CutterCast: Completing RFPs, DDQs & Consultant Databases

Gina McCafferty has 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. She served at Cutter from 1999 to 2011 as Principal and Managing Director of CutterResearch, and she was instrumental in growing that business. Gina returned to Cutter in 2017, and established and ran the company’s Wealth Management research division. In 2019, she was appointed to Head of Research, responsible for Asset Management and Wealth Management product development and delivery to over 200 member firms around the globe. Gina was previously at Investit Ltd., where she served for six years as head of the company’s research service. Prior to that, she held senior positions at DST International with product responsibility for their global accounting and performance measurement systems, and at SunGard as Vice President of Client Services for their securities trading products.

Philip (Phil) Orlando is a Consultant at Cutter Associates and brings over eleven years of consulting, organizational strategy, client service, operations, accounting, and IT experience to Cutter clients. Phil has been involved with multiple Front, Middle, and Back Office strategy engagements covering accounting systems, portfolio management and trading, pre and post-trade compliance, risk management, and data management and governance. Phil also has extensive experience with client and sales management (e.g. client reporting, CRM).

Prior to joining Cutter Associates, Phil was an Organizational Strategy Business Analyst at State Street Bank where he worked on several large-scale projects including the implementation of an enterprise workflow tool and a new inquiry management system. He also guided a program purposed to transition complex cash, reconciliation, and trade tasks from the business units to centers of excellence (COEs).

Previously, Phil was an ETF Client Operations Account Manager at State Street Bank. He launched new ETFs & on-boarded new clients, managed relationships with several ETF sponsors, and crafted specifications for IT resources to continuously improve the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of ETF processes.

Phil holds a B.S. in Finance from Stonehill College and is also a CFA charterholder.

Cindy Castellano has over 30 years of experience in the investment management industry. She leads Cutter Associates’ Client-Facing and Wealth practices, advising asset and wealth management firms on their sales and distribution, marketing, product development, consultant relations, client service, and client reporting. Cindy has conducted system searches for CRM, marketing automation, portals, pitchbooks/client presentation, content management, client reporting, client onboarding, and RFP systems. Prior to joining Cutter, Cindy served as Vice President and Head of Operations for a division of Guggenheim Investments, where she led mutual fund accounting and administration; institutional accounting, billing, and client reporting; SMA operations, performance reporting (GIPS); and fixed income performance, attribution, and risk reporting. As Vice President and Head of Equities, Cindy led the firm’s investment team and supervised equity trading activities.

Cindy also spent 10 years as a Senior Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst, managing over USD 500 million in AUM for mutual funds and VITs using social awareness (ESG), large cap growth, and mid-cap growth investment strategies. She developed the investment process, directed research analysts’ day-to-day efforts, and created the firm’s social criteria and proxy voting guidelines. Cindy, a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a bachelor’s of business administration from Washburn University. 

Diane Nestor joined Polen Capital in 2017 with over 30 years of experience in the asset management industry. Before joining Polen Capital, Diane spent most of her career working as an RFP Specialist/Coordinator at Hansberger Global Investors and most recently at Franklin Templeton Investments, where she was responsible for the completion process of RFPs and due diligence requests for consultants and current clients. She began her career at Franklin Templeton Investments working in various positions including Portfolio Accountant, Product Specialist, and Consultant Liaison.

Ms. To received her B.S. degree (with honors) in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining Dodge & Cox in 2015, she worked as a client relationship manager at Lateef Investment Management. Prior to Lateef, she was an investment consultant at Aon Hewitt.

Wendy Lunko is a Senior Financial Writer with nearly 20 years of experience in preparing proposals and due diligence questionnaires for a wide range of local, state, and federal clients and private institutions. She has experience using proprietary and publicly available proposal preparation and database tools. These publicly available tools include Deltek, PMAPS, and Qvidian. She leads interdisciplinary teams to prepare proposals that are compliant, comprehensive and responsive. Wendy is a member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals.