Our Team

Adam leads the development of ESG- and impact-focused index strategies at Syntax. Additionally, he sits on Syntax’s ESG committee, which oversees ESG values at the firm level. He also works on Syntax brand development and content creation. Adam graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College with honors from the English and American Literatures department.

Andrei is responsible for the development of indexes across all asset classes. Prior to joining Syntax, Andrei was the head of product development at Alerian S-Network Global Indexes where he was responsible for the development and maintenance of proprietary and custom indexes including thematic, income, smart-beta and ESG covering multiple asset classes and serving as benchmarks or the underlying for ETFs, UITs, SMAs, mutual funds and structured products. Andrei graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Management Information Systems.

Tony brings more than 30 years of experience in the Investment Management Industry to Syntax Indices. Since 1991, Tony has developed and enhanced relationships with advisors and institutions across all channels of investment management. In 2000 he joined Barclays Global Investors iShares as part of the original launch team for their new suite of ETF products. As an integral member of that team he and his colleagues grew iShares to over 120 Billion in AUM by 2005 making it one of the most successful launches ever in the industry. In 2010 Tony joined S&P Dow Jones Indices to initiate and help build their Channel Management division. In this role, he assumed responsibility nationally for building relationships in the Financial Advisor community. His extensive background in index based solutions gives him the ability to speak in depth on portfolio construction methodologies as well as specific bespoke index strategies . Tony received his BA in Political Science from Providence College and attained his CIMA designation from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002.

Ashley joined the Syntax team in the fall of 2022 as an Analyst to work on classification research and development. Ashley graduated from University of California San Diego in June 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a minor in Psychology.

Carlota recently joined Syntax as a Sales & Marketing Coordinator after having graduated from the combined international excel program with Columbia University and Tecnólogico de Monterrey in Mexico City where she studied Business Strategy and Transformation. Her focus lies in reinforcing the brand and finding innovative ways to intersect sales strategies to market Syntax products in a disruptive and dynamic approach.

Curt is the Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, for Syntax LLC. Over a 25-year career in asset management, Curt has successfully developed National Accounts and Strategic Relationships across Institutional Level platforms including Mutual Fund, ETF, UMA, SMA, and Institutional Insurance Channels. He has been instrumental in the business development of over $6 Billion of assets across the collective industry. Curt is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Truscott Partners, LLC which is active in philanthropy and private investments. An avid tennis player, he currently serves on the Advisory Board of The International Tennis Hall of Fame’s youth development program. Curt has a BS degree from Northeastern University and is a Series 65, 7, 63 license holder.

Daniel leads legal and strategic initiatives for Syntax and advises on partnerships, joint ventures, corporate development, licensing, and intellectual property. He has served as general counsel to a venture capital firm and a registered investment advisor. He previously worked as counsel to a multi-strategy fund; in business development for IIX, a financing platform backed by the Asian Development Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation; and for the World Bank on corporate governance matters. Prior to that, he worked in portfolio development for Balfour Venture Partners, a venture capital firm, and in securities regulation for the New York Stock Exchange. Daniel holds a B.A. from Columbia, where he was a John Jay National Scholar; a J.D. from Georgetown; and an M.B.A. from Yale, where he was a winner of the Yale Law and Business Society Entrepreneurship Challenge. He has presented research on data analytics at the University of Cambridge, South by Southwest, and the World Bank. He holds nine U.S. patents in financial technology and data analytics, and is the author of a book chapter on economic and technology policy in the Middle East. He serves on the boards of a Latin American financial technology startup, an African startup accelerator, and an alumni nonprofit group. He is a member of the New York State Bar and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and serves on the Bretton Woods Committee.

Ellison manages index creation and maintenance for Syntax Indices, with a specialization in real assets, energy, raw materials, and infrastructure. He also works on developing the Locus Functional Information System and its relevant applications. Ellison graduated from Brown University with a concentration in Chemical Engineering and Economics and is a CFA® charterholder.

Henry joined Syntax in the summer of 2021 as a member of the Index team to work on classification research and development. Henry graduated from Colgate University where he played on the Men’s Hockey Team and majored in Economics and minored in Art & Art History and Political Science.

Federica is responsible for all things People and Culture at Syntax, leading the company's Human Resources department. Beyond managing HR throughout the employee lifecycle, her work also includes overseeing the company's DEI initiatives, coaching employees, and working with leadership to develop strategic initiatives. She is passionate about growing and developing employees, maintaining an inclusive and welcoming work environment, and ensuring the teams are working in alignment with the company's mission, vision, and values. Federica began as a hiring manager for Syntax's sister company, Locus Analytics, and has since overseen HR functions across both companies. Prior to joining Locus and Syntax, Federica worked in Media & Entertainment, but decided finance was a far more entertaining field.

Hazim oversees Syntax’s private market data solutions. He manages Syntax’s private markets database, and builds client applications that leverage Syntax’s Functional Information System (FIS). He previously worked with Locus Analytics - acquired by Syntax - where he spearheaded global data acquisition, developed methodologies for the application of FIS to macro-economics, and built FIS applications for private companies. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston University with a degree in International Relations and a concentration in Sustainable Development. He received a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University with a concentration in International Business Relations and Development Economics.

Hezel joined Syntax in the summer of 2018 and works on developing and maintaining Syntax’s family of indices, including the research required to create them. She graduated in May 2018 with a Mathematics major and Economics minor from Bryn Mawr College and has prior experience in academic research.

Irene is the Head of Marketing and is responsible for overseeing all facets of the Syntax company brands. She leads the global marketing strategy, including developing and executing marketing and communication programs to drive demand for our products and solutions. Prior to Syntax, Irene was part of the Industry Readiness Team at the Federal Reserve, where she was a core contributor to the pilot program for the new instant payments, FedNow Service. Previously, she held a variety of product development and marketing roles at investment management firms, such as Lazard Asset Management, Credit Suisse and Neuberger Berman. Irene received her dual B.A. in Political Economy and French from Georgetown University.

Jake joined Syntax's index team in 2022 as an analyst to work on classification research and development. Prior to joining Syntax, he graduated from New York University with a degree in English with High Honors and worked at Woodridge Growth, a marketing agency in New York City.

Based in London, James is the point person for developing Syntax’s European operations. Having previously led the development of the Locus Model and Locus classification tools, he now continues to build new tools to model and characterize the performance of Syntax Stratified Indices. James received his BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Christ Church, Oxford University. James is a CFA® charterholder.

Jonathan is responsible for managing operations at Syntax, overseeing the process of applying FIS attributes to populations of securities and effectively stratifying them. Jonathan’s work also includes research and analysis of Syntax’s existing suite of indices, the development and launch of new indices, and the creation of data analytics tools. Prior to Syntax, Jonathan worked at Locus Analytics, where he was a core contributor to the Locus economic model that underpins the Syntax strategy. Jonathan received his B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Chicago and is a CFA® charterholder.

Joe is responsible for Syntax’s private market data coverage. He oversees private company classification and focuses on expanding coverage and developing commercial applications. He previously worked at Locus Analytics, which was acquired by Syntax in early 2023, where he was a product manager and R&D lead. Joe graduated from American University with a BA in International Economics. Outside the office, you’re most likely to run into Joe at a coffee shop or out on his bike.

Joe oversees the operations of Syntax’s indices as well as the refinement of Syntax's stratification strategy. He works on creating new indices and combining Syntax's FIS based stratification and with other risk factors. Joe graduated from the University of Maryland cum laude with degrees in Finance and Accounting and is a CFA® charterholder.

Lea Mayer is a Venezuelan native and has a background in integrating ESG within the investment process, alongside climate resilience and policy development. Lea is interested in financing equitable development through sustainable investments and helping to distill complex ESG frameworks into simply understood topics. Outside of her career, Lea is passionate about environmental conservation education and enjoys free diving, hiking, and traveling. Lea graduated with a bachelors degree in Political Science and Sustainability Studies from the University of Florida, in 2019.

Michaela joined Syntax in the summer of 2018. As part of the Indices team, Michaela helps research and create new indices stratified by functionally defined risk groups. Michaela graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Regional Studies, focusing on the Andean region of Latin America.

Patrick Shaddow joined Syntax Indices in September of 2021. His responsibilities include all aspects of strategy, index development and production. Patrick has over 15 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining Syntax, Patrick worked for S-Network Global Indexes Inc. starting in 2007, where he worked his way up to Head of Index Operations. In this capacity, Patrick oversaw the development and daily production of over 350 indexes, including 100 indexes licensed as the basis for financial products holding more than $16 billion. Patrick was responsible for every facet of the index business and the management of all personnel involved with the creation, production, and maintenance of the firm’s indices. Patrick oversaw and developed hundreds of indices which span multiple asset classes including thematic, ESG, energy, income and smart beta and serve as the underlying indices for UITs, ETFs, 40-act mutual funds, SMAs, and structured products. Patrick currently serves on the index committee for Syntax Indices, and for the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Prior to joining S-Network, Patrick worked as a Research Analyst for Dow Jones Indexes, where he was a member of the custom index quarterly review. Patrick earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Rutgers University School of Business.

Paul Kenney, CFA is the Senior Vice President of Client Solutions. Prior to joining Syntax, Paul was a Partner at NEPC where he consulted to institutional investors and held leadership positions including overseeing NEPC’s Detroit office and serving as the Practice Team Leader for both the Corporate Defined Benefit and Healthcare teams. Paul’s experience also includes his role at Ford Motor Company where his responsibilities included overseeing the company’s $37 billion defined benefit plan and a $15 billion operating portfolio.

Reaz Tahmidur Rahman is a recent graduate from Baruch. He majored in Computer Information Systems and minored in Philosophy (Linguistics & Ethics). He speaks three languages and is currently learning Japanese. He is motivated by and a proponent of ethical investing. He spends his free time playing soccer, building and tinkering with computers, and learning new things.

Rory Riggs is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Syntax Indices. Rory’s idea for Syntax Stratified Indices came from his career in healthcare and the industry’s statistical use of population sampling and stratification across sub-populations to control for inadvertent biases in clinical trial results. To address the potential of similar biases in index results, he and his team identified a new risk category called related business risks, developed a new classification system with which to identify and group related business risk, and implemented the Stratified Weight methodology to control for the inadvertent over-weighting of related business risks that regularly occur in capitalization-weight and equal-weight methodologies. Prior to founding Syntax and its sister company, Locus Analytics, Rory has been involved in the creation and development of many successful companies in healthcare and biotechnology. These companies include: Royalty Pharma; Fibrogen, Inc.; Cibus, LLC; GeneNews Ltd., Sugen, Inc. and eReceivables Inc. He is currently the chairman and co-founder of Royalty Pharma, the largest investor in revenue-producing intellectual property, principally royalty interests in marketed and late-stage development biopharmaceutical products. In addition, Rory is Chairman and Co-founder of Cibus, the leader in non-transgenic (non-GMO) gene editing in agriculture. He also served as the president and director of Biomatrix Corporation (NYSE: BXM) where he launched Synvisc, an important product in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Rory received a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from Columbia University.

Ruiyu joined Syntax in the fall of 2022 as an index development analyst. Prior to joining Syntax, Ruiyu worked as a quantitative analyst at Bank of America. Ruiyu graduated from University of Rochester with B.S. in Data Science, Applied Mathematics, and Physics

Sai is a project coordinator for Syntax’s private markets team and is responsible for data quality control. He believes diversity and inclusion are essential foundations to successful product development and is passionate about looking at private companies through the FIS lens. Sai graduated from the University of Denver with a master’s degree in Material Sciences. He is passionate about business storytelling, design thinking, and leadership. Outside of work Sai enjoys hiking, baking, and improv comedy.

Sarah is the Senior Sales Manager of Syntax Indices. Previously, Sarah served as the Senior Sales Associate of Alerian and S-Network Global Indexes. Sarah is responsible for managing client relationships, identifying new business opportunities, and executing various client support initiatives and marketing requests in her current role. Her expertise covers the general indexing landscape, index construction, and distribution planning and oversight. Sarah holds an MFA in Communication Arts from the New York Institute of Technology.

Taimur joined the Syntax team in 2022 as an Analyst to work on classification research and development. Prior to joining Syntax, he graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics and Philosophy and worked at Kenway Consulting in Chicago.

Taras spearheads quantitative index development at Syntax. Prior to joining the Syntax team, he was most recently with the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) where he led methodology development and quantitative analytics of both research products and investable indexes. This included the innovative US total market index which now underlies the world's largest mutual fund. Before that he was with academia internationally in the US, Canada and the UK. He was the recipient of highly competitive scholarships including from the European Commission and was also a Fulbright Scholar. He authored and contributed to a number of research and won quantitative analytics faculty awards. He holds a joint master degree in economics and mathematics, PhD in Economics, and PhD (ABD) in finance. His professional association affiliations include the Western Finance Association and the Society for Financial Econometrics.

Zack is responsible for designing procedures and documentation around index methodologies, data dissemination and statistical reporting. He also manages data vendors and training related to the indices. Zack has worked in the indexing industry since 2015; his previous role was Director of Index Analytics at Alerian S-Network Global Indexes. He holds an MBA from Western Governors University and graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Augustana University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Art.