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JFNA Investment Institute Bios

Charles Bronfman is Chairman of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc., Mr. Bronfman oversees a family of charitable foundations in Israel, Canada and the United States. In today’s world, Charles Bronfman is probably best known for his role as Co-Chairman of Birthright Israel. Mr. Bronfman was Chairman of Koor Industries Ltd., one of Israel's largest industrial holding companies, from 1997 to 2006. Prior to the December 2000 formation of Vivendi Universal, he was Co-Chairman of The Seagram Company Ltd. and had served as Chairman of the Executive Committee since 1975. In addition, he was Chairman and principal owner of the Montreal Expos Baseball Club from 1968 to 1990. Mr. Bronfman's life-long commitment to Jewish affairs led him to serve, from 1999 to 2001, as the first Chairman of the United Jewish Communities, the merged North American entity comprised of United Jewish Appeal, the Council of Jewish Federations and United Israel Appeal. He is an Honorary President of the United Israel Appeal of Canada and served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada until September 2008. He is now Honorary Founding Co-Chair. In 2002, Mr. Bronfman joined the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and in 2003, joined the Board of Trustees of Brandeis University. Mr. Bronfman serves as an Honorary Board Member of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation and sits on the Board of Village Academies, a network of college preparatory public charter schools based in Harlem, New York.

Arthur Fried is currently Chairman of the The AVI CHAI Foundation, and Keren Keshet – The Rainbow Foundation, which is funded by the Estate of Zalman C. Bernstein. Prior to this he was CEO of The Rothschild Foundation until 1999 and work with Lehman Brothers until 1981. Mr. Fried earned a B.B.A. from Bernard M. Baruch School of Business and Public Administration in 1963, a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1968, and an M.B.A. in Health Care Administration from City University of New York in 1983.  He was born in 1941.

Paul Kasriel is the senior vice president and director of economic research at The Northern Trust Company. He has been with the company since 1986. His economic and interest rate forecasts are used both internally and by clients. Paul received the prestigious 2006 Lawrence R. Klein Award for having the most accurate economic forecast among the Blue Chip survey participants for the years 2002 through 2005. The accuracy of Paul’s 2008 economic forecast was ranked in the top five of The Wall Street Journal survey panel of economists. In January 2009, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes cited Paul as one of the few who identified early on the formation of the housing bubble and foresaw the economic and financial market havoc that would ensue after the bubble inevitably burst.

Through written commentaries containing his straightforward and often nonconsensus analysis of economic and financial market issues, Paul has developed a loyal following in the financial community. Paul is the co-author of a book entitled Seven Indicators That Move Markets.

Paul began his career as a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He has taught courses in finance at the DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Paul serves on the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association.

Daniel Kahneman is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is also professor of psychology and public affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Kahneman is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Econometric Society. He has been the recipient of many awards, among them the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association and the Grawemeyer Prize, both jointly with Amos Tversky, the Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (1995), the Hilgard Award for Career Contributions to General Psychology (1995), the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), and the Lifetime Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (2007). Dr. Kahneman holds honorary degrees from numerous Universities.

Roger Lowenstein is a columnist for Bloomberg and he also writes for The New York Times Magazine and other publications. He is also the bestselling author of five books. Raised in New York, Lowenstein began his career with stints at two small newspapers, first in Virginia and then overseas in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1979, he joined The Wall Street Journal as a staff reporter. From 1989 to 1991, he wrote the Journal’s signature Heard on the Street stock market column. Later, he authored a new column for the Journal, Intrinsic Value.

Since the 1990s, Roger has focused on book writing and also written extensively for national magazines. His previous books include Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-term Capital Management, Origins of the Crash, and While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, Loom as the Next Financial Crisis and The End of Wall St. In reviewing While America Aged, Jeff Madrick, writing in The New York Times Book Review, said "Lowenstein is one of the nation's most talented business writers, with a particular ability to make obscure financial issues clear as the morning light."

 

André Perold is the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking at the Harvard Business School. A member of the faculty since 1979, he has served as the Senior Associate Dean: Director of Faculty Recruiting, Chair of the Finance Faculty, Director of Research, and Coursehead of Finance 1. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University.

 

André's research interests lie primarily in investment management with a focus on asset allocation, investments in non-traditional assets, risk management, and efficient execution.  He has authored numerous articles and case studies, and he is co-author of the books, The Global Financial System: A Functional Perspective and Cases in Financial Engineering:  Studies of Applied Financial Innovation. 

 

André has developed MBA courses in investment management and capital markets, and his teaching is primarily focused in those areas.  He also teaches in executive education programs, including the HBS/CFA Institute Investment Management Workshop which he has chaired since 1989.  He has received numerous awards for teaching excellence, and he was voted the School’s most outstanding professor in a 1994 Business Week student survey.

 

Andre is a founder and Chair of the Investment Committee of HighVista Strategies.  HighVista specializes in endowment management for institutions and individuals, and employs a strategy involving broad diversification across non-traditional as well as marketable asset classes.  Professor Perold has been a consultant to a number of financial institutions and investment firms, and he has served as a director, trustee and advisory board member of a variety of not-for-profit and other organizations.  He presently serves on the boards of directors of The Vanguard Group and Rand Merchant Bank, and the Board of Overseers of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.  He also serves on the advisory boards of FIA Timber Partners, The Rock Creek Group, and RRE Ventures; and on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal. 

 

Barry Shrage has served is the president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Inc. (CJP).  Barry led development of CJP’s Strategic Plan, a bold initiative that called for CJP to develop communities of learning, caring and social justice through innovative partnerships with community service agencies and synagogues.  He is deeply committed to Jewish and CJP participation in the broader urban agenda and has worked with the Boston Foundation, United Way, Catholic Charities and New Profit, Inc. to develop the Boston Foundation’s Opportunity Agenda.
 
A graduate of City College of New York, Mr. Shrage holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University.  He has written extensively on Jewish identity, continuity, social justice and the Jewish renaissance.  He and his wife Ellie have two children and one grandchild.

 

Ted Sokolsky assumed the presidency of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto following a successful five-year term as the organization’s vice president, Integrated Fundraising. At UJA, Sokolsky has served as senior campaign associate, associate campaign director, annual campaign director and vice president, Integrated Fundraising. Under his leadership UJA Federation’s Annual Campaign grew from $34 million in 1995 to a record $65 million in 2003, making it the third largest campaign of its kind in North America; he has managed the planning and implementation of Jewish Toronto Tomorrow, a groundbreaking initiative that will invest $1.5 billion in the Greater Toronto Area – the largest-ever redevelopment of Toronto’s Jewish community infrastructure – and is overseeing the restructuring of the federation Foundation that has resulted in the rapid expansion of its assets from $23 million to nearly $130 million over a five-year period. Ted was a regular faculty member of United Jewish Community’s Continuing Education courses and was honored as the winner of the Vivian Rabineau Award for Outstanding Achievement in Federation Fundraising. He was an active volunteer as a Big Brother for the Native Children’s Centre and served as a member of the Fundraising Cabinet for United synagogue Day Schools of Toronto.