Jay has more than 35 years of investment experience managing a broad range of fixed income portfolios. He is the head of fixed income research and oversees risk management across Baird Advisors’ portfolio strategies. Jay also plays a lead role in the formulation and implementation of investment strategy. In addition, he directs product responsibility for Long Duration LDI strategies designed for defined benefit pension plans. Jay obtained his undergraduate degree from Marquette University and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1987. He is currently a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Milwaukee. Prior to joining Baird Advisors, Jay was a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager with Putnam Investments in Boston where he was responsible for strategy formulation and portfolio construction across a wide variety of multi-sector fixed income mandates.

Charlie has more than 40 years of investment experience managing a broad range of fixed income portfolios. His responsibilities include setting investment policy and implementing the long-term investment strategy of Baird Advisors. He also plays a lead role in the management of institutional client relationships. Charlie obtained his undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University and his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to joining Baird Advisors, Charlie was a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager with Firstar Investment Research & Management Company (FIRMCO).

Mary Ellen has more than 40 years of investment experience managing a broad range of fixed income portfolios. She is responsible for the formulation of fixed income strategy as well as the development and implementation of all fixed income asset management services. Mary Ellen serves on the board of Baird Financial Group, as President of the Baird Funds and is chair of the Baird Diversity Steering Committee. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Marquette University and her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Mary Ellen earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1983 and is currently a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Milwaukee. Prior to joining Baird Advisors, Mary Ellen was President and Chief Executive Officer of Firstar Investment Research and Management Company (FIRMCO) and was Director of Fixed Income.

Gregory Peters is a Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer of PGIM Fixed Income. He is also senior portfolio manager for Core, Long Government/Credit, Core Plus, Absolute Return, and other multi-sector Fixed Income strategies. Prior to joining PGIM Fixed Income, Mr. Peters was the Chief Global Cross Asset Strategist at Morgan Stanley and responsible for the firm's macro research and asset allocation strategy. In addition, he was Morgan Stanley's Global Director of Fixed Income & Economic Research and served on the Firm Risk, Investment, Asset Allocation, Global Credit, and Global Fixed Income Operating Committees. Earlier, Mr. Peters worked at Salomon Smith Barney and the Department of U.S. Treasury. Mr. Peters has been recognized by Institutional Investor magazine for his efforts in macro, fixed income, high yield and investment grade strategies. Mr. Peters was also recently recognized as Business Insider's Top Analysts and Top Analyst's to Watch by CEO World. Mr. Peters earned a BA in Finance from The College of New Jersey and an MBA from Fordham University. He is also a member of the Fixed Income Analyst Society and the Bond Market Association.

Ms. Royer is Vice President, Portfolio Manager, and Head of the Disciplined Alpha Team at Loomis Sayles. Ms. Royer began her investment industry career in 1985 and joined Loomis Sayles in 2010 from Wells Capital Management, where she was senior portfolio manager and co-head of the Montgomery core fixed income investment team. Previously, Ms. Royer was a lending officer with Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (J.P. Morgan). Earlier, she was a financial analyst in the equity research department at Barclays de Zoete Wedd and an analyst in the corporate finance department at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Ms. Royer is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Gettysburg College and earned an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Richard Figuly, Managing Director, is a member of the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) group. Based in Columbus, Rick is a portfolio manager for the U.S. Value Driven team and is responsible for managing institutional taxable bond portfolios. An employee since 1993, Rick previously served as a fixed income trader trading all taxable fixed income securities while specializing in structured products. Prior to joining the firm, Rick was a fiduciary tax accountant at the Bank One Ohio Trust Company. Rick is also a retired Major of the Ohio Army National Guard. He holds a B.S. in finance from The Ohio State University.

Justin Rucker, executive director, is a member of the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) group. Based in Columbus, Justin is a portfolio manager for the U.S. Value Driven team and is responsible for managing Long Duration & Core Bond institutional taxable bond portfolios and fund vehicles. Justin is responsible for long duration strategies with benchmarks that span the range from actively managed to custom liability-based across a broad spectrum of fixed income sectors. An employee since 2006, Justin most recently was a member of the Mid Institutional Portfolio Management team specializing in structured product sectors & managing Core Bond portfolios. He also spent three years in the client portfolio management group for Global Fixed Income & three years as an Internal Client Advisor for JPMorgan Mutual Funds. Prior to joining the firm, Justin worked the trade desk for Open E Cry, LLC, a brokerage firm specializing in Futures and FX trading. Justin holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Dayton, an M.B.A. from Capital University, and is a CFA charterholder.

Jeff has more than 25 years of investment experience managing a broad range of fixed income portfolios. He plays a lead role in overseeing credit research and developing and implementing investment strategies within the credit sector. Jeff obtained his undergraduate degree from Carroll University and his M.S. in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned the Certified Public Accountant designation in 1991 and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1998. Jeff is currently a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Milwaukee. Prior to joining Baird Advisors, Jeff was the Director of Corporate Bonds at Clarica Life Insurance and began his career as an auditor at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Meg has more than 20 years of investment experience managing a broad range of fixed income portfolios. She co-leads research and strategy development in the mortgage and asset-backed sectors. Meg obtained her undergraduate degree in Economics from Boston College, and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2005. She is currently a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Milwaukee. Prior to rejoining Baird Advisors in 2007, Meg was a Vice President and Portfolio Manager with Deerfield Capital Management in Chicago where she was a member of the asset-backed securities team focusing on collateralized debt obligations.

Seth Timen is a vice president and credit portfolio manager for the disciplined alpha team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He joined Loomis Sayles in 2010 as a credit trader and was later promoted to senior credit trader. Previously, Seth was a vice president and credit trader at Pequot Capital Management, where he was responsible for investment grade, high yield, distressed bonds and CDS, sovereign risk and structured products trading. Prior to Pequot Capital Management, he was an associate at Credit Suisse, where he provided investment strategy advice for institutional clients regarding investment grade, cross-over credit, emerging market and structured credit products. Seth began his investment industry career in 2001. He earned a BA from the University of Michigan.