Kestra Investment Management

As Chief Investment Officer of Kestra Investment Management, Kara provides investment expertise and
support for the financial professionals within Kestra Holdings, empowering them to serve their clients’ wealth
management needs. That support includes market researchand commentary, empirically driven guidance on portfolio construction, and an array of sophisticated investment strategies.

Kara is a keynote speaker at industry conferences and contributor to many television and radio programs,
including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, Yahoo! Finance, and TD Ameritrade Network. She is also regularly quoted in financial publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Barron’s.

Prior to joining Kestra Investment Management, Kara served at several firms as Chief Investment Officer, most recently at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, where she partnered with advisors to manage their client investments and help address a variety of investment and financial planning needs. She joined Goldman Sachs when it acquired United Capital, where Kara was Chief Investment Officer and built out a series of investment strategies and tools. Previously, Kara was Chief Investment Officer at AIG Funds, where during her tenure as CIO, assets grew from $23 billion to $50 billion.

Earlier in her career, she was an analyst at Chilton Investment Company, a hedge fund, and at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Before joining the investment industry, she was an analyst covering international political and economic risk at Marvin Zonis + Associates, with a focus on Eastern Europe and Russia.

Kara is a member of the CFA Society of New York and the CFA Society of Austin. She serves on the board of directors for Welcome Home, a nonprofit, which she founded to provide support for newly resettled refugees. Kara earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. She is a passionate supporter of financial literacy and diversity within the financial services industry. Most importantly, she is a proud wife and mom of three children who keep her busy, delighted and humbled, often all in the same day

Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Management Derek Schug currently serves as the SVP, Head of Portfolio Management for Kestra Investment Management.

Prior to joining KIM, Derek was a Portfolio Manager at AlphaSimplex. There he was responsible for the strategic development, delivery, research, and ongoing portfolio management of AlphaSimplex’s asset allocation products with an emphasis on the model portfolio delivery business where AlphaSimplex acts as a Portfolio Strategist. He also served as a co-portfolio manager for the AlphaSimplex Dynamic Allocation Strategy. He has over 25 years of industry experience.

Prior to this, Derek was the Founder and CEO of SandBox Investment Partners, LLC, a quantitative investment management firm focused on managing tactical ETF portfolios for Financial Advisors and Institutions. Prior to founding SandBox, Mr. Schug served as Vice President, Investment Strategist at LPL Financial, where he led a team tasked with generating investment ideas across an expansive suite of asset allocation portfolios and also led the creation and ongoing management of new asset allocation model types. Prior to joining LPL Financial in 2005, he spent over four years at Columbia Management, where he created and managed the firm’s Investment Services Team. Derek Schug began his career at Fidelity Investments in 1992.

As Head of Business and Sales Strategy for Kestra Investment Management (KIM), Brandon is responsible for shaping and executing KIM’s strategy, leading high-impact sales initiatives, and overseeing business operations to accelerate growth. A senior member of the leadership team, he works cross-functionally to drive go-to-market strategy, elevate Salesforce effectiveness, and harness data and analytics to strengthen engagement with advisors and advance firm-wide objectives.

Brandon brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across wealth management, investment banking, and asset management, with a proven track record of designing and implementing strategies that drive performance, enhance the client and advisor experience, and scale businesses. Before joining KIM, he held senior roles at Pantera Capital and UBS, where he led global initiatives in growth strategy, data analytics, and sales transformation. His career began in management consulting at Booz & Co., and includes earlier roles at Salomon Smith Barney and Invesco, where he developed a strong foundation in working closely with financial advisors and private clients.

Brandon earned his MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and holds a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds the CFA Institute Sustainable Investing Certificate.

As Head of Marketing and Client Experience Strategy for Kestra Investment Management (KIM), Victoria leads all aspects of marketing strategy and sales activation to increase awareness, lead-gen and client-centric solutions for advisory clients. Victoria is a key member of the KIM Leadership team and works collaboratively to develop and manage the firm’s digital marketing, multimedia production, content creation and all investment-related materials.

Prior to joining KIM, Victoria led the Institutional Relationship Management Segment Marketing for Invesco Ltd. where she created, developed, launched and maintained an award-winning relationship management client experience program strategy central to Invesco’s lifecycle servicing models. Before Invesco, Victoria headed Corporate Access for BTIG, a global financial services firm specializing in investment banking, trading and brokerage services. In advance of Corporate Access, Victoria was Executive Conference Director-Finance and Alternative Investments division with Informa, a leading global events, digital services and academic knowledge firm. Previously, Victoria held senior roles at ABN Amro and Cantor Fitzgerald in addition to experience as a business news reporter/producer & writer for CNBC and CNN as well as an independent Documentary Film Producer; all of which rounds out her ability to holistically serve the needs of clients.

Victoria earned dual bachelor’s degrees from New York University in International Affairs and International Finance and a Masters of Arts from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She holds FINRA SIE, Series 7 and 63 licenses and serves on the board of directors of Atlanta Council of International Relations and Pink Concussions; an organization focused on female brain injuries.