Our Team

Annette co-founded Welton and Chairs its Board of Managers. Harnessing her 30-plus years as an entrepreneur and female pioneer in alternative investments, she focuses on governance, executive oversight, and industry relations. Utilizing her understanding of markets and business risk, she takes special interest in reputational risk, diversity, and sustainability/ESG matters.

During her 22-year tenure as Welton’s Chief Operating Officer, she served on the Managed Funds Association’s Industry Public Relations committee as well as the National Futures Association (NFA) Nominating Committee.

Annette is a Director on the UCLA Foundation Board having served since 2012. She is a longtime supporter of scholarships for disadvantaged students and health initiatives. She has served as UCLA Foundations’ Finance Committee Chair as well as a member of its Audit, Executive, and Nominating and Governance committees. Annette also serves as a civilian member of the United States Naval Post Graduate School Research Funding Committee.

She previously served as a Founder Director on the Board of Freedom Fields USA, an organization devoted to demining international areas of war-torn conflict in partnership with the US Department of State and the Halo Trust. Freedom Fields has successfully removed more than 60,000 conflict zone land mines in Cambodia. Annette has also served as Treasurer of the Monterey, California Chapter of National Charity League.

Annette holds a BS degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Guillaume oversees Welton’s operations and enterprise risk management, ensuring that all systems, resources, and people are in place to achieve the firm’s goals. He gained his general management experience over 25 years working at large and small financial services companies in various countries, including France, the U.S., and the U.K. Before joining Welton in 2008, he was a Vice President at HSBC and a Senior Business Manager at Capital One. He began his career as an audit manager for KPMG’s Paris and Los Angeles offices. Guillaume holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from NEOMA Business School (France).

An active investor for more than three decades and an investment manager since 1989, Patrick co-founded Welton in 1988. As CIO, he oversees the investment team, develops and executes on investment strategies, and monitors compliance and risk associated with those activities. He also continues to support the firm’s research efforts.

Patrick has served on committees for the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Futures Association (NFA). He speaks at numerous conferences globally every year, participates in panel presentations, and has authored numerous articles on alternative investments, macroeconomic impacts on markets, and investment theory. He’s the former Chair of the Board of Montage Health and its subsidiaries, the former Vice-Chair of the Panetta Institute of Public Policy and a member of their investment committees. In the late 1990s, he co-founded Axios Data Analysis, one of the first large-scale data analytics firms focused on healthcare. His research experience also includes molecular biological work in gene sequencing and biophysics with a focus on positron emission neurofunctional brain imaging, and oncology through clinical cancer trials during a nearly 20-year period as Clinical Professor at Stanford University Hospital.

Patrick holds undergraduate, doctoral, and postdoctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin, UCLA, and Stanford University, respectively. He additionally holds a certificate on Corporate Board Effectiveness from Harvard Business School.

Emily manages portfolio implementation, trading operations, and oversight across Welton’s traded strategies and investment programs to measure and minimize operational risks, ensure close alignment with model portfolios, and continually enhance the firm’s trading platform and oversight tools.

She holds the CAIA designation and earned an MS in Applied Economics and Finance from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a BA in Economics, and a BS in Business Administration with a Finance emphasis from California State University, Fresno.

As head of the Software Engineering Group, Alexandra sets the vision for technology use at Welton, including software and IT infrastructure requirements and ensuring that resources meet the firm's short- and long-term needs. Over the last decade, she has built and maintained software systems related to everything from trading and quantitative strategy implementation to back office reporting and data warehousing.

Before joining Welton in 2003, Alexandra studied at the prestigious Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. She holds a BA in Mathematics from St. Olaf College.

Sam leads the firm’s international business development, including managing third-party marketing relationships within Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America. Before joining Welton in 2019, he was a Managing Director at Miller Howard Investments and a Managing Partner at Singer Partners LLC.

Sam was awarded the “Distinguished Alumni Award” by the University of Denver and is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Reiman School of Finance at DU’s Daniels School of Business.

François leads the Machine Learning Strategy and Risk Platform team and focuses his research on machine learning in systematic trading, including data acquisition and processing, trading signal development, risk management, and algorithmic execution. He has also spearheaded a number of ESG-related innovations at Welton. Before joining the firm in 2016, he was a Researcher and Senior Risk Analyst at Aspect Capital. Previously he worked as a Simulation Engineer within the Process Modeling and Operational Research team of the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) where he modelled the radiological impact of climate and landscape changes on British nuclear waste repositories.

François earned a PhD (DPhil) in Computational Mathematics from the University of Oxford (UK) and a Masters of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the Université Claude Bernard Lyon I (France). He has published over 10 scientific research papers in international peer-reviewed journals.

In her role as an ESG Data Analyst, Purva aids in the systematic integration of ESG research and analysis into Welton’s investment philosophy. She is responsible for building the firm’s fluency on ESG issues to effectively incorporate the information into Welton’s ESG focused programs.

Purva is also a Trader on the Trading Operations & Oversight team where her responsibilities include portfolio implementation, trade operations, and oversight across the firm’s traded strategies and investment programs. Before joining Welton in 2019, she was an Analyst at a distressed asset fund where she supported the portfolio management team with research and analysis of distressed investment deals.

Purva holds an MS in Applied Economics and Finance from The University of California, Santa Cruz and a BA in Business Administration with a focus on Finance from NMIMS University (Mumbai). She’s a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA Society of San Francisco.

Tom founded the consulting firm Fides + Ratio and advises Welton on building deeper investor relationships.

Previously, Tom served as an Executive Director in Capital Introductions for Morgan Stanley and held a similar role at Société Générale (formerly Newedge). Before joining Newedge, he was Head of Research and Portfolio Management for Cedar Partners and also worked in venture capital.

Tom has a BS in Management from Dauphine University (Paris) and an MS in Finance from ESCP School of Management (Paris).

Dan supports Welton’s middle- and back-office operations, including fund accounting, fund administration, trade oversight, and investor reporting. Before joining Welton in 2017, Dan was a Fund Accountant for Seven Locks Capital Management LP, a Senior Fund Accountant at SS&C GlobeOp and an Associate at US Bancorp Fund Services focused on hedge fund clients. He holds a BS in Finance from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University.

Rushui specializes in enterprise software architecture, design, and development, and is responsible for continuously improving Welton’s software infrastructure and applications. Before joining Welton in 2020, Rushui worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Viking Global Investments and as a System Architect at Silver Point Capital. He holds a Master of Science degree (Computer Science) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Connecticut.

As a member of the Machine Learning Strategy and Risk Platform team, Katie researches and develops new systematic trading models and maintains Welton’s in-house risk platform. She’s the architect of the team's machine learning computing infrastructure and bespoke computer cluster.

Before joining Welton in 2018, Katie was a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate macroeconomics while earning an MS (Applied Economics and Finance) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCSC with a BA in Economics/Mathematics.

Neal oversees new business development for Welton’s strategies and works closely with investors to develop solutions optimized to their return objectives. Before joining Welton in 2015, he was Managing Director and Head of Distribution for Barclays Funds and Advisory and has also worked at Merrill Lynch, Schroders, and Lazard in senior distribution roles.

Neal holds a BS from Indiana University.

Chris is responsible for content strategy, product marketing, and communications, and is actively involved with the firm’s product development initiatives. Prior to joining Welton in 2002, he was a Senior Associate with Bear Stearns & Co. and a Senior Financial Analyst with Intel Capital, where he focused on broadband infrastructure investments.

Chris earned an MBA in Finance from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business and a BA from UCLA.

Hunter oversees all aspects of information technology infrastructure, systems administration, and cybersecurity at Welton. Before joining the firm in 2008, he worked for John W. Henry & Company Inc., bringing with him thirteen years’ of trading technology experience in the global futures and foreign exchange markets. Hunter holds a BS from the University of Florida.

Todd is responsible for all aspects of finance at Welton, including corporate finance, fund accounting and administration, trade oversight, and investor reporting. Before joining the firm in 2009, he worked at JPMorgan Chase Hedge Fund Services in Bermuda and Deloitte in Canada, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Todd holds memberships with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada in both Bermuda and Saskatchewan and earned an MPAcc and BComm (Finance) from the University of Saskatchewan.

David oversees compliance, legal, and internal departmental reviews. Before joining Welton in 1993, he was an Associate with the firms formerly known as Price Waterhouse and Dean Witter Reynolds.

David has successfully completed the FINRA Institute at Wharton Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP)® program, and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA from Westmont College.

Debbie supports Welton's middle- and-back-office operations, providing fund administration oversight and onboarding new investors. Before joining Welton in 1994, Debbie was a bookkeeper for small- and mid-sized businesses in the agricultural sector.

Adam is the lead developer responsible for the technological design and implementation of Welton’s Systematic Macro and Trend Strategies. A key research team member, he helps to identify and study alpha opportunities within these strategies. He has also worked at the firm as a software engineer, providing solutions for a range of front and back-office trading applications. Before joining Welton in 2011, Adam was a software developer with Frankenmuth Insurance.

He holds an MS in Computer and Information Systems from the University of Michigan-Flint, a BS in Computer Science from Saginaw Valley State University, and also holds the CAIA designation.

Oren manages the research, design, and implementation of Welton’s Systematic Macro and Trend strategies, and oversees the strategy allocation process underlying the firm’s futures and FX-based products. He also serves as an investment committee member and a point of contact for clients. Before joining Welton in 2011, Oren worked as a Senior Application Engineer for MathWorks focused on mathematical optimization, statistics, time series analysis, and high-performance computing.

Oren earned a PhD and an MA in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a BS in Mathematics from the University of New Hampshire, and also holds the CAIA designation.

Shilo is a member of the Global Trading Operations & Oversight team responsible for portfolio implementation, trade operations, and oversight across the firm’s traded strategies and investment programs. Before joining Welton in 2020, he worked at Quantitative Management Associates researching Natural Language Processing techniques to enhance alpha generation in portfolio construction. He also worked as a Data Scientist at Sparks and Honey and at Covenant Review as a research analyst reviewing corporate debt covenants.

Shilo earned an MS in Financial Engineering and an MS in Statistics from CUNY Baruch, and a BS in Financial Management from National University. He has served as a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps.