Read about our table hosts below! When registering you will be asked to pick your top 3 tables that you want to talk with. We will do our best to accommodate your requests, but there is a possibility that you will not meet with all 3 of your choices.
Equity
Erika Maschmeyer, CFA | Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Ms. Maschmeyer has been associated with Columbia Wanger Asset Management as an investment professional since 2016. Ms. Maschmeyer heads the Investment Manager’s U.S. equity research efforts as the lead Portfolio Manager for the Acorn fund and has been a portfolio manager since 2018. She is also directly responsible for analyst coverage in the consumer and financial sectors. Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle, Ms. Maschmeyer was a research analyst at Oak Ridge Investments (2013-2016) where she was responsible for U.S. consumer discretionary/staples investments. She joined Robert W. Baird as an equity research analyst following the retail sector in 2006 and was promoted to senior analyst in 2009. Ms. Maschmeyer began her investment career in 2001 at Zurich Financial Services. She earned a B.A. from Denison University as Valedictorian in 2001 and an M.B.A with Honors from the University of Chicago in 2006.
Fixed Income
Gabe Diederich, CFA | Baird Advisors
Gabe has 23 years of investment management experience. His responsibilities include helping to set and implement investment strategy with a major portion of his time allocated to municipal portfolio management and credit research. Prior to joining Baird Advisors, Gabe spent 17 years at Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) and its predecessor firm, Strong Capital Management. At WFAM Gabe was a municipal portfolio manager working on over $40B in client municipal assets including mutual funds and institutional separate accounts.
Gabe obtained his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Business and his MBA from Marquette University magna cum laude. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2012 and is active in the CFA Society of Milwaukee. Gabe is a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) and the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society. Gabe is involved in coaching basketball and baseball, the Knights of Columbus, Scouting and an active member of Holy Family Parish.
Gabe and his wife, Susan, have three children: Henry, Gordon, and Clara.
Private Wealth Management
Lidija Gjorgijevska | Charles Schwab
Lidija began her academic career in electrical engineering before discovering her passion for finance through accounting and finance coursework, later earning her MBA in Finance. She has more than 13 years of experience advising high-net-worth individuals and families.
Today, she serves as a Wealth Advisor at Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc., where she advises families on comprehensive financial planning strategies and delivers customized portfolio management solutions aligned with their long-term goals. She helps clients build, protect, and sustain their wealth by simplifying complexity, educating them on investment and market dynamics, and empowering them to make confident financial decisions. Her approach is personalized and relationship-driven—focused on clarity, trust, and thoughtful long-term planning.
Lidija holds the Certified Financial Planner® and Certified Private Wealth Advisor® designations, Series 7 and Series 66 licenses, and is a CFA Level III candidate.
Outside of finance, she is a certified Yoga Sculpt instructor, NASM Certified Group Fitness Instructor, and five-time Chicago Olympic Triathlon finisher. She champions the connection between physical well-being and long-term financial success, believing that discipline in health and wealth go hand in hand. She lives with her family in the western suburbs of Chicago and enjoys traveling and exploring new cultures.
Private Credit
Giannina Sy | Neuberger Berman
Giannina Sy is a Principal at Neuberger Berman and a member of the Private Credit investment team. Prior to joining Private Credit in 2018, Ms. Sy was an Associate with Deutsche Bank’s Healthcare Investment Banking team. Ms. Sy graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Economics and minors in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Private Equity
Speaker coming soon.
Client Relationship Management
Richard Turnley | Channing Capital
Active ETFs
Caitlin Kiel | Invesco
Caitlin Kiel is Director of ETF Due Diligence for Invesco’s exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In this role, she is responsible for providing exchange-traded product support across an array of channels, working primarily with ETF investment research analysts, product managers, model builders, and due diligence groups at broker dealers, custodians, wirehouses and banks.
Mrs. Kiel rejoined Invesco in 2021 as a Senior ETF Specialist after previously spending three years in the ETF sales organization. She has over eight years of firm experience spanning ETF distribution, product evaluation, manager research, and portfolio construction. Between her two tenures, Caitlin held roles at Raymond James and Halo Investing.
Ms. Kiel earned a BS degree in business management from the University of Florida. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) professional and holds the Series 7, 63, and 66 registrations.
Real Estate
Steve Proffer, CFA | Harrison Street
As a Director in the Research group, Steve contributes to the firm’s research process for its North American sectors, including education, healthcare, senior housing and self storage. Harrison Street Asset Management uses Research as a strategic tool to guide operating and investment strategy for the firm’s portfolio. He also participates in new business development efforts as the firm contemplates growth strategies into new markets and complementary real estate segments.
Prior to joining Harrison Street Asset Management, he was a Consultant and Market Strategist at Fiducient Advisors. There he authored the firm’s financial market publications and directed its capital market research efforts. Before that role, he was at Northern Trust. Most recently as an Associate Client Investment Officer and previously as a Senior Analyst. At Northern Trust, he authored weekly market insights for the firm’s national Wealth Management division and oversaw portfolio management for high-net-worth private clients and institutional clients.
Steve received a BS in Finance and BS in Economics from the University of Illinois and an MS in Analytics from the University of Chicago. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
AI
Peeyush Shukla, CFA, FRM
Agenda:
4:30 pm: Registration/Networking
5:00 pm: Introductions and Overview
5:05 pm: First Roundtable Session
5:35 pm: Break/Switch tables
5:40 pm: Second Roundtable Session
6:10 pm: Break/Switch tables
6:15 pm: Third Roundtable Session
6:45 pm: Informal Networking