Executive Roundtable

John Clark is an Executive Director at Cutter Associates and has more than 30 years of experience in the investment management industry. Formerly the CEO of Cutter, John is integral in helping to grow Cutter's research membership and consulting business in the European and US markets.. As the former head of Cutter’s Consulting division, John still actively participates in consulting projects, as a trusted client advisor for high-level planning and strategy, including setting priorities and managing capital investments. John also provides expert oversight and guidance on more complex strategy engagements. John’s experience covers all aspects of investment management. John is well known in the industry and is sought out to speak at industry conferences and events. He has also been quoted in many industry periodicals. Prior to joining Cutter Associates, John held senior roles as President and COO for several software companies, including DST Belvedere, Longview Group, and SunGard. John holds a B.A. from Tufts University.

David Joyce leads Cutter Associates’ Client Experience, ensuring client satisfaction across all engagement points as the voice of the client within Cutter. A senior technology and operations leader, David brings over 25 years of experience in leading operations, risk, and technology teams to help them devise and implement agile solutions, mitigate risk, increase scale, and build a culture of operational excellence.

Most recently, he served as an independent consultant to asset management, insurance, and fintech firms, providing expertise and guidance in the areas of derivatives, portfolio integration, customer success, project management, regulatory and control environments, and software development and implementation. Prior to consulting, David spent 20 years at American International Group (AIG) in a variety of increasingly senior roles. At AIG, he implemented innovative tactical and strategic solutions for the firm’s global businesses and led over 40 employees in multidisciplinary teams that performed investment and insurance operations, regulatory and control supervision, IT support, and workforce and facilities management.

Tom Nichols has spent 26 years in the financial services industry, holding positions in sales, marketing, client and product management, and banking. Tom joined Cutter Associates in 2002 and is responsible for client management and business development. Prior to joining Cutter Associates, Tom worked in a sales, client management and product management role for an internet start-up that provided analytics to the CMBS market. He also held several positions at Thomson Financial and J.P. Morgan. Tom holds a B.A. in Economics from Bowdoin College.

Paul Zajac is currently the Global Head of Investments Technology at Invesco, with oversight of all front-office, risk, and performance systems across USD 1.5 trillion of AUM.

Most recently, he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Asset Management Technology at Credit Suisse, with responsibility for all systems supporting AUM of over USD 400 billion. Mr. Zajac was a key driver in system consolidation, digitization, and implementing a new data strategy.

Previously, he was Chief Information Officer of Enterprise Risk Management at AIG, where he was responsible for technology and operations across all assets and liabilities at the corporate level.

Prior to AIG, Mr. Zajac was Chief Technology Officer of Lennox Holdings Limited, a Bermuda reinsurance company specializing in using derivatives to hedge variable annuity guarantees.

Prior to Lennox, Mr. Zajac spent six years as Chief Information Officer for MetLife Investments, where he oversaw all systems supporting MetLife’s USD 350 billion multi-asset class investment portfolio.

Before joining MetLife, Mr. Zajac was the Founder and CEO of OneBond, a joint venture with UBS, which was a fixed income market aggregation and trading software vendor.

Prior experience includes Head of Fixed Income Capital Markets Technology at PaineWebber, along with senior technology positions at BlackRock and Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Zajac received a BS degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.