Mr. Shantz currently serves as a Senior Managing Director and the Director of Fixed Income for the $28+ billion Employee Retirement System of Texas, restructuring a core+ fixed income program into separate interest rate & below investment grade credit focused portfolios. Prior to ERS, Mr. Shantz served as a Managing Director for the Lockheed Martin Investment Management Company, where he performed a similar transformation. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is recognized for innovative use of ETFs by institutional fixed income investors & his colorful bios.

Ms. Bates is a private markets consultant and has over 20 years of industry experience. Ms. Bates joined our firm in 2019 as part of the merger between Meketa and Pension Consulting Alliance (PCA). Prior to joining PCA in 2017, Ms. Bates served as the Director of Credit Strategies at Silver Creek Capital. Her responsibilities included underwriting and monitoring credit-focused strategies as well as communicating Silver Creek’s strategies externally. Prior to joining Silver Creek, Ms. Bates spent over 11 years at Aon Hewitt (and the legacy EnnisKnupp & Associates) where she most recently served as a Senior Research Consultant on the Liquid Alternatives team. While at Aon, Ms. Bates advised some of the largest institutional plan sponsors in the industry on their alternatives programs and was a key team member of the manager selection phase of the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) under Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Prior to joining HEK, Ms. Bates worked at Lehman Brothers where she was an analyst on the emerging market debt desk. Ms. Bates holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Indiana University.

Ben Bronson is the Director of Liquid Strategies at the Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado (“FPPA”). He and his team are responsible for the plan’s public equity, fixed income, and hedge fund investments. Prior to joining FPPA, Bronson worked for Charles Schwab Investment Advisory, where he conducted investment and operational manager due diligence. Bronson began his asset management career in 2004 at a Boulder, CO-based boutique wealth management firm where he was responsible for hedge fund due diligence. Bronson graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations.

Mr. Agrawal is currently the Head of Fixed Income overseeing AXA XL’s $35 billion Fixed Income portfolio. He joined AXA XL (formerly called XLCatlin) in November 2016 as a Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for XL’s overall duration strategy and oversight of their government and emerging market investments. Before joining XL, Mr. Agrawal worked at PineBridge Investments from 2002-2016 as a Senior Portfolio Manager in the Fixed Income group, responsible for managing government/credit bond funds, inflation funds and preferred equity portfolios. Prior to PineBridge, Mr. Agrawal worked with MetLife as a Portfolio Manager and Corporate Bond Strategist. His responsibilities included developing quantitative and relative value tools, portfolio strategy, credit derivatives, and risk management. Prior to that, he was an Economist at Moody's Investors Service. Mr. Agrawal received an MBA in Finance from City University of New York and a BE in Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology in India.

Devon joined Hancock Capital Management, now operating as Manulife Investment Management, in 2016. He is responsible for managing the firm’s senior credit business. Prior to joining the firm, Devon spent 12 years at Madison Capital Funding LLC where he served as a leader and member of the Executive and Investment Committees and was responsible for strategic and capital market activities including loan syndications, third party asset management, and joint ventures for the firm’s mezzanine and unitranche credit products. Prior to joining Madison Capital, Devon spent nine years at Banc of America Securities, LLC where he served as a senior structurer in the Sponsor Leveraged Finance Group and a loan syndications structurer supporting the Middle Market Group and the Media/Telecommunications Group.

Main responsibilities Josh is a member of the global investment grade team and is currently responsible for global and U.S. investment grade credit strategies at Aviva Investors. Josh is a member of the Aviva Investors North American Board of Directors. He is also the Investment Officer for the North American Region. Experience and qualifications Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Joshua worked for AllianceBernstein as an investment grade portfolio manager. He was also assistant vice president of investments and investment grade portfolio manager at American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company. In addition, he has held analyst positions at Wells Fargo Financial and RSM McGladrey. Joshua holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Northern Iowa. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Chicago. Joined Aviva Investors in 2008 Joined the industry in 1999