Julie E. Vander Weele

Julie is a dynamic leader with extensive experience managing complex investment advisor operations. As a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team, she brings a reputation for strategic thinking, deep understanding of fiduciary responsibilities, and expertise in risk management, capital allocation, human capital and compliance within a highly regulated industry. She has an exceptional record of leading change to improve operational efficiency, optimize growth and profitability, manage transformational acquisitions and enhance the client experience. Her mutual fund leadership includes launching a fund family, managing fund operations and heading distribution strategies.

Most recently, Julie served as Chief Operating Officer, Managing Partner of Fiducient Advisors, a leading investment consulting firm with more than $320 billion in assets under advisement. Julie was recruited as firm’s first COO to lead business and investment operations and establish a disciplined platform for growth, supporting retirement plan, endowment / foundation and private wealth clients. Additionally, she led the integration of two investment consulting firms, establishing a unified infrastructure, technology and human capital plan. She also developed a profitability model by line of business to optimize client service delivery and prioritize capital allocation decisions.

Julie spent the bulk of her career at Mesirow Financial where she served on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, which led the firm during a time of dynamic periods of growth, diversification and leadership transition. In her early years at the firm, she served as Executive Vice President of the Skyline Fund where she led product development and was instrumental in the launch of the firm’s proprietary family of mutual funds. She established key distribution partners and initiated and implemented conversion of the funds from load to
no-load. As Senior Managing Director, with P&L ownership and fiduciary oversight of Investment Advisory /Private Client Services, she led the firm’s oldest line of business, focusing strategies, realigning disparate operations and building a high-performance group of 55+ wealth advisers. She subsequently initiated a complex change management process that positioned the firm as an early leader in shifting from broker to investment adviser and grew assets under management to $4 billion over five years. While at Mesirow Financial, Julie also introduced the business model and launched the Investment Strategies Group, providing institutional plan sponsor consulting and asset allocation services. In six years, the Group
raised $20 billion in assets under advisement and achieved approximately 40% market share among plans that hired a third-party fiduciary. At the same time, she established a dedicated Retirement Plan Advisory Services Group, growing assets under advisement to $4 billion. Prior to leading business lines, Julie served as the firm’s first Chief Marketing Officer and designed the strategy for cross marketing of the firm’s services.