Principals

AJO is wholly owned and operated by its eighteen active principals.

• Seth D. Allen
  

  Seth D. Allen(BA, Virginia), 43, began his career at Cambridge Associates prior to joining our firm in 2005. At Cambridge, he was a resource and performance analyst. A CFA charterholder, Seth is involved with research and portfolio management.

• Theodore R. Aronson
  

  Theodore R. Aronson(MBA, BS, Wharton), 69, founded AJO (formerly Aronson+Johnson+Ortiz; before that Aronson+Partners; and before that Aronson+Fogler) in 1984. While still a graduate student, he joined Drexel Burnham Investment Advisors, where he helped found its Quantitative Equities Group. This group managed the Revere Fund, the first active SEC-registered fund to employ MPT. He is both a Chartered Investment Counselor and a CFA charterholder. He was chairman of the CFA Institute (formerly AIMR) and is currently chairman of its Research Foundation. Ted serves as a member of the New Jersey State Investment Council, and is also a trustee of Spelman College and chairman of its investment committee. He was a Lecturer in Finance at The Wharton School and is a frequent speaker on Wall Street issues, especially innovations in methods to minimize transaction costs and align fees with performance. Ted is involved with portfolio management, administration, client service, and marketing.

• Matthew D. Austin
  

  Matthew D. Austin(PhD, AM, Harvard; BA, Castleton University), 37, was a quantitative analyst before joining AJO in 2015, most recently at Numeric Investors and before that at State Street Corporation. A CFA charterholder, Matt is involved with research and portfolio management.

• Stefani Cranston
  

  Stefani Cranston(BS, Villanova), 54, was a senior accountant at Deloitte & Touche before joining AJO in 1991. At Deloitte, she audited a number of financial institutions, including our firm. A CFA charterholder and a licensed CPA, Stefani is involved with portfolio management and research (lead on funding and flows) and financial and human resources.

• Joseph F. Dietrick
  

  Joseph F. Dietrick(JD, Cornell; BS, Penn State), 52, joined AJO in 2003. He previously served as senior counsel and assistant secretary of The Vanguard Group, where he was responsible for commercial transactions and general corporate matters, including corporate governance. Joe is our general counsel and served as our chief compliance officer from 2003 to 2020.

• Daniel J. DiSanto
  

  Daniel J. DiSanto(BS, College of New Jersey), 45, was an audit manager at KPMG before joining our firm in 2002. Prior to KPMG, he was a senior accountant at Arthur Andersen, where he audited financial institutions, including our firm. A CFA charterholder and a licensed CPA, Dan is involved with financial and portfolio accounting and performance measurement.

• Douglas D. Dixon
  

  Douglas D. Dixon(BS, Wharton), 49, a CFA charterholder, spent three years at the University of Pennsylvania as a financial analyst before joining our back office in 1997. Three years later, he made the jump to trading. Doug is involved with trading and transaction-cost research.

• Michael R. Dowd
  

  Michael R. Dowd(MBA, Boston College; BS, William & Mary), 46, joined AJO in 2014 after stints at Putnam and, more recently, at Martingale Asset Management, where he was responsible for research and portfolio management. A CFA charterholder, Michael is involved with research and portfolio management.

• Robert O. Louka
  

  Robert O. Louka(MBA, Wharton; BA, Loyola), 45, joined us in 2006 from CooperNeff, where he worked for eight years in trading, research, and portfolio management, after a stint at Alex Brown. A CFA charterholder, Rob is involved with trading and transaction-cost research.

• Greg McIntire
  

  Greg McIntire(MS, BA, Illinois), 51, joined AJO in 2020 with over two decades of industry experience in a variety of intersecting roles — from portfolio and risk management to manager selection to quant equity modeling and programming. He spent about half of his Wall Street years at SEI (a long-time client of AJO), and came to us following a three-year stint at AQR. A CFA charterholder, Greg is involved with research, implementation, and trading.

• Gina Marie N. Moore
  

  Gina Marie N. Moore(BS, BA, Delaware), 51, joined AJO in 1998. She started her investing career as a pension analyst at Scott Paper Company, escaping when “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap began carving up the company. She gained her management management experience in various client-focused and investment roles, first at Brandywine Asset Management, then at Glenmede Trust, and finally at AJO. Gina is a CFA charterholder and earned her CPA during her pre-investing days as an auditor at Price Waterhouse. For fun, she works to revolutionize education as a founder of the Revolution School, an independent high school in Philadelphia. Gina is involved with portfolio management, administration, client service, and marketing.

• Claire M. Noel
  

  Claire M. Noel(MS, Pennsylvania; BA, Dartmouth), 34, began her career on the quantitative investments team at Turner Investments prior to joining AJO in 2012. At Turner, she worked on domestic, international, and fixed-income projects. A CFA charterholder, Claire is involved with systems development, research, and portfolio management.

• Siddharth Ramesh
  

  Siddharth Ramesh(MS, Columbia; BT, Indian Institute of Technology Madras), 32, was a quantitative strategist with Clarity Solutions Group before he joined our firm in 2014. A CFA charterholder, Siddharth is involved with systems development, research, and portfolio management in the Boston office.

• Jocelin A. Reed
  

  Jocelin A. Reed(MBA, Pittsburgh; BS, Penn State), 51, who came to AJO in 2014, spent most of her investment career at Mellon Capital and Mellon Equity. Most recently, she was a member of Independence Asset Advisors. A CFA charterholder, Jocelin is involved with portfolio management and research.

• Gregory J. Rogers
  

  Gregory J. Rogers(BS, Wharton; BS, Pennsylvania), 52, began his career at First Boston prior to joining AJO in 1993. Greg spearheaded our trading operation for well over a decade. He then moved to portfolio management and research. His initial focus was on the domestic front, followed by work on the launch of our emerging markets strategies and global mandates. A CFA charterholder, Greg leads our Boston office and is involved with portfolio management, research, client service, and marketing.

• Colleen A. Smith
  

  Colleen A. Smith(MBA, Villanova; BA, Bucknell), 48, was an analyst at Chartwell Investment Partners before joining AJO in 2005. She began her career at Simon & Schuster as a financial analyst and later worked at Villanova University as a graduate research assistant. A CFA charterholder, Colleen is involved with research and portfolio management.

• Christopher J. W. Whitehead
  

  Christopher J. W. Whitehead(BA, Colby College), 46, was a senior research associate at Cambridge Associates before joining our back office in 2000, just as the internet bubble burst (establishing his distinguished record as a market timer). Over the ensuing years, he moved to research, and then to portfolio management. A CFA charterholder, Chris is involved with portfolio management and research.