Investment Team

Ragen Stienke, CFA | Portfolio Manager
Ragen Stienke has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning from early stage investing in start-ups to public equities. Before starting Ballast Asset Management, Ragen was the Senior Portfolio Manager of the SMid and SMid Plus products at Westwood Management, an investment firm with over $20bn in assets under management. Ragen joined Westwood in 2004, and was responsible for managing and growing the SMid product from its infancy to over $3bn. Upon closing the SMid product, Ragen launched a sister portfolio in SMid Plus where he raised nearly $1bn in assets. During his management of SMid, the portfolio had a 10 year track record that ranked in the top 10% against its respective peer group.¹ Ragen was also a member of the Portfolio Risk Committee and the Business Management Committee at Westwood.

Ragen graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Economics. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he worked at the IC2 Institute, a research unit of the University of Texas focused on fostering constructive forms of capitalism that accelerate economic development. Upon graduation, Ragen joined Arthur Andersen in the Business Valuation Group. In 2000, he accepted a position with UBS Investment Bank’s research group in New York. While at UBS, he spent three years as a research analyst focused on the software industry. In 2003, Ragen was promoted to Associate Director, where he served on the U.S. Equity Strategy team.

Ragen received his CFA charter in 2003 and is a member of the CFA Institute and the Dallas Society of Financial Analysts.

¹ Source: eVestment, period ending June 30, 2015.

Tom Fogarty, Jr., CFA | Investment Analyst
Prior to joining Ballast as an Investment Analyst, Tom brings more than 20 years of investment analysis and decision making, most recently at his own company, Thurles, LLC. Prior to that, he was Senior Investment Analyst and Associate Director of Research at Dreman Value Management, an equity investment firm with a behavioral economics strategy and peak assets of more than $18 billion. At Silverstone Capital, a market-neutral equity fund with top decile performance in his tenue 2006-2010 and peak AUM of about $450 million, he was Senior Investment Analyst executing a deeply fundamental, riskcontrolled strategy in the global automotive value-chain. He has also held a variety of equity analyst roles at Jefferies and UBS Investment Bank, where he rose to Associate Director of U.S. Equity Strategy. Tom began his investment career as a credit analyst on Moody’s Investor Service’s industrials team. He earned a B.A. from Vassar College and an MBA from University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He earned his CFA charter in 2002 and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of New York.

Operations/Financial/Compliance

Stefanie Kennedy| Chief Compliance Officer
Stefanie Kennedy, Chief Compliance Officer has over 20 years of experience in trading and trade operations, as well as client service. Prior to joining Ballast, Stefanie worked in Trade Operations at Westwood Holdings Group as VP, Senior Trade Operations Analyst. At Westwood, her roles also included positions as Equity Trader, Portfolio Coordinator, Performance Analyst and Client Service.  Her responsibilities included trading, trade settlements, onboarding new clients, client reporting and account reconciliations.  Stefanie served as Chairman of the Westwood Charitable Events Committee where she spearheaded ten charitable events annually.  Stefanie graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BS in Social Science.

Marketing and Client Service

Joyce Schaer | Institutional Marketing & Investor Relations
Joyce is the founder of Capital Velocity Group and has over 30 years of investment management experience both with emerging firms as well as with larger institutional asset managers. Before partnering with Ballast Asset Management, she served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Oakview Capital Management where she was responsible for the firm’s marketing strategy and growth of the new client relationships.  Prior to joining Oakview, she served as the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Investor Relations for Hirzel Capital Management, a Dallas-based hedged fund where she raised new investor capital and managed the business operations for the firm.  Joyce has a consultant relations background both gained from her roles at Wells Capital Management and prior, while working at Westwood Management where she served as Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing.  During her 18-year tenure at Westwood, she held a variety of roles including new business development, business operations, portfolio management, and client services.  Joyce graduated with an MBA in Finance from Fordham University and a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University.  Joyce is active in her community previously serving on the investment committee for the Jesuit College Preparatory School Foundation and as a member of the Parish Finance Council for Saint Thomas Catholic Church.