Gary Black
Portfolio Manager, The Future Fund Active ETF
Gary Black is the managing partner and co-founder of The Future Fund LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor focused on investing in growth equities of companies that are changing the world. Gary has extensive experience spanning nearly 30 years in top management positions at some of the most well-respected global investment management firms.
As CEO of Aegon Asset Management, he oversaw $120 billion in assets, representing a third of Aegon´s assets and 50 percent of its profits. During his tenure, he created new proprietary investment strategies, expanded the real assets platform, leveraged the company´s solutions-based offerings, and directed the build-out of an ESG fixed income platform.
Read MoreIn 2009, Gary launched and managed Black Capital, a top-performing fundamental-based global long/short equity firm with an eight-person investment team, raising $100 million AUM over three years. The firm was acquired by Calamos Investments in 2012, where Gary became Global Co-Chief Investment Officer. There, he launched two additional long/short equity strategies and served on the Calamos Board of Directors.
At Janus Capital Group, Gary was promoted to CEO, CIO and president after turning around investment performance and growing net flows to +$2 billion in 2008 from -$29 billion in 2004 after the tech bubble burst, market timing changes and the departure of Janus founder and CEO. Under his guidance, the Janus Research Fund and Janus Triton Fund were launched. He also served on the Janus Board of Directors.
Earlier in his career, he was named CIO at Goldman Sachs for the U.S. Asset Management Group and named to the firm´s Partnership Committee. His investment industry experience began at Sanford Bernstein in 1992 as Senior Research Analyst. Gary was rated #1 analyst in his sector by Institutional Investor All America Research Team for six consecutive years from 1993-1998, including his first year in the industry. At Bernstein, within five years he was promoted from Senior Research Analyst to Principal and then Shareholder. He later ran the firm´s global institutional business. In 2001, Bernstein was acquired by Alliance Capital.
Gary was awarded an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and earned his B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Gary has been featured in Barron´s and is frequently called upon by the financial press for his insights into the equity markets.
David P. Kalis, CFA
Portfolio Manager, The Future Fund Active ETF
David Kalis is the co-founder of The Future Fund LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor focused on investing in growth equities of companies that will be instrumental in changing the world.
In 2017, David founded Curvature Capital Management, LLC, a long/short equity hedge partnership focused on catalyst-driven global equities. Performance for the firm ranked in the top decile of long/short equity hedge funds. In early 2021, he rejoined Gary Black to found The Future Fund. The two had previously worked side-by-side at Calamos Investments.
Read MoreAt Calamos, David headed the Growth Equity Strategies and was a co-portfolio manager. His team managed $6 billion in assets in mutual funds, institutional and separately managed strategies. While there, David restructured several strategies, including changes in philosophy, process, and personnel. As a result, the small-mid cap (SMID) growth strategy ranked in the top decile fund of performance among its peers during David´s tenure as lead manager. As part of his responsibilities, he managed complex relationships between clients, the public company board and the mutual fund board.
An entrepreneur, David founded and managed another long/short hedge fund partnership, Charis Capital Management LLC, focused on SMID-cap equities. This investment strategy was designed to exploit the inefficiencies of the SMID market. His performance ranked in the top decile of equity long/short equity hedge funds. Similarly, during his time at Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) in the role of SVP-Group Head of Small/MidCap Institutional Equities, the NTAM active equites mutual fund suite reached the top 10% in its peer group, up from the bottom 10% before he took over. The Mid Cap Growth strategy also achieved top quartile performance.
Earlier in his career, he joined Segall Bryant & Hamill at its founding. He served as a co-manager for both multi-cap and SMID-cap strategies, director of research, and member of the management group. There he was instrumental in developing the firm´s core investment philosophy and process, ushering the firm through a growth phase from $1.2 billion to $5 billion in assets under management. He established and managed the mid cap growth strategy growing it to more than $400 million AUM.
David is a Chartered Financial Analyst, awarded in 1994, and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago. He received a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.
David has been featured in a wide range of financial publications and is frequently called upon by the press for his expertise.
Advisory Board
Richard Bindler
Richard is the Managing Partner of BMS de-SPAC Opportunity Fund, an $11 million fund applying fundamental research to this badly beaten down and misunderstood universe.
Richard is also the Senior Managing Partner of Bindler Investment Group (BIG), which he founded in 2016. BIG invests in early-stage companies where strategic capital is needed, and opportunistically in real estate. To date, BIG has invested in more than 40 opportunities.
Read MoreHe is an Advisory Board member for Cresset Capital, a $30 billion boutique family office with locations across the United States.
For nearly 30 years, Richard rose through the ranks at Bernstein Private Wealth Management. Here he held positions as a Financial Advisor, Managing Director, Senior Managing Director, and Chief Client Officer where he managed all client-facing personnel nationwide.
Richard is the Chair of the Chicago Advisory Board for Cahn Fellows, a position he has held since 2019. Cahn Fellows helps identify and develop top performing public school principals.
He earned an MBA, specializing in finance and marketing, from Boston University and a BS in business from the University of Florida.
J. Philip Clark
Phil has spent his entire 45-year career in professional sales and marketing, with the majority of that time in the financial services industry.
Since 2012, he has served as Managing Director for Phoenix Capital Partners, a real estate private equity firm with over $2 billion under management. In 2004, he co-founded Epoch Investment Partners, which grew from $600 million in Assets Under Management to $25 billion when he retired in June of 2012.
Read MoreFortune magazine named Epoch the 88th Fastest Growing Company in the world in their 2011 report. Epoch was sold in March 2013 to TD Bank for $670 million. Phil led the sales and marketing effort from the very beginning and was instrumental in the firm's rapid growth.
Before founding Epoch, he was a 17-year veteran of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., now part of Alliance Bernstein. His responsibilities included that of National Managing Director of Bernstein's private client business. Previously, he was Managing Director of Bernstein's Institutional Asset Management business and initiated and managed Bernstein's sub-advisory business.
Prior to Bernstein, Phil spent five years as President of InveQuest Securities, a family-owned investment firm focused on wealthy individuals and seven years in marketing at IBM.
Phil holds a BS in Administrative Sciences from Yale University.
Ross Gerber
Ross is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management with $2.2B under management and serving 10,000 clients.
Ross oversees Gerber Kawasaki's corporate and investment management operations as well as serves individual clients. He has become one of the most influential investors on social and in traditional media. His investment ideas and advice have made him a regular in global business news as well on many of the most popular investment podcasts.
Read MoreThe firm is focused on technology, clean energy and transportation, consumer discretionary, media, and entertainment companies. Gerber Kawasaki (GK) is a leader in Fintech innovation leveraging technology and social media. It was listed in 2020 as one of the fastest-growing companies in Los Angeles according to the LABJ.
GK is also a leader in providing investment advice for the younger generation through its Get Invested program. GK is the first major RIA to partner with Gemini and began offering Digital Assets to clients in April 2021. Ross is an expert in online marketing and social media as well as a co-developer of the company’s app for IOS, my-moneypage.
In 2008, the financial crisis caused the collapse of several major financial institutions and the government bailout of others, challenging the existing state of affairs within the financial industry. Navigating these trying times, Ross understood the importance of focusing on the client's best interest utilizing a modern and unbiased approach to serving the client community. In 2010, Ross and his business partner, Danilo Kawasaki, felt it was the opportune time to start their firm, Gerber Kawasaki Inc., aligned with this client-centric mission.
Early in his career, Ross joined an independent investment firm affiliated with SunAmerica Securities. In 1998, at the age of 27, he received the Archon and Million Dollar Branch Award and was the youngest million-dollar branch manager in SunAmerica's history.
Ross received his BA in Communications from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania concentrating in Business Law at the Wharton School of Business, graduating class of 1993. Ross also received a second concentration in Classical Music Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and attended the Grove School of Music.
He is on the executive board and a past president of the Guardians of the Jewish Home in Los Angeles.
Wendy is the founder of the Wendy B Ranch Rescue Foundation, which promotes the adoption of senior dogs, and the spaying and neutering of all pets. She manages the foundation and a family office.
Robert Keith
After a 26-year career, Bob recently retired from AllianceBernstein where he was Head of the Global Client Group Business Unit and a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. He was also the President and Chief Executive Officer of its US mutual fund business. At AllianceBernstein, he led world-wide institutional and third-party distribution, marketing and product strategy within the firm's institutional and retail businesses globally.
Read MoreHe joined AllianceBernstein in 1996 as an institutional asset advisor, then occupied a variety of senior client-facing roles in the firm’s institutional, retail, and private wealth businesses. Previously, Bob held sales and sales management roles at Investors Bank & Trust Co., Digital Equipment Corporation, and IBM.
Bob holds a BA in political science from Brown University.