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Dr. Andrew C. Temte, CFA

Biography:

Andrew Temte, PhD, CFA, is president of Kaplan Professional Education (KPE), a division of Kaplan Higher Education Group. As president of KPE, Dr. Temte is responsible for overseeing the following operating units:

• Kaplan University School of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE), helping individuals attain and maintain a wide array of industry-recognized licensures, certifications, and designations.
• Kaplan University College of Business and Technology, serving degree-seeking online and campus-based students.
• Hesser College, offering students online and campus-based degree and diploma programs in business, health, information technology, and general education.

In addition, Dr. Temte is responsible for the Enterprise Learning Solutions group which establishes and maintains corporate partnerships for Kaplan University.

Dr. Temte started his professional education career in 1990, working with Dr. Carl Schweser until 1999 to build Schweser Study Program into the global leader in CFA^® exam review. Upon the acquisition of Schweser Study Program by Kaplan, Inc. in 1999, Dr. Temte assumed leadership of the Kaplan Schweser organization. Under his direction, Kaplan Schweser became a leading global provider of innovative, efficient, and effective financial education solutions.

Dr. Temte earned his doctorate in finance at the University of Iowa with a concentration in international finance and investment theory. He holds the CFA designation and has over 16 years of university teaching experience in the areas of corporate finance, investments, and international finance.

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Dr. Tim Smaby, CFA, FRM

Biography:

Tim Smaby is Chief Learning Officer of Kaplan Schweser and Kaplan Financial Education, divisions of Kaplan Professional. Smaby joined the company in 2002 as the manager of the Level 2 CFA study materials. In his current role as CLO, Smaby oversees all content development and production for Kaplan Professional's insurance, securities, and advanced designations product lines.

Prior to joining Kaplan, Smaby was an associate professor of finance at Penn State Erie. Previously he held various positions in the banking industry with Bank One in Cincinnati, Ohio and First Republic Bank in Dallas, Texas.

Smaby is a CFA Charterholder and has also been awarded the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Cincinnati, an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin, and a BS in economics from the University of Minnesota.

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Dr. R. Douglas Van Eaton, CFA

Biography:

Before joining Kaplan Schweser as vice president of CFA Education and Level 1 manager, Doug taught finance at Texas Christian University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Washington. Prior to that, he spent six years with the brokerage firm of Dean Witter. He has published articles in both academic and professional journals, including the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Investing, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, and the Financial Services Review. His work has been cited in the CFA digest and won an award from the CFP Board of Examiners. Doug also has many years of experience teaching financial professionals, including CFA exam review courses for the Dallas Society of Financial Analysts (DSFA) and JKE (Excel) Exam Review, as well as seminars for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in finance, accounting, and funds management. Doug’s education includes a master’s degree in economics and a doctorate in finance, both from the University of Washington.

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Derek Burkett, CFA, FRM, CAIA

Biography:

Derek is a Senior Content Specialist for Kaplan Schweser. He specializes in writing and editing CFA^®, FRM^®, and CAIA^® review material and is the CAIA product line manager. Derek holds an M.S. in finance from the University of Denver and a B.S. in economics from Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Kaplan Schweser in 2004, Derek worked as a business valuation consultant for a national consulting firm, performing various tangible asset and intangible asset valuations and damage analysis for securities litigation. Derek is a CFA charterholder, certified Financial Risk Manager, and CAIA member.

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David Hetherington, CFA

Biography:

Mr. Hetherington began his career as an economist at the Bureau of Labor statistics after receiving a BA in Economics from Duke University and then worked 10 years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager.  Subsequent to that he served for 10 years as Managing Director of Fixed Income Research at Nations Bank where he was responsible for both fixed income securities and derivatives.

Mr. Hetherington also has over 20 years experience helping CFA candidates at all levels pass their exams.  He has presented CFA Exam preparation classes all over the world and served as national instructor for Stalla CFA Review for 10 years, winning the instructor of the year award multiple times.  With his long experience, keen understanding of the CFA Curriculum, and engaging style, he has earned an international reputation for presenting the absolute best in CFA education and review.  

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Jodi Joachim, CFA

Biography:

Jodi holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College. Jodi joined Kaplan Schweser in 2001 and until recently focused on CFA content development and support. Currently, she oversees the editing and online content teams and the professional development product line. Prior to joining Kaplan Schweser, she worked in the financial planning and analysis groups at the division and corporate levels of Gap, Inc. Prior to that, she was an examiner with the San Francisco office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), specializing in real estate valuation and analysis. Jodi is an avid equestrian.

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Craig Prochaska, CFA

Biography:

Craig joined Kaplan Schweser in July 2006 as a Content Specialist. He spent 18 years with Bank One Corporation and its predecessor First Chicago Corporation, in positions including forecast economist and editor of capital markets research. Craig holds an MBA in business economics from DePaul University and a bachelor of science in finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Kurt Schuldes, CFA, CAIA

Biography:

Kurt earned his MBA with a concentration in economics from the University of Tampa and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Prior to joining Kaplan Schweser in 2000 Kurt worked as a financial advisor for a national broker dealer managing client accounts for eight years. At Kaplan Schweser, he works in the content department primarily at CFA Level III. Kurt received his CFA charter in 2005 and the CAIA designation in 2010.

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Eric Smith, CFA, FRM

Biography:

Eric has been with Kaplan Schweser since 2003. He currently specializes in the development of CFA Level 3 content and is the team leader for the FRM designation product line. He earned his bachelor of science in finance from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Nebraska. Eric is a CFA charterholder and a certified Financial Risk Manager.

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Dr. Bijesh (B.J.) Tolia, CFA, CA

Biography:

BJ is our CFA Level II Professor and is in charge of Schweser's Chicago weekly program. He has taught CFA review courses for more than 10 years in Chicago and around the world. BJ has also served as the Associate Dean and Department Chair in the College of Business at Chicago State University. He is a CFA charterholder who earned his MBA and doctorate in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Apart from academia, BJ has experience in commercial banking and public accounting, and has published papers in the areas of IPOs, executive compensation, and international finance.

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Kent Westlund, CFA, FRM, CAIA

Biography:

Kent joined the Schweser faculty 2010 working primarily with Level III candidates and currently serves as a Content Specialist for Level II of the CFA Curriculum.  Kent holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. Kent earned an M.B.A. degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and worked as an intern with Deutsche Bank in their asset management department in New York.  He also holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and was a licensed professional engineer and global commodity manager for electronics manufacturing at Celestica prior to pursuing a career in finance. 

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Gayle Buff, CFA, CFP, MBA

Biography:

Gayle is founder and president of Buff Capital Management, a Boston-based investment advisory firm. She holds the designation of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®), and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®). Gayle also holds an MBA and was a licensed clinical specialist with an MS in psychiatric nursing. Over the past 15 years, she has taught finance and business at various local colleges and CFA review classes for the Boston Security Analysts Society.

Gayle is past chair of the Private Wealth Advisory Committee at CFA Institute and was a director and former president of the Boston Security Analyst Society. She is a member of the Boston Estate Planning Council, Boston Economic Club, Boston Foreign Relations Committee, and on the advisory board and past director of the American Lung Association of Massachusetts. Gayle currently is a director of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women and a speaker for the CFA Institute Speaker Retainer Program.

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Dr. Greg Filbeck, CFA, FRM, CAIA

Biography:

Greg joined the faculty of Penn State Erie as professor of finance in 2006 and holds the Black Family Endowed Professorship of Insurance and Risk Management. He has published more than 55 articles in refereed journals and authored 2 books. His research studies are focused within the investments, portfolio management, and behavioral finance areas. In addition to 10 years' experience in academia (Miami University and the University of Toledo), he has 7 years of experience as senior vice-president of Schweser, a division of Kaplan, Inc., where he headed the content and curriculum areas and started and led the marketing and sales areas. Greg has trained candidates for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations on a worldwide basis

• Presentations
• Publications

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Adam Hardi, CFA, CFP

Biography:

Adam currently works on the Treasury side of investment banking at TD Securities in Toronto. He has been teaching the Toronto weekly CFA classes since 2007 and the WindsorWeek™ study seminar since 2009, primarily in the areas of finance, securities, derivatives and portfolio management. In addition, he has assisted with content and authoring questions for the SchweserNotes™ and the online question bank.

Adam holds an MBA in finance from the Rotman School of Management. Prior to completing his MBA, he had over seven years of experience in finance at CIBC Wealth Management, both in equity and derivatives trading. He spent long hours on the trading desk as an institutional trader and was most recently managing a team of equity and fixed income traders. In his spare time (when not travelling) Adam is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys kayaking, martial arts and all winter sports.

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Dr. Jonathan Haughton, CFA

Biography:

Jonathan is a professor of economics at Suffolk University, Boston. He successfully completed his CFA® Level 3 exam in June 2002. A prize-winning teacher, he has lectured in economics since 1978, and has taught for Kaplan/Schweser since 2000.  Jonathan has done research or taught in over two dozen countries, been an editor or author of four books, published over thirty articles in refereed journals, and written more than a hundred reports and papers.  His recent work has included an examination of the competitiveness of metropolitan areas of the U.S., the refinement of a number of national and state-level computable general equilibrium tax models, and studies of the impact of microcredit in Thailand and of a social development fund in Egypt.  Jonathan earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1983.

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Christopher M. Lagan, CFA

Biography:

Christopher Lagan currently works for Congress Asset Management, where he has been employed since 1993. Since 2002, he has been a principal and member of the Management Committee that formulates firm-wide strategic planning to advance the company's mission and objectives. Christopher is also chair of the Private Equity Committee. In this role, he oversees sourcing, due diligence, and commitments to over $1 billion in private equity allocations for several of Congress' institutional clients and serves as an advisory board member on several private equity funds. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Congress Wealth Management, LLC.

From 1998 to 2001, Christopher was a research analyst. He evaluated companies being considered for investment, performed financial analysis using discounted cash flow and other valuation methods, researched companies being considered for purchase, and made buy and sell recommendations to portfolio managers. Prior to 1998, Christopher was the operations manager for Congress Asset Management. From 1992 to 1993, he worked as a purchasing agent for Rentex Incorporated in Boston.

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Darren Lee, CFA, FRM, CPA, CA

Biography:

Darren operates his own consulting practice in Toronto, dealing primarily with tax and finance issues for both corporate and personal clients. He was formerly a tax manager with KPMG, an auditor with Deloitte, and an account manager at the Royal Bank of Canada. Darren graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor of commerce degree.

Darren has extensive experience in lecturing and grading activities relating to professional finance and accounting programs. He has taught for Kaplan Schweser since 2004 and currently manages and teaches in their weekly CFA exam preparatory course in Toronto as well as authoring/editing their FRM study materials.   He also teaches taxation courses for the University of Toronto and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

In addition to those activities, Darren maintains part-time careers as a real estate broker and a concert pianist.  An avid runner, he will participate in the 2011 Boston Marathon after qualifying for it recently on his very first marathon attempt. 

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Marc LeFebvre, CFA

Biography:

Marc is an instructor of finance at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Prior to joining Creighton University, Marc was a portfolio manager for RBC Dain Rauscher, where he managed high net worth client portfolios, foundations, and institutional assets. Marc was also vice president, senior portfolio manager in the Investment Management Group of the Chase Bank of Texas, where he managed approximately $680 million in high net worth client portfolios, personal and corporate trusts, as well as foundation and endowment assets. Prior to joining Chase, Marc managed a $1.0 billion pension fund for a public corporation, where his duties included asset allocation, manager performance review, style analytics, and other pension consulting related activities. Before managing pension assets, Marc performed equity and firm valuation analysis in the field of mergers and acquisitions. Marc holds a bachelor of arts, cum laude, in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Master of Science degree in finance from Boston College. He has been a CFA charterholder since 1994 and has previously been an instructor at CFA review courses in Dallas, Omaha, Minneapolis, London, Zurich, Milan, Shanghai and Johannesburg, where he specializes in equity valuation and portfolio management. 16 years teaching CFA review courses – since 1995;  8 years teaching for Kaplan Schweser – since 2003;  Creighton College of Business Graduate Faculty Member of the Year 2010;  Creighton College of Business Undergraduate Faculty Member of the Year 2009 and 2007.

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Richard J. McCarthy, CFA, CFP

Biography:

Since 1991, Richard has acted as principal of Net Worth Management, a fee-only financial consulting and investment advisory firm in New Hampshire, and as general partner of Palmyra Capital Management, LP. Previously, he worked for 16 years, as an international management consultant, primarily with Arthur D. Little, Inc.

Richard has taught in the CFA review program of the Boston Security Analysts Society/Kaplan for the last 16 years and in the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) review program of Merrimack College since 2003. As an adjunct faculty member at Merrimack, he has taught undergraduate finance courses in portfolio management, behavioral finance, derivatives and risk management, international financial management, and corporate finance. Richard received S.B. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Management from MIT. In addition to the CFA charter, he also holds Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations.

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Dr. Brian McKenna, CFA, CPA, CFP

Biography:

Brian serves as the director of the Center for Financial Analysis at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois. Brian earned his Juris Doctorate in 1977 and is doctorally-qualified in the fields of law, accounting and finance. He has also earned a masters of laws in taxation from DePaul University and a masters in business administration from the University of Chicago.

Brian served as adjunct faculty at Saint Xavier from 1977 to 1989 and joined the full-time faculty in 1989. He has taught over 20 courses in the undergraduate and graduate business curriculum and has served in a number of administrative positions. Prior to joining Saint Xavier full time, Brian was a recognized national expert in railroad tax litigation. His career includes service as a Revenue Agent for the Internal Revenue Service, a senior accountant for Ernst & Young, a general tax attorney for Santa Fe Industries, Inc., and an attorney in private practice. He has worked with most of the major U.S. railroads as a trial attorney or expert witness. Brian currently serves as a legal/financial adviser to several medium-sized Chicago area businesses. In addition to his CFA charter, Brian also holds the Certified Financial Planner and Certified Public Accountant designations.

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C. Dec Mullarkey, CFA

Biography:

Dec has over 20 years of experience in financial services. Currently he is a Managing Director in Investment at Sun Capital Advisors. His past experience include Vice President, Investment at John Hancock Financial Services, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager for LeaseForum, a company investing in alternative assets and Vice President and Portfolio Manager for American Finance Group a real estate and leverage lease investment company. He has also been a CEO of an international employee leasing company and served on the Board of some of John Hancock's affiliated companies.

His expertise is in the areas of fixed income investing, derivatives hedging, and alternative asset investing. He is an adjunct finance professor at the Boston College Carroll School of Management where he teaches graduate and undergraduate finance courses. He has previously been an instructor for the Boston Securities Analysts Society where he taught review courses to Level II and III candidates.

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Dr. Ehsan Nikbakht, CFA, FRM

Biography:

A professor of finance at Hofstra University, Ehsan has more than 18 years of professional corporate training experience. He is a specialized CFA lead instructor for Level III who has trained more than 1,000 CFA and FRM candidates in the US, Canada, and Europe.

Ehsan served as the chairperson of the finance department and the associate dean of the Zarb School of Business, and was the editor of Hofstra Business Review. He currently serves on the editorial board of Global Finance Journal, and The Investment Professional. He is also Vice Chair of the Derivatives Committee of the New York Society of Securities Analysts.

Ehsan has conducted numerous workshops at leading institutions in the U.S. and abroad. In recognition of his teaching, he was voted the 2004 Executive MBA Teacher of the Year at the Zarb School of Business of Hofstra University, and is a recipient of the Dean's Award for Outstanding Teaching and Service. His research book on foreign loans received a Stessin Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication.

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Dr. Mark Potter

Biography:

Mark has been a Professor of Finance at Babson College since 1997. He has taught at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels and helped to develop curriculum and teaching materials. Course topics taught at Babson include valuation, corporate financial planning, equity/business analysis, financial management, mutual funds, and the integrated core curriculum. He has also taught at Suffolk University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Mark has 17 years experience teaching CFA review classes.

Mark has worked with Fidelity Investments since 1998 and did consulting work for the Michel/Shaked Group from 1997–1999. His research has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Business and Economic Studies, Journal of Financial Education, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Derivatives Quarterly, among others. Areas of expertise include mutual fund and portfolio performance, alternative investment Strategies, and educational research.

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Jorge Salazar, CFA

Biography:

Jorge has more than seven years of experience in his role as an economist assisting multinationals with restructuring their cross border transactions and helping them increase profitability on a global basis. Jorge started his consulting career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2001 and now works as a manager with Deloitte & Touche in Calgary, Alberta. Jorge’s areas of expertise include valuation and migration of intangible property, determination of arm’s length royalty rates and interest rates and establishing arm’s length compensation for intercompany services.

Before becoming a full time consultant, Jorge took several teaching positions at the University of La Plata and the Catholic University of La Plata. Jorge taught Economics, Advanced Macroeconomics, Finance, Calculus, Statistics and Econometrics. Jorge obtained his degree of Licenciado en Economia from the University of La Plata and also completed a post-graduate degree in economics from the same university. Jorge earned his CFA designation in 2008.

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Dr. Andrew Spieler, CFA, FRM

Biography:

Andrew is currently Associate Professor of Finance at Frank G. Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University and director of the Master’s program in Quantitative Finance. At Hofstra, Andrew was named “Teacher of the Year” and “Researcher of the Year”. He has previously taught courses at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Indiana University. His teaching experience includes graduate, undergraduate and executive courses in finance, economics, and statistics plus 10 years developing and teaching the CFA and FRM curriculum.

Andrew received his B.S., MBA, and Ph.D. from SUNY Binghamton and MS from Indiana University. He has had over 30 research papers presented at national and international conferences receiving 2 “Best Paper” Awards from the American Real Estate Society.  Andrew has successfully completed five actuary exams administered jointly by the ASA and CSA. Andrew is frequently interviewed and quoted by the financial media and regularly consults with hedge funds, quantitative mutual finds and law firms. He is the former research director for the IRAA, a shareholder advocacy group.

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Dr. Joseph Vu, CFA

Biography:

Joseph earned his MBA and Ph.D., both in finance, from the University of Chicago. He has taught CFA review courses at all three levels for more than 20 years in Chicago and around the world. He has served as a grader for the CFA Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is an Associate Professor of Finance at DePaul University in Chicago teaching investment, corporate finance, options, and mergers and acquisitions courses. He has published articles in both academic and professional journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, the Financial Analyst Journal, the Financial Management, the Financial Review, the Journal of International Finance, and the Review of Futures Markets. Joseph also serves as an arbitrator for FINRA in Chicago.

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Dr. Neil Younkin, CFA

Biography:

Neil is an associate professor in the Graham School of Management at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois.  Neil has been teaching for over twenty years. He has been teaching CFA related university courses for over ten years. Neil has been teaching for Kaplan Schweser for eight years. He is doctorally qualified to teach in the fields of economics, finance, and marketing. Neil has served in administrative positions such as assistant dean, department chairperson, and undergraduate program director.

Neil has a Masters in economics and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also holds an MBA from DePaul University. Neil has broad experience in teaching and conducting seminars at universities and corporate sites. He has published extensively, including the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Global Business. Neil has also worked as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, as well as small business clients. Neil received his CFA charter in 2005.

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