GMO 2023 Conference

Mr. Grantham co-founded GMO in 1977 and is a member of GMO’s Asset Allocation team, serving as the firm’s long-term investment strategist. He is the Chairman of the GMO Board of Directors, a partner of the firm, and has also served on the investment boards of several non-profit organizations. Prior to GMO’s founding, Mr. Grantham was co-founder of Batterymarch Financial Management in 1969 where he recommended commercial indexing in 1971, one of several claims to being first. He began his investment career as an economist with Royal Dutch Shell. Mr. Grantham earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Sheffield (U.K.) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, holds a CBE from the UK and is a recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy.

Mr. Auth is the head of GMO's Developed Fixed Income team and a partner of the firm. He is the lead portfolio manager for the Opportunistic Income and High Yield strategies and heads the Structured Products team as well. Prior to joining GMO in 2014, he was a Portfolio Manager for the Harvard Management Company. He was also a Research Director at Standish Mellon Asset Management. Mr. Auth earned his bachelor's degree in Government and History from Connecticut College and his MBA from the University of Connecticut. He is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Divecha is the founder of GMO Emerging Markets Equity and a partner of the firm. Prior to joining GMO in 1993, he spent 12 years at BARRA directing software development, marketing, client service, and emerging markets research and development. Mr. Divecha holds a Bachelor of Technology in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and an MBA in Finance from Cornell University.

Mr. Edwards is the Head of GMO’s Usonian Japan Equity team and a partner of the firm. Prior to joining GMO in 2020, he served as Portfolio Manager, Chief Investment Officer (CIO), and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Usonian Investments LLC. Mr. Edwards has been a member of the Usonian team since 2008. Prior to founding Usonian, he was Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Advisory Research, Inc. Previously, Mr. Edwards had also been an investment professional at Taiyo Pacific Partners, an activist fund backed by CalPERS and W. L. Ross that focuses on Japanese equities, an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, and a finance executive in the health care industry. He earned his BA in International Business from Sophia University (Tokyo) and his MBA and JD from Northwestern University. Mr. Edwards is proficient in Japanese.

Dr. Hancock is the head of the Focused Equity team, a portfolio manager for GMO’s Quality Strategies and a partner of the firm. Previously at GMO, he was co-head of the Global Equity team. Prior to joining GMO in 1995, he was a research scientist at Siemens and a software engineer at IBM. Dr. Hancock holds BS and MS degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Mr. Inker is co-head of GMO’s Asset Allocation team, a member of the GMO Board of Directors and a partner of the firm. He joined GMO in 1992 following the completion of his bachelor's degree in Economics from Yale University. In his years at GMO, Mr. Inker has served as an analyst for the Quantitative Equity and Asset Allocation teams, as a portfolio manager of several equity and asset allocation portfolios, as co-head of International Quantitative Equities, and as CIO of Quantitative Developed Equities. He is a CFA charterholder.

Ms. LeGraw is a member of GMO’s Asset Allocation team and a partner of the firm. Prior to joining GMO in 2013, she worked as a director at BlackRock. Previously, Ms. LeGraw was an analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co. She received her BA and her BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Montier is a Senior Advisor to GMO, consulting on economic and market research. Prior to joining GMO in 2009, he was co-head of Global Strategy at Société Générale. Mr. Montier is the author of several books including “Behavioural Investing: A Practitioner’s Guide to Applying Behavioural Finance”; “Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment”; and “The Little Book of Behavioural Investing.” Mr. Montier is a visiting fellow at the University of Durham and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds a BA in Economics from Portsmouth University and an MSc in Economics from Warwick University.

Ms. Ng is the Head of ESG and Sustainability at GMO. Prior to joining GMO in 2022, she was the Head of Responsible Investing at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), where she spent more than 18 years. At OTPP, Ms. Ng developed and led the Plan’s Responsible Investing Strategy and climate change initiatives and headed OTPP’s Responsible Investing team. She was responsible for key deliverables across several pillars, including climate change and ESG thought leadership and innovation, ESG integration frameworks and tools, and corporate engagement. Ms. Ng and her team also provided insights and subject-matter expertise to the global direct investment teams. Previously at OTPP, Ms. Ng was part of OTPP’s Strategy & Asset Mix team, where she focused on the research, evaluation, and introduction of innovative asset allocation strategies designed to help meet the Plan’s long-term liability objectives. Ms. Ng currently sits on the Investment Committee of the United Church Pension Plan and is a past board member of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB BV). Prior to her years at OTPP, she founded Acuity Communications, assisting investment firms such as UBS Securities, CIBC WM, and Desjardins Securities with their investment research requirements. Ms. Ng earned her Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Finance from the University of Toronto, where she was also awarded with a Directors Award from the Rotman School of Management. She is a CFA charterholder.

Ms. Ramachandran is a portfolio manager for GMO’s High Yield Strategy. She is a member of GMO’s Structured Products and High Yield teams, also contributing research focused on macro credit. Prior to joining GMO in 2019, Ms. Ramachandran held numerous positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch most recently as a Director in Credit Trading, covering macro and quantitative credit strategy. Previously at Bank of America Merrill Lynch she held positions as a credit portfolio strategist and a credit derivatives strategist. Ms. Ramachandran earned her BE in electronics and telecommunications from the University of Mumbai and her MS in financial mathematics from City University of London.

Dr. Sakoulis is the Head of Investment Teams and Head of the Systematic Equity team at GMO. He is a partner of the firm. He previously worked at GMO from 2009 to 2014 leading quantitative research for GMO’s Emerging Markets Equity team. Prior to rejoining GMO in 2020, he was most recently a Managing Director and Head of Global Multi-Asset Solutions for QMA, where he focused on systematic total and absolute return investment solutions. Before that, he led QMA’s Global Portfolio Solutions group. Previously, Dr. Sakoulis also served as the Director of European Equity Strategies for Numeric Investors and as a Director for UBS O’Connor. He earned his bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics from San Francisco State University and his MA in Economics and PhD in Financial Econometrics from the University of Washington.

Mr. Thorndike is co-head of GMO’s Asset Allocation team and a partner of the firm. Mr. Thorndike currently oversees asset selection and portfolio construction decisions, as well as team management responsibilities. Prior to joining GMO in 2015, he was a managing director and Deputy CIO at The Investment Fund for Foundations. Previously, he was an analyst with TIFF. Mr. Thorndike earned his bachelor's degree in Physics from Bowdoin College.

Ms. Vandersteel is the head of GMO’s Emerging Country Debt team. Prior to joining GMO in 2004, she worked at J.P. Morgan in fixed income research developing quantitative arbitrage strategies for emerging debt and high yield bonds. She began her career at Morgan Guaranty Trust, attending Morgan Finance Program #18, before establishing her career in emerging debt. Ms. Vandersteel earned her B.A. in Economics from Washington & Lee University. She is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. White is the lead portfolio manager for the Resources and Climate Change strategies. He is a member of GMO’s Focused Equity team and a partner of the firm. Previously at GMO, he was engaged in portfolio management for the Global Equity team, including responsibilities for the Quality, Tactical Opportunities, and U.S. Growth strategies. Prior to joining GMO in 2006, he worked at Standish Mellon Asset Management and MFS. Mr. White earned his bachelor's degree in Economics and Psychology from Duke University. He is a CFA charterholder.