Buttonwood Founder & President, Justin Meise and his fellow ETF BILD Co-Founders Bibb Strench, John Jacobs, and Richard Keary discussed converting mutual funds to ETFs and its implication on the industry at the Thompson Hine ETF & Alts Conference in New York City on September 18, 2019.
Other conference participants included NYSE, Natixis, JMP Securities, CBOE, and FS Investments.
Buttonwood’s Founder & President, Justin Meise, is speaking at Thompson Hine’s ETFs and Alts Event on September 18th at the Grand Hyatt (Grand Central).
Justin will be joining his ETF Bild co-founders, John Jacobs, Bibb Strench and Rich Keary for a panel discussion on mutual fund to ETF conversions. The complete program will include experts from Thompson Hine’s Investment Management Group and leading professionals who will discuss a variety of topics, including non-transparent ETFs, mutual fund to ETF conversions, listing exchange issues, and recent regulatory developments impacting BDCs and closed-end funds, that would be of interest to current or prospective sponsors of ETFs or alternative funds. See the program agenda for more details.
Featured speakers will include:
If you’d like to register and learn more about the event, please visit https://www.thompsonhine.com/events/etfs-and-alts-whats-around-the-corner
ETF BILD is an on-going and open discussion on the timeliest topics and issues facing the leaders and decision makers of the ETF industry. The ETF BILD Project focuses on how leaders are solving problems, employing business and operational strategies, outlook for the marketplace and lessons learned throughout their process. To learn more, please visit https://etfbild.com/.
New York, NY – March 27, 2019 – Buttonwood Communications Group, a boutique public relations, marketing and strategic communications firm, is thrilled to announce it has been recognized in O’Dwyer’s 2019 annual ranking of PR firms specializing in financial services and investor relations. This year’s list was released online on March 27th and will be published in the May print edition of O’Dwyer’s magazine.
Reporting net fees of $1.31 million in 2018, Buttonwood has enjoyed tremendous growth in each of its four years. Last year was a particularly strong year for the firm as it expanded its client base to include new relationships with index provider Alerian, lease accounting software provider LeaseAccelerator and the Investment Adviser Association’s Active Managers Council, all while continuing to grow relationships with existing clients.
“I’m so proud of our team to have earned a Top 20 ranking in just our fourth year. It’s a powerful validation of the team’s quality of work and our efforts to continuously ensure we deliver results and add value on every assignment,” said Justin Meise, President & Founder of Buttonwood Communications Group. “And I certainly want to thank our clients who have trusted us as their vendor as well as our many industry colleagues who have helped us in countless ways, big and small.”
Now in its 50th year of conducting PR firm rankings, O’Dwyer’s determines an agency’s position based on net fees for the previous year, total number of employees, provided income tax and W-3 forms, as well as a current list of accounts.
Buttonwood is delighted to announce its new relationship with the Investment Adviser Association. Founded in 1937, Investment Adviser Association (IAA) is a leading trade association representing the interests of SEC-registered investment adviser firms. The IAA’s growing membership consists of more than 600 firms that collectively manage approximately $20 trillion in assets for a wide variety of institutional and individual investors. Buttonwood will be working closely with IAA and its members on promoting a range of educational initiatives designed to further the public’s understanding of the investment management industry.
Buttonwood continues its growth with the addition of industry veteran Chip Bergstrom as Managing Director Boston. In this role, Chip will be responsible for growing the firm’s presence in New England.
“Having worked with Chip for many years in our previous lives, I’m particularly excited to be getting the band back together,” said Justin Meise, President & Founder of Buttonwood Communications Group. “With Chip’s past experience in a variety of managerial and leadership positions equipped with his deep knowledge across our industry, he immediately enhances the depth and breadth of our experience.”
Prior to joining the Buttonwood team, Chip served as VP of Marketing and Communications at Bay State College where he was responsible for overseeing the college’s marketing efforts. Chip was also Manager of Public Relations for one of Fidelity Investments’ institutional advisory groups and also served as Head of the Boston Office for another NY-based financial services PR firm. Chip graduated from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Surrounding Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, April 10th, Buttonwood’s Christine Hudacko unveiled Project Worth alongside three of her former colleagues at BlackRock. Project Worth is a series of two-hour workshops in the San Francisco Bay area that are aimed at helping professional women take control of their financial life.
News of this initiative is featured in Beagan Wilcox Volz’s Ignites piece “Ex-BlackRock Execs Launch Effort to Tackle Gender Pay Gap.” The full article can be viewed here.
Buttonwood is pleased to announce that industry veteran Christine Hudacko is joining Buttonwood as Managing Director West Coast and will lead the firm’s efforts to grow and expand our business relationships particularly throughout the region.
“Christine and I have worked together for many years dating back to the earliest days of iShares, when our efforts focused on educating the marketplace about this strange new product called an ETF,” said Justin Meise, Buttonwood’s Founder and President. “I’m thrilled to have the chance to work with Christine again and her deep ETF and broad financial experience will be immensely valuable to all the support we provide clients.”
Prior to joining the Buttonwood team, Christine was the Head of PR for 55 Capital, an investment manager startup. She also was one of the earliest employees at iShares designing the PR program in 2000 and was there for 15 years working closely with the marketing and sales teams to create the world’s largest ETF provider. Christine holds a Master’s in Business Administration, Finance, from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts, Marketing from Siena College.
Buttonwood is excited to announce its new relationship with Parametric. Founded in 1987, Parametric is a leading global asset management firm, focused on the delivery of engineered portfolio solutions, including rules-based alpha-seeking equity, alternative and options strategies, as well as implementation services including custom core equity, futures overlay and centralized portfolio management. Buttonwood will be working closely with Parametric on a range of strategic communication, thought leadership and public relations initiatives.
Buttonwood continues to grow, creating the opportunity to expand its team with the addition of Carly Gray as Account Executive.
Carly is a recent graduate of Marist College. As Account Executive, she will provide media relations support for clients such as FTSE Russell, Westchester Capital Management and BondWave. In addition, Carly will support social media execution as well as media tracking and reporting. Carly graduated Summa Cum Laude from Marist College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Business Administration. Here, she served on the executive board for the Marist College Chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America. Carly was also the recipient of the prestigious 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award in Public Relations.
Buttonwood is excited to announce its new relationship with Scivantage. Founded in 2000, Scivantage is leading the trend in financial technology by delivering intelligent and actionable information that is breaking barriers and helping to improve investment decisions among broker-dealers, mutual funds, custodians, and prime brokers. Buttonwood will be working closely with Scivantage on a range of strategic communication and thought leadership initiatives.