About IndexUniverse.com – The leading independent authority on ETFs, indexes and index funds.
IndexUniverse.com and its related publications cover product and market developments related to index funds, ETFs, index derivatives (futures/options/swaps), and the sophisticated investment strategies that use these financial tools. The website aims to provide the industry's best news, columns, research and features about the dynamic field of index-based investing and trading. It also offers valuable tools and data to assess markets and investment products, and incisive commentary designed to help investors and advisers cut through the clutter and find the right products for them.
IndexUniverse.com aims to be educational, thought-provoking and most importantly, rigorously independent.
We welcome feedback and ideas to make this website a valuable part of your investment and research activities, and we welcome your suggestions on new ideas for the site. Contact us at feedback@indexuniverse.com.
Jim Wiandt
Founder, CEO, Publisher
 Company founder, Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of IndexUniverse.com, IndexUniverse.eu, ETF Report and Journal of Indexes (JoI)
Jim founded Index Universe LLC in 1999 with a vision of creating the central hub for information and analysis on indexes, index funds and ETFs. That year he acquired Indexes: The Journal of Index Issues from Dow Jones, and transformed the publication into a fully independent journal with broad support from the index industry. Jim made an early move into ETFs, purchasing the Exchange-Traded Funds Report (the longest-running ETF newsletter in the world) in 2003.
He subsequently joined forces with Steven Schoenfeld to work on Schoenfeld's landmark Wiley Finance book "Active Index Investing." The two later developed IndexUniverse.com as a broadly scoped, independent website focused on indexes and ETFs. IndexUniverse has since expanded into conferences—where it runs, among other events, the world's largest ETF conference (Inside ETFs).
Previously, Jim was publisher of IndexFunds.com. He is also the author of "Exchange Traded Funds," a book published by John Wiley & Sons in 2001. Jim has served as an editor and writer for Compton's Encyclopedia, and worked as a contract journalist in West Africa, after serving in the Peace Corps in Niger. He is a 1991 graduate of Tufts University.
Matt Hougan
Executive Vice President, Global Head of Content
 Matt Hougan is executive vice president, global head of content for IndexUniverse LLC. In this position, he oversees the company's editorial efforts, including serving as Editor-in-Chief of the ETF Report and senior editor of the Journal of Indexes. Hougan also spearheads the development and management of IndexUniverse's ETF Analytics, an institutional-caliber tool designed to help invetors find the best ETF in any area of the market.
Widely known in the ETF industry, Hougan is quoted regularly in the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Fortune, Forbes, TheStreet.com, MarketWatch.com and the Associated Press. He is a member of the Wall Street Journal's "The Experts" panel on Wealth Management, and a founding member of CNBC's ETF Advisory Council. Hougan was recently named one of the 25 most influential people in the ETF industry, and was placed on Registered Rep's "Ten to Watch in 2012" list.
Prior to IndexUniverse LLC, Hougan ran his own strategic communications firm providing PR and speechwriting services to Fortune 500 companies, U.S. and foreign government agencies, and select nonprofits. Earlier, he was the lead biotech analyst for MetaMarkets.com, which ran the world's first transparent mutual fund. Hougan is a 1998 graduate of Bowdoin College.
Dave Nadig
President, ETF Analytics
 Dave Nadig is president, ETF Analytics for IndexUniverse LLC. He is also a lead writer at IndexUniverse.com, where he writes a widely followed blog.
Dave has been involved in researching, reporting and analyzing the investment management industry for more than 15 years. As managing director at Barclays Global Investors, Dave helped design and market some of the first exchange-traded funds. With partner Don Luskin, he went on to found MetaMarkets.com, a revolutionary transparent mutual fund company that pushed fund disclosure to the top of the SEC agenda. As co-founder at Cerulli Associates in the early '90s, he conducted some of the earliest research on fee-only financial advisers and the rise of indexing. He received his MBA in finance from Boston University.
Drew Voros
U.S. Editor-in-Chief
 Drew Voros is the U.S. editor-in-chief for IndexUniverse LLC, where he supervises the full suite of U.S. publications, newsletters and websites, including IndexUniverse.com, ETF Report, Journal of Indexes, HardAssetsInvestor.com and Vanguard in Focus. Drew has more than 25 years of experience in journalism, including serving as the longtime business editor for the Oakland Tribune and sisters papers of the Bay Area News Group, as well as covering public entertainment companies for Hollywood trade papers Daily Variety and Variety. He also served as managing editor for HardAssetsInvestor.com prior to his appointment as U.S. editor-in-chief for IndexUniverse LLC. Drew is a 1986 graduate of the University of Southern California.
Olivier "Olly" Ludwig
Managing Editor
 With almost 20 years of experience as a journalist, and most recently, a stint in the brokerage business, Olivier is now a member of the IndexUniverse.com team. Previously, he was a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and an editor at Bloomberg News, covering the fund industry from Boston. Before that, Olivier was a journalist at the Reuters News Agency in New York, serving as a copy editor and reporter, covering stocks, energy and the U.S. Treasurys market. A native Californian, a French speaker and a trained cook, he is a graduate of the City University of New York, where he majored in economic history.
ETF Analytics Team
|
Elisabeth Kashner, CFA
Director of Research
Elisabeth Kashner, CFA, holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.S. in financial analysis from the University of San Francisco. She started her career as a bilingual elementary school teacher. Elisabeth left the classroom for the Pacific Stock Exchange’s options trading floor, quickly rising to run Headwaters Capital’s convertible preferred equities trading desk. After a three-child hiatus, she earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and became an investment strategist for Contango Capital Advisors, the wealth management division of Zions Bancorp.
Elisabeth is responsible for the construction and improvement of IndexUniverse’s ETF Analytics product. She oversees methodology, classification and data quality. Elisabeth adds academic excellence to all aspects of IndexUniverse’s business, including education, conferences and publications.
|
Paul Baiocchi
Senior ETF Specialist
 Paul Baiocchi is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse. He started his career as an investment consultant at Euro Pacific Capital. After three years of managing international equity portfolios, Paul left his post to pursue his MBA in Vancouver, British Columbia. While attending the University of British Columbia, he worked as a consultant to Delta Global Advisors, creating internationally themed unit investment trust portfolios for Claymore funds. Upon graduating, Paul joined Delta full time as the firm's senior market strategist, creating and managing RIC compliant indexes for over 15 different UIT and ETF portfolios. His experience has provided him with expertise in the natural resources segment with a deep understanding of global markets.
|
Spencer Bogart
ETF Specialist
 Spencer Bogart is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse. He manages much of the data that supports our Analytics product and also focuses on small caps, real estate, and emerging markets. Spencer graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Business Economics and is a CFA Level III Candidate.
|
Paul Britt, CFA
Senior ETF Specialist
 Paul Britt is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse. He focuses on U.S. size & style equity ETFs and alternative ETFs. He worked most recently as a private placement agent at an IRA custodian. Paul holds an M.S. in financial analysis from the University of San Francisco and is an active member of the CFA Society of San Francisco.
|
Ugo Egbunike
Senior ETF Specialist
 Ugo is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse specializing in currency ETFs and ETF trading. Prior to IndexUniverse, he worked at Kellogg Group as an international ETF market maker on the NYSE Arca platform, and gained extensive experience trading underlying ETF securities in the European and Asian markets. Ugo holds a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College.
|
Dennis Hudachek
Senior ETF Specialist
 Dennis Hudachek is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse. He is the lead analyst for international ETFs and IndexUniverse's ETF Classification System for U.S.- and European-domiciled funds. Prior to IndexUniverse, Dennis worked as a senior specialist in the Global Wealth Management division at Merrill Lynch. He holds a B.A. in economics from UC Davis. Dennis has passed numerous FINRA exams and the CFA Level I exam.
|
Yevgeniy Koyfman, CFA
Vice President, Research
 Yevgeniy (Gene) Koyfman, CFA, is an ETF analyst at IndexUniverse. He currently specializes in fixed-income ETFs and analyzing index construction methodologies. Gene holds an M.S. in financial analysis from the University of San Francisco. He is an active member of the CFA Society of San Francisco.
|
|
