Our team is comprised of experienced professionals with a deep understanding of the markets and risk dynamics. Each team member brings a unique perspective and skillset in helping us cover clients effectively.
Dean Curnutt is Chief Executive Officer of Macro Risk Advisors where he oversees the firm's plan to help clients achieve superior investment results by providing valuable market insight and efficient transaction execution. Prior to forming MRA, Dean was Managing Director and Head of Equity Sales-trading at Banc of America Securities where he was a member of the Global Equities Management Team that set direction for the division. Previously at BofA, Dean was Head of Institutional Equity Derivatives and Convertible Sales. The equity derivatives team was ranked first in overall listed option market share in 2007 and was named the 2005 US Equity Derivatives House of the Year by Derivatives Week for its innovative work to create Options on Realized variance.
Dean is often quoted in the financial press and is a frequent speaker at client and industry conferences. He has presented on financial topics at the University of Chicago, the New York Society of Securities Analysts, the CBOE Risk Management Conference, and Risk Institute. In 2007 he was invited and appeared as the first derivatives panelist at the Barron's Art of Successful Investing Conference.
Dean holds an MBA in analytical finance with highest honors from the University of Chicago where he received the Citibank Award for best performance in finance. He received a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from St. John's University. He lives in Rye with his wife and two sons and daughter.
David Barry is an Associate in MRA’s product sales team. He works directly with the salestrading and strategy teams to market and disseminate the firm’s macro analysis and ideas on trade construction to institutional clients. Prior to joining Macro Risk Advisors, David was an Associate in macro sales at Absolute Strategy Research Ltd within the Research Sales group, helping to facility cross-asset and global macro research ideas to hedge funds and institutional managers. David began his career at Bloomberg L.P covering credit sale, trading and structuring desks.
David graduated from University of Delaware with honors where he earned a BA with a double major in Accounting and Finance. David currently resides in Long Island.
Brian Bier is a Managing Director and Head of Equity Derivative Sales and Trading for Macro Risk Advisors. Brian leads the sales and execution team, utilizing his expertise in option analytics and deep understanding of risk relationships to deliver superior pricing and advisory services to MRA clients.
Prior to joining MRA, Brian was Head of Listed Equity Derivative Trading at Nomura Securities, overseeing all Single Stock and Index/ETF derivative products. He previously ran energy, retail, and technology volatility trading books at Banc of America Securities. Brian began his career at Lehman Brothers where he was a structured equity derivatives trader.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research from Cornell University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was class valedictorian. He resides in Westchester with his wife and two young children.
Katya Eckert is Vice President of Business Development and Clearing Operations at Macro Risk Advisors. In this role, Katya leads efforts around marketing, prospective client engagement and ongoing client success. Prior to (rejoining) MRA, Katya managed client development for a data intelligence technology firm — Collective[i]. During her first tenure with MRA (2009-2013), Katya oversaw the company calendar of events, spearheaded the trade clearing process and provided executive support to the team. Before MRA, Katya led the North America retention strategy for Quintessentially, a luxury lifestyle group.
Katya graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Art History and Communication from Rutgers University. Katya is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia and resides in Greenwich, CT.
Maxwell Grinacoff, CFA is an Equity Derivatives Institutional Salestrader at Macro Risk Advisors and brings with him experience in both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the derivatives business.
Before coming on board with MRA, Max worked as an Equity Derivatives Salestrader within the Asset Management division of J.P. Morgan where he provided coverage primarily to sophisticated high net worth and family office clientele. In this seat, Max provided personalized trade execution services and recommended opportunistic investment recommendations to his client base through bespoke structured OTC transactions.
Max has a Bachelor of Science in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University, and furthermore earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. Max currently resides in Manhattan.
Jerry Hammerschmidt is an Institutional Salestrader at Macro Risk Advisors. Jerry brings over 20 years of sales trading and derivatives experience to MRA. He will provide strategy and execution services across single stock and index options. Jerry began his career at Morgan Stanley trading options on the floor of the Hang Seng option and futures exchange and held multiple positions within the equity division at the investment bank in Asia and New York. Following his time at MS, Jerry worked for several years at Barclays where he was a director of OTC equity derivatives sales. He most recently worked at Societe Generale in the equity derivatives group.
Jerry attended Florida State University where he studied Economics. He resides in Armonk with his wife and three children.
Chris Kettenmann is Chief Energy Strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. In this role, Chris generates institutional commentary and trading strategies across listed equities, options and underlying commodities, which contributes to MRA's product focus on energy.
Prior to MRA, Chris was Chief Energy Strategist at Prime Executions where he provided research and coverage of integrated oils, onshore U.S. exploration & production companies, and select renewable/industrial stocks. Chris previously ran energy research at Phoenix Partners Group LP. He began his career at Miller Tabak & Co. where he was an associate on the energy research team.
Chris received a BA in International Relations and Political Science from Carleton College.
Adam Knoth is an Equity Derivatives trader at Macro Risk Advisors. In this role, Adam adds depth and experience to the execution team, bringing with him over a decade of experience executing complex equity and equity derivative trades for institutional clients on both an electronic and high touch basis.
In addition to playing an integral role in the firm’s execution process, Adam works with clients to structure and implement derivative trade ideas and hedges.
Prior to joining Macro Risk Advisors, Adam was the Director of Trading at New Albion Partners, where he built the firm’s New York office and was responsible for modernizing the firm’s core trading, middle, and back office infrastructure. Adam holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Providence College, and currently resides in Long Island with his wife and two sons.
John Kolovos, CMT, CFA is head of technical strategy at Macro Risk Advisors. In his role John is responsible for delivering high conviction investment insights, identifying tactical trading opportunities and analyzing cross asset relationships between stocks, commodities, currencies and interest rates from across the globe. John has been one of Wall Street’s most sought after macro-based analysts over the last 20-years, working alongside some of the industry’s most legendary investors.
Prior to joining MRA, John spent the early part of his career at Lehman Brothers and then International Strategy & Investment (ISI) Group where he regularly published technical and macro strategy reports to institutional investors in a focused and unbiased manner. Later, John moved to Boston joining Fidelity Investments as vice president and senior global technical strategist, working side by side with domestic and international portfolio managers.
A member of the CFA Society of Boston, and dual CFA and CMT charterholder, John has been frequently quoted in the financial press. An avid guitar player and golfer John is best known for being an integral part of the investment process for those around him by integrating his knowledge and years of experience with systematic processes based on trend, momentum and relative strength.
Kathy Peralta provides executive support to the sales team and oversees the firm's robust calendar of events. In this role, Kathy demonstrates effective managerial proficiency that contributes to the team's overall sucess.
Prior to joining the MRA team, Kathy provided executive support to the Managing Director of Auerbach Grayson, a New York-based global institutional brokerage firm. Kathy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Miriam College in Manila, Philippines where she originally is from. She currently resides in Long Island with her husband and three young children.
Mayank Seksaria is Chief Macro Strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. In this role, Mayank provides in-depth analysis of macro fundamentals, monetary policy and the price of risk for MRA's clients.
He was previously a Portfolio Manager and Head of Macro Research at Passport Capital Management in San Francisco. Mr. Seksaria began his career as a Portfolio Manager in the Emerging Market and US Hedge Funds team at State Street Global Advisors. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai, and a MS in Quantitative and Computational Finance from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Olivia (Lily) Smith is an Analyst with the Business Development team at Macro Risk Advisors. Prior to joining the company full time, Olivia interned with MRA the previous summer learning about sales, trading and derivatives strategy. Olivia graduated from Yale University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, and played for the school's Varsity Women's Lacrosse and Field Hockey teams. Olivia is originally from Duxbury, MA, and now resides in Manhattan, NY.
Vinay Viswanathan is a Derivatives Strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. He works on idea generation, option backtesting, and hedging strategies for single-stock and index volatility.
Previously, he worked as an Equity Derivatives Trader at Spot Trading LLC in Chicago, working on automated market making for single-stock options from the Energy, Industrials, and Media sectors. Vinay graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with a BS in Statistics & Machine Learning and a minor in Economics.
Gregg Wysocki is head of product sales and responsible for delivering the full suite of MRA's products and solutions to the institutional investment community. At MRA, he helps clients interpret the environment for market risk, engaging the firm’s energy, cross-asset, macro and derivatives strategy efforts to communicate investable themes and actionable trade ideas.
Gregg brings over 16 years of investment industry experience, most recently serving as an executive managing partner at Renaissance Macro Research, where he triangulated the firm's sales, research and trading efforts. Previously, he held senior-level institutional equity sales roles at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers. Gregg graduated from Trinity College and lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.