Jayson Davidson, CFA is a Partner and the Managing Director of Consulting Services. He is responsible for providing a wide range of consulting services to governmental, corporate and non-profit institutional retirement plans as well as to VEBA trusts and other healthcare savings plans. Jayson assists board members by providing variety of services including on-going consulting services, vendor analysis, investment manager searches, fee analysis and negotiations, Request for Proposal (RFP) construction, investment policy statement development as well as legal/regulatory compliance. He also frequently lectures at industry conferences, and has been asked to speak on topics such as fiduciary responsibility, the Pension Protection Act and investment fees and expenses.
Prior to joining the Hyas Group, Jayson served as a senior investment consultant at Arnerich Massena & Associates where he helped develop the firm’s defined contribution retirement plan and VEBA trust practices. He was also charged with the majority of the firm’s vendor review and search related projects. Before his tenure with Arnerich Massena began in 2002, Jayson served as Vice-President for the Western United States with ICMA Retirement Corporation where he was responsible for new client relationships and provider transitions for public sector 457, 401(a) and healthcare savings plans. Prior to his work with the Retirement Corporation, Jayson was a defined contribution and benefit consultant for Howard Johnson & Company.
Jayson graduated cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He is Series 65 licensed and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Additionally, he is a member of the Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute and the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA). He currently serves on the NAGDCA Investment Policy taskforce.
Scott Faris JD, CFA is a Senior Consultant for the Hyas Group where he is responsible for developing and managing institutional client relationships. He has over 24 years of experience providing fiduciary, investment, technical and educational advice to governmental, corporate and non-profit sponsors of retirement plans. Mr. Faris has expertise in understanding investment risk, return, duration and liquidity objectives and implementing optimized portfolios and defined contribution investment structures; communicating complex investment, legal and technical information; negotiating terms of agreements with investment managers and other service providers; employing fiduciary best practices in process and documentation and crafting investment policies and manager guidelines.
Prior to joining the Hyas Group, Mr. Faris served as Senior Consultant at Towers Watson Investment Services where he advised pension and defined contribution retirement plans ranging in size from $50 million to over $3 billion in plan assets. He also served as Managing Director at Arnerich Massena & Associates in Portland Oregon with oversight and service model delivery responsibilities for firm-wide services to retirement plan clients.
Mr. Faris graduated with honors from Montana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance as well as receiving a Juris Doctor degree from William Mitchell College of Law. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.
Brian Loescher is a Managing Partner and serves as the Director of Research for the Hyas Group. He is responsible for leading the firm's investment research efforts and marshalling resources to effectively analyze current and prospective client investment options. Additional responsibilities include asset allocation modeling, manager contract evaluation and general investment research and due diligence.
Prior to joining the Hyas Group, Mr. Loescher spent 10 years at Arnerich Massena and Associates where he served as the Director of Research and manager of the firm's analytics department. As Director of Research he was responsible for the strategic direction of the firm's research efforts and specialized in the sourcing of new investment managers and completion of primary due diligence within the hedge fund and private equity universes. Mr. Loescher was a member of Arnerich Massena's Asset Allocation and Implementation Committee, Traditional Asset Investment Committee, and Chaired the Alternative Asset Investment Committee.
In addition to research and investment responsibilities, Mr. Loescher managed the firm's 11 member analytics department. This included personnel evaluation and training, along with project management in support of the firm's defined contribution plan, defined benefit plan, non-qualified deferred compensation plan, wealth management and endowment/foundation clients.
Brian has been working in the financial industry since 1993. Prior to joining Arnerich Massena, he served as financial analyst for RV Kuhns & Associates. His responsibilities there included asset allocation modeling, investment policy development, performance evaluation and attribution reporting, client 401(k) education training, and quarterly market analysis.
Brian has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the Portland Society of Financial Analysts, Portland Alternative Investment Association and the CFA Institute. In addition, he holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Finance from the University of Nebraska.
Dale Parker is a Partner and the Managing Director of Analytical Services. At the Hyas Group he is responsible for supporting all aspects of the firm’s operations and a broad range of client projects. Dale also serves as lead analyst for all clients. In this role he is able to leverage his deep expertise in analyzing pricing and platform structures as well as institutional investment processes.
Prior to the Hyas Group, Dale served as a Senior Analyst at Arnerich Massena & Associates where he was instrumental in designing and implementing the processes and analytical tools utilized across the firm. Dale joined Arnerich Massena & Associates in 1997 and was initially responsible for a broad range of client project work along with investment manager research. Dale was tasked with conducting on-site manager due diligence and interviewing money managers. During his last five years at the firm he was primarily focused on constructing and refining the pricing models and various analytical tools utilized in the evaluation of institutional client accounts.
Before joining Arnerich Massena & Associates, Inc., Dale's career began at Qualivest Capital Management, the subsidiary investment unit of U.S. Bancorp. He started at Qualivest in 1989, and his role encompassed a broad range of buy-side analytical work. This analytical work included a role in the initial launch and management of Qualivest’s mutual fund product line as well as corporate valuation tasks. Dale holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance/Law from Portland State University.
Greg Settle is a Senior Retirement Plan and Investment Consultant for the Hyas Group. He has over 26 years of experience working in the design, implementation and operation of the 401(a), 457, RHS and other benefit plans of public employers. His work is focused on helping plan sponsors to implement innovative plan design solutions that promote successful participant outcomes. He assists with the construction of optimized investment menu's, appropriate and effective participant services platforms, and fee and expense review and control programs. He has also led multiple public employers through comprehensive RFP/provider search processes and investment manager searches.
Prior to joining the Hyas Group Mr. Settle was an investment consultant and vice president with Aon Investment Consulting (AIC) in Seattle, where he consulted to retirement plans and led the AIC Stable Value Investment Research Team. His career has also included serving in management positions with several defined contribution plan record-keepers and investment managers.
Mr. Settle is a long term member of NAGDCA and has served on the NAGDCA Investment Policy Board and Survey Board. He has spoken about retirement plan oversight at the annual NGDCA National Conference and to State and Regional gatherings of the GFOA and ICMA. He graduated from Portland State University School of Business with a BS (honors) in Finance/Law in 1983, and has passed the CFA Level I Exam. He has also passed the FINRA Series 7, 63, 65 and 28(Principal) Exams, and is a frequent speaker at the conferences of governmental finance and human resource professionals.
Christy Bennett is a Senior Analyst for the Hyas Group. She is responsible for supporting the firm's research functions and serves as an additional project lead for manager, provider and custodian evaluation projects. She is also tasked with providing support for the Hyas Group's performance reporting responsibilities and operational requirements.
Prior to joining the Hyas Group, Ms. Bennett worked at Arnerich Massena & Associates as a Senior Analyst. During her eight years at Arnerich Massena, she was responsible for a wide variety of client related projects, investment manager research and data management. She conducted on-site manager due-diligence and led management research efforts in the mid and large cap equity asset classes. Ms. Bennett also served on the Investment Committee and was responsible for vetting investment manager candidates and presenting those candidates to the Committee. In addition to manager research work, Ms. Bennett also provided support for the firm's provider and platform project work. Ms. Bennett graduated with a bachelor's degree in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Oregon.
Tom Breaden is a Senior Analyst and is responsible for contributing to a variety of projects including plan and vendor analyses, manager due diligence and research, production of investment performance reports, asset allocation work, and other initiatives. Prior to joining Hyas in 2011, Tom worked for five years at Heintzberger|Payne as an Analyst and Director of Research where his primary duties included developing and guiding investment decisions, manager due diligence, performance reporting, and other duties associated with the firm's investment advisory and third party administrative branches.
An Oregon native, Tom graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon with dual majors in History and Economics, and received a Master of Science in Economics from Portland State University. Tom has completed level one of the CFA exam series, is currently enrolled for level three, and is a member of the CFA Society of Portland.