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Aaron J. Kennon

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Aaron J. Kennon

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer


Aaron serves as Chief Executive Officer of Clear Harbor Asset Management and is a member of the firm's Investment Committee. He has spent the last 24 years focused on domestic and international capital markets across trading, asset management, and wealth planning. Prior to co-founding Clear Harbor, Aaron managed multi-asset class portfolios for institutions and high-net-worth individuals at Ingalls & Snyder LLC. Before joining Ingalls, Aaron worked at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he was responsible for expanding the firm’s presence in dollar-denominated institutional fixed income trading. During his tenure at RBC, Aaron worked and lived in both London and New York.

Prior to joining the Royal Bank of Canada, Aaron worked at Citigroup Inc. for 9 years, where he focused on fixed income capital markets, with a particular emphasis on trading and originating high-grade fixed income securities. While working for Citigroup, Aaron worked and lived in Manhattan, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

A graduate of Yale University, Aaron currently serves on the board of the Atlantic Salmon Federation (U.S.) and is also a member of the organization's Investment and Finance Committees.

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Ian A. Armstrong, CAIA©

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

Ian A. Armstrong, CAIA©

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer


Ian serves as Chief Operating Officer of Clear Harbor Asset Management and is a member of the firm's Investment Committee. Prior to co-founding Clear Harbor, Ian was employed as an Associate at Ingalls & Snyder LLC. At Ingalls, Ian served as an Analyst and Trader for one of the firm’s multi-strategy hedge funds. His responsibilities at the fund encompassed a broad range of strategies, including special situation equities, capital structure arbitrage and high yield and distressed debt. Ian was also responsible for monitoring and hedging the fund’s aggregate risk exposures. In addition to his role with the fund, Ian also managed individual accounts for personal clients. 

Prior to joining Ingalls & Snyder, Ian was employed as Investment Operations Manager for Cruice Investment Advisors Ltd, a boutique investment firm in Westport, CT. At Cruice, Ian was responsible for a wide range of the firm’s investment operations, including trading, client reporting, research distribution and technology management. Earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Indiana University, Ian combines his experience and education to provide unmatched service to his clients. 


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D. Roger B. Liddell

Vice-Chairman & Investment Manager

D. Roger B. Liddell

Vice-Chairman & Investment Manager


Roger serves as Vice Chairman of Clear Harbor Asset Management and is an Investment Manager and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Roger was a Partner, Senior Director and Managing Director for 22 years at Ingalls & Snyder, LLC. His areas of specialization include energy renewable electricity, utilities and special situations. Within the energy sector, he concentrates on demand-side versus supply-side opportunities as well as providers of energy-efficient equipment and energy management services. He offers perspective on electric rate structures, price signals and efficiency programs. 

Roger has been active with major environmental organizations such as Natural Resources Defense Council since the mid-1970s in efforts to establish policies supportive of rational energy markets. In this pro bono activity, he encourages regulators and companies to re-direct capital expenditures toward efficiency investments in lieu of additional capacity. He is a member of the Sharon (CT) Energy and Environment Commission and Stewardship Committee Chairman and Board Member of the Sharon Land trust.

Roger is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. English Literature) and following his service as a U.S. Navy Officer, he went on to earn his master’s degree in finance and security analysis from Columbia University. 


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Tim Schantz

Vice-Chairman

Tim Schantz

Vice-Chairman


Tim Schantz serves as Vice Chairman of Clear Harbor Asset Management and his career in finance and wealth management spans more than 35 years. Tim served as president of ING Capital and later as president of the combined ING Furman Selz Asset Management. He also worked as head of ING's corporate and structured finance business in the Americas, and Deutsche Bank's structured finance activities within private wealth management in the U.S. before joining Genworth as head of alternative investing. Tim has also served as a strategy consultant for Greenwich Associates.

Tim has extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector as well, having served as a board member for a number of entities in addition to his executive roles. Prior to joining Clear Harbor's board, Tim led the Mountbatten Institute in North America and more recently the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation in Washington, D.C. as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Tim has served as a member of the Compensation and Governance Committees for the Board of Questex Media and has been a Director and Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee for MortgageIT, a NYSE listed company, prior to its acquisition by Deutsche Bank.

Tim is currently a member of the executive leadership team at History Factory in Washington where he serves as Chief Administrative Officer and Managing Director of Archives and Content Solutions.  Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee and as a Councilor for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Libraries, acting as Chairman of the Education Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee.

Tim studied history at Brown University and currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife.



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Henrik Brun

Managing Director

Henrik Brun

Managing Director

Henrik serves as a Managing Director at Clear Harbor Asset Management specializing in providing financial strategy advice to his clients - both individuals and not-for-profits - in the areas of asset allocation, asset and liability management, in-depth personal balance sheets, as well as college and retirement planning.

Henrik has extensive experience designing portfolios that include ESG, Carbon-reduction strategies, Innovation, and public/private funds. He brings more than two decades of multi-jurisdictional knowledge drawing from his experience with clients in the US, Europe, and Asia. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Henrik was at Stonehurst Management for 18 years and prior to that at UBS Financial Services.

Henrik holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. Henrik serves on the Investment Committee for the NY Institute for Special Education overseeing a $250 million endowment and a $20 million Defined Benefit plan.

Henrik’s pro bono interests include moving cancer research forward by doing Cycle For Survival and founding ProjectLIV with his family to connect leading labs with Memorial Sloan Kettering’s cBioPortal (the largest cancer genomic resource in the world).

Henrik lives in Manhattan with his wife and two sons.


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Jacques Cattier

Portfolio Manager

Jacques Cattier

Portfolio Manager

Jacques serves as a Portfolio Manager at Clear Harbor Asset Management.  Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Jacques was employed for 25 years as a Portfolio Manager at Security Asset Management (now a division of Clear Harbor) where he was responsible for the investment selection and portfolio management of the firm’s “Emerging Blue Chip” equity strategy. 

Jacques is a periodic contributor to the financial website TheStreet.com.  Earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College, Jacques’ career long focus has been to partner with individuals, families and institutions to craft portfolios built of high-quality investments with long term compounding return potential.

Jacques lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

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James D. Taliaferro

Portfolio Manager

Jim serves as Portfolio Manager at Clear Harbor Asset Management. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, the majority of Jim’s career was spent with Kidder Peabody Incorporation, where he principally served as President, Chief Investment Officer, and Chief Executive Officer of Webster Management Corporation, the wholly-owned investment subsidiary of Kidder. In 1990 Jim founded Security Asset Management (now a division of Clear Harbor) where he served as CEO and Portfolio Manager.

Jim has over fifty years of investment experience. His career began in 1969 in retail and institutional sales with Dominick & Dominick and Edwards & Hanly, where he was a registered representative until 1972. He then joined White, Weld & Co. where he became a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager for individual and institutional accounts. In 1978 he joined Webster Management where over the course of twelve years, he held several key positions including Senior Portfolio Manager and member of the Investment Policy Committee, Director of Marketing, Head of the Individual and Institutional Account Divisions, and finally, from 1985 through 1990, he was president, chief executive and Chief Investment Officer of the firm, as well as Chairman of the Board of the Kidder, Peabody family of mutual funds.

Jim attended Parsons College and served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

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Kirstin Mobyed

Director

Kirstin Mobyed

Director

Kirstin Mobyed serves as a Director at Clear Harbor Asset Management focused on developing comprehensive wealth management solutions for individuals, families as well as foundations and endowments. Kirstin leverages over 28 years of experience in the investment and financial services industries to deliver the firm’s portfolio of wealth management services and to help Clear Harbor clients achieve the goals and objectives most important to them.

Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Kirstin was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley. During her 27 years at Morgan Stanley and its predecessor firm (Legg Mason, Citigroup, Salomon Smith Barney), Kirstin served as an analyst, a portfolio manager and a client relationship manager. As an Investment Officer and Senior Portfolio Manager with Morgan Stanley’s Custom Solutions – Outsourced CIO Group, Kirstin was responsible for creating multi-asset class portfolios and unbiased, best-in-class wealth management solutions for individuals and institutional clients of the firm. With an emphasis on maintaining the highest standards of integrity and expertise, Kirstin is a trusted fiduciary passionate about providing objective, innovative, and client-centric solutions in clear terms so Clear Harbor clients understand their financial plan and feel empowered to take control of their lives.

Ms Mobyed is an active member of the Girl Scouts and the Wilton Youth Council, an organization focused on positive youth development. Kirstin is a graduate of Providence College.


Matthew W. Sexton, CFP®, CIMA®, ChSNM Photo
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Matthew W. Sexton, CFP®, CIMA®, ChSNM

Director

Matthew W. Sexton, CFP®, CIMA®, ChSNCTM

Director -Investment Planning/Wealth Strategy


Matthew joined Clear Harbor in 2016 and brings over 20 years of financial services experience to the firm.

Matthew is responsible for working collaboratively with individuals, business owners and institutions where he provides comprehensive investment and financial planning strategies.  Matthew deploys a goals and values-based approach to wealth strategy and portfolio construction. He also specializes in advising families with special needs, helping them navigate financial planning for the unique lifelong needs of a family member with a disability. 

Prior to joining Clear Harbor he was a Managing Director with Stifel Financial’s Distressed Desk specializing in special situations and reorg equities. He spent time at Wells Fargo Advisors private client group, managing and constructing client portfolios and assisting individuals and families with their comprehensive wealth management needs. Matthew also spent 15 years at Knight Trading Group as an institutional equity trader.

Matthew has an MBA from Columbia Business School, a Master of Science in Financial Planning from Bentley University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Providence College.  He is a member of NAPFA®, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, the country’s top professional association of fee-only financial advisors and the XY Planning Network, the leading organization of fee-only practitioners focused on working with Generation X and Generation Y clients.   He is Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner and a Certified Investment Management Analyst® professional.  He is a member of the Investments & Wealth Institute®.   He is also currently a Chartered Special Need Consultant ® (ChSNC®), a designation administered by the American College of Financial Services.

Matthew’s nonprofit board involvement includes KEEN NYC, an organization that empowers youth with disabilities by providing free, non-competitive one-to-one programs of exercise, fitness and fun; Order of Malta American Association; and Equestrian of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Eastern Lieutenancy.


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Catherine S. Woolston

Director

Catherine S. Woolston

Director


Catherine serves as Director - Investments at Clear Harbor Asset Management. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, she was an Associate at Ingalls & Snyder, LLC for almost 20 years. Before joining Ingalls, Catherine worked at Prudential Bache and R.C. Stamm & Co.

She is a graduate of Pace University with a bachelor’s degree in business and finance. 


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Jeb Armstrong

Vice President

Jeb Armstrong

Vice President - Wealth Management


Jeb serves as Vice President - Wealth Management at Clear Harbor Asset Management. Before joining Clear Harbor, Jeb served as Director of Capital Markets of Tecogen Inc, a clean energy technology company. He was responsible for the company’s investor relations effort and worked with other members of the management team on strategic capital formation initiatives.

Prior to his experience at Tecogen, he spent over 12 years as a senior equity research analyst focused on the domestic oil and gas industry. He was head of energy research at the Marwood Group and previously the senior equity research analyst at CLSA, then a subsidiary of Credit Agricole, where he led coverage of North American oil and gas producers. Among his accomplishments at CLSA, Jeb published a series of reports considered to be among the most prescient at outlining the potential for shale gas and oil to emerge as economically viable sources of energy outside of North America. Before CLSA, he served as the research analyst of the global energy industry at Argus Research, a leading independent equity research firm.

Jeb serves on the Board of Trustees of the New Canaan Nature Center and previously served on the Board of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He is a graduate of Haverford College and NYU Stern School of Business.


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Joseph M. Rizzo

Investment Manager

Joseph M. Rizzo

Investment Manager


Joe is Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Spectrum Value Partners, LP, a long/short equity fund to which Clear Harbor is the investment adviser. Joe also manages a select number of investment accounts for non-profit organizations, family entities and high-net-worth individuals. Joe joined Clear Harbor Asset Management in March 2010 and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

With over 30 years of experience in the investment management industry Joe has worked as an analyst, portfolio manager, technologist, venture capitalist, risk arbitrageur and special situations investor. Joe was previously employed by Ingalls & Snyder LLC, where he was a Portfolio Manager for individual and institutional clients, including serving as general partner and founder of I&S Technology Partners LP, an investment fund focused on the technology sector. Prior to joining Ingalls & Snyder, Joe served as Chief Operating Officer at SynData Technologies Inc., a security software company. Before joining SynData, Joe spent six years as an analyst for JWS Partners, a special situations and arbitrage hedge fund, and Ingalls & Snyder LLC. Joe began his professional career spending six years developing and implementing complex transaction and risk management software systems at a major New York City bank and at Morgan Stanley & Co.

Mr. Rizzo graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers University, holds a master’s degree in business administration from New York University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.


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Michael H. Scholten, CFA®

Investment Manager

Michael H. Scholten, CFA®

Investment Manager


Mike is Managing Partner and Portfolio manager of Spectrum Value Partners, LP, a long/short equity fund to which Clear Harbor is the investment adviser. Mike also manages a select number of investment accounts for non-profit organizations, family entities and high-net-worth individuals. Mike joined Clear Harbor Asset Management in February 2010 and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Mike has over 21 years of experience managing portfolios for major investment institutions. He was previously employed by Ingalls & Snyder LLC, where he served as a Portfolio Manager. At Ingalls, Mike managed multi-asset class portfolios for individual and institutional clients. Prior to joining Ingalls, Mike was a Senior Portfolio Manager for Gryphon Partners, a multi-strategy hedge fund based in Dallas, Texas. At Gryphon, Mike managed the fund’s Deep Value and Capital Structure Arbitrage strategies, with a focus on the securities of distressed and bankrupt companies. Before joining Gryphon, Mike worked as a Senior Portfolio Manager and Debt Trader at Deerfield Capital Management, American General Investment Management and First Chicago Capital Markets.

Mike graduated magna cum laude from Colgate University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and completed his MBA with a concentration in Finance at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and holds the CFA® designation.


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Steven Shaw

Investment Manager

Steven Shaw

Investment Manager


Steven joined Clear Harbor in November 2014 as an Investment Manager and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Steven served as Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of Little Oak Asset Management, LLC. Before working with Little Oak, Steven spent five years as the General Partner and Portfolio Manager of the Newgrange Strategic Value Fund, a value based long-short hedge fund focused on investing in mispriced securities across the capital structure.

Prior to launching Newgrange, Steven was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston ("CSFB") responsible for co-heading the firm’s trading and distribution franchise. His responsibilities included the trading, risk management and distribution of cash corporate bonds, high yield and investment grade credit default swaps (CDS), and structured credit. While at CSFB, Steven focused on hedge fund and total return coverage where he was one of the firm's largest credit producers.

Before joining CSFB, Steven was a Managing Director at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (which subsequently merged with CSFB), Kidder Peabody and Drexel Burnham. Prior to Wall Street, he worked for 5 years as a Certified Public Accountant with audit/consulting experience at Ernst & Young. As a graduate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Steven combines his experience and education to serve his clients.


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Alexander W. M. Russell

Vice President

Alexander W. M. Russell

Vice President


Alex serves as Vice President at Clear Harbor Asset Management, focusing on development and client relationships.

Alex joined Clear Harbor with a background in education and school leadership and a passion for financial markets. He most recently served as the Associate Director of Enrollment at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, CT. Prior to GFA, Alex joined Riverdale Country School as the Assistant Director of Middle and Upper School Admission after spending close to a decade as a teacher at St. Bernard’s School in New York City.

At Clear Harbor, Alex will continue to focus his efforts on building partnerships with families in close collaboration with the Clear Harbor investment and advisory team.

A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and Bank Street College of Education, Alex resides in Old Greenwich with his wife and two daughters and is an avid golf, tennis and paddle player.

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Alexander M. Blanton

Senior Analyst

Alexander M. Blanton

Senior Analyst


Alex joined Clear Harbor Asset Management in January 2011 as a Senior Analyst. Prior to joining Clear Harbor, Alex spent 44 years covering industrial and manufacturing companies for four different investment banking firms. Alex is a specialist in Lean manufacturing, is a member of the Lean Enterprise Institute and for more than two decades has used a company's progress in applying Lean practices as an important variable in evaluating a company's investment worth.

At Ingalls & Snyder LLC, which he joined in 1991, and where he was a Senior Vice President, Alex followed machinery and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies. While there, Alex was named by The Financial Times/StarMine Awards as one of the Top Ten Stock Pickers of 2009 among all U.S. brokerage house analysts in all industries and by Forbes Magazine as the Number One Stock Picker in the Machinery industry for 2005. Before that, he was often ranked among the Best on the Street in the Machinery industry by The Wall Street Journal.

Prior to joining Ingalls & Snyder, Alex spent 18 years as Merrill Lynch's Senior Machinery Analyst, where he headed a 4-person team covering some 50 capital goods companies and where he was consistently named to Institutional Investor Magazine's All-America Research Team. He was top-ranked in Machinery in their annual poll of institutional investors for several years. Before that, Alex followed industrial companies for Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt and for Kidder, Peabody & Co. He joined Kidder in 1967, after three years as a Consultant for a large general management consulting firm.

Alex received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Washington in 1959, and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering scholastic honorary. After three year's service as First U.S. Army's Special Weapons Officer at First Army Headquarters on Governors Island, NYC, he earned an MBA from The Harvard Business School in 1964.


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Annika Kennon

Vice President

Annika Kennon

Vice President


Annika Kennon serves as Vice President Client Relations for Clear Harbor Asset Management. Her background is in Project Management, Software implementation and Supply Chain Management. She spent many years as a principal consultant/consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in their Supply Chain Management group within the Consumer and Industrial Products division.

At Clear Harbor, Annika focuses her efforts on maintaining a superior client experience through the use of industry-leading technologies and processes. She holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden and is passionate about the work she provides to her clients.


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Gail Wofford

Administrative Assistant

Gail Wofford

Administrative Assistant


Gail joined Clear Harbor in April 2011 as an Administrative Assistant. Prior to Clear Harbor, Gail spent 20 years at Ingalls & Snyder as a Registered Representative, working in the research department with the two sell-side analysts. Before joining Ingalls, Gail was a private secretary, personal assistant for private individuals. Previously she was an account executive for Letitia Baldrige Enterprises, Pearl Private Treasures and an administrative assistant at Burson-Marsteller.

Gail received her master’s degree in theatre arts from Texas Tech University in 1971 and her bachelor’s degree in art history from Converse College in 1969.

Gail also co-founded The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, a professional repertory company and is a costume designer with NYGASP.


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Susan O'Shaughnessy

Client Service Representative

Susan O'Shaughnessy

Client Service Representative

Sue joined Clear Harbor in September 2021 as a Client Service Representative.  She brings 20 years of experience as an Executive Assistant and Client Liaison with Security Asset Management. Previously, Sue worked as an Executive Assistant with PaineWebber.

Sue graduated with a BBA from Whitehall College and worked with Cigna Worldwide before moving to the US in 1993.  Sue obtained her NY Insurance License while with Aon (previously Minet). 

Sue is an active member of the Irish community in New York, participating in cultural and sports events, as well as fundraising for various Irish charities.