions committee at Markit Group, a leading financial services technology firm. Prior to Markit Group, he was the co-chief executive officer and president of Sailfish Capital Partners, LLC, a $4.8 billion asset management firm with approximately $2.6 billion in hedge fund assets that Naro co-founded in 2005, which specialized in fixed-income assets. 

Previously, Naro worked at UBS Investment Bank, where he was managing director and the global co-head of fixed income and served on the board of directors. He was also a senior managing director and global head of credit trading at Bear Stearns from 1989 to 1998. While at UBS Investment Bank and Bear Stearns, he managed an investment team and traded a significant proprietary book, as well as served on the global risk committees of both firms. 

Naro embarked on his Wall Street career in 1982 as a fixed-income associate with Dreyfus. He subsequently gathered valuable experience at Kidder Peabody and L.F. Rothschild, going on to hold senior management roles in fixed income for the last 34 years. 

A graduate of Long Island University C.W. Post Center in 1983, Naro later served as a trustee of LIU for 15 years and is a member of the C.W. Post Football Hall of Fame.

As Chief Strategist and C.E.O. at Tallbacken Capital Advisors, Michael analyzes the interrelationships of interest rates, currencies, commodities, and equities to understand and predict price levels and volatility profiles of the major asset classes.  In addition to establishing longer-term price targets and investment allocation frameworks, Michael also publishes tactical pieces for ETFs with specific and actionable trade recommendations. He publishes weekly reports that discuss economic, monetary, and geopolitical implications for volatility levels for the SPX and other risk assets. 

Michael’s analysis is also complemented by his 25 years of experience on the buy side and sell side as well as investment banking and work at operating companies. This experience, unique for most strategists, complements his cross-asset- and security-specific fundamental and technical analysis. Michael is well-recognized for his consistently accurate track record and for uncovering key trends early.  

Prior to founding Tallbacken Capital Advisors, he was Chief Global Strategist at Weeden & Co. and has held similar posts at BGC Financial and Pali Capital. From 2005 through 2008, Michael was a founding partner at Hudson Fairfax, a long/short hedge fund focused on Indian equities and private equity. At Hudson Fairfax, he was in charge of the short portfolio, market hedging, and macroeconomic analysis, as well as supporting equity analysis and portfolio construction. He also worked at Compass Group, where he ran equity analysis for their flagship Latin-American-focused hedge fund.

From 1992-2005, Michael was an investment banker at S.G. Warburg (now UBS), Merrill Lynch, and RBC Capital Markets. During his work at these firms, he sourced and executed more than $25 billion in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions and $10 billion in financing and private equity transactions, primarily in the telecom, media, technology, and natural resource sectors. Michael served as acting C.F.O. of Fusion Telecommunications, a publicly traded emerging markets telecommunications company, from 1992 through 1993. Additionally, Michael has been a strategic advisor to Cardlytics Inc., the world leader in purchase intelligence, and is currently a non-voting board member and strategic advisor to Curapatient, Inc., an early-stage health technology company. He has also served on the advisory boards of several other technology companies and has been a consultant to a prominent global macro hedge fund. His other work experience includes running his own real estate brokerage firm, restructuring a manufacturing company, and leading a consortium to purchase a company with more than $500M in assets in a bankruptcy process.

Michael holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business and a B.A. from Columbia College. He is frequently interviewed in the financial media, including Bloomberg TV and Radio, the Schwab Network, CNBC, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and several other financial news organizations.  

Ellen Rachlin is a partner at Blue Leaf Ventures. Prior to this role, Ellen was a managing director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank and Mariner Investment Group, LLC, where she worked for ten years and was the lead portfolio manager for their Fund of Funds products. In that role, Ellen oversaw the investment and risk management processes and served on the firm’s Investment Committee. 
Previously, Ellen worked in a variety of different capacities at Wall Street firms, including Citibank, where she traded fixed income arbitrage, and SG Warburg, where she managed fixed income sales into the Americas. She has written several chapters for financial textbooks edited by Frank J. Fabozzi, including content on economics and investment management, as well as other articles for finance journals, including The Journal of Investing. 
She holds an A.B. in Economics from Cornell University, an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago, and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University.
 

Head of private wealth investments at Wells Fargo, Adam Taback is responsible for leading the investment teams that serve high-net-worth, family office, and institutional clients who qualify for the Wells Fargo Private Bank experience. Adam and his team of portfolio professionals work in close partnership with banking and brokerage relationship managers to offer investment management solutions to their clients with complex wealth needs. 

Adam has been with Wells Fargo & Company and its predecessor organizations since 1996. During that time, he has performed a variety of leadership roles, most recently serving as the chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. Prior to that, Adam served simultaneously as the head of Global Alternative Investments for Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII) and as the deputy chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. His responsibilities included leading WFII’s alternative investment platform and strategy guidance covering hedge funds, private capital, private real estate, and option strategies, as well as overseeing the investment product offerings, portfolio management, and specialty investment teams supporting high-net-worth clients. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University and a master’s in accounting from Nova Southeastern University. He is based in Charlotte.

David Wezdenko is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Blue Leaf Ventures, a micro venture capital firm investing in and advising early-stage organizations poised to solve significant problems that have the potential to make a difference. The firm’s portfolio predominantly focuses on the financial, education, and life science sectors. Additional roles include being an independent trustee for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company family of mutual funds, trustee for the National Philanthropic Trust, governing board member of Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, and board director and treasurer for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Palm Beach County.

David has over 35 years of operations, technology, finance, and business transformation experience within the financial services industry. He has held C-suite and senior roles in asset management, wealth management, and investment banking at J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Fidelity Investments.

David is a Boston College alumnus, holding a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. David has a passion and commitment to mentoring and education, especially for underserved communities, through his leadership and engagement in numerous non-profit organizations. He is the founder of UFlourish and actively supports the Women's Business Development Council of Connecticut, Breakthrough NY, Catholic Charities of Palm Beach, and Off The Streets Bridgeport.