People

Chris-Tessin

Christopher Tessin, CFA

Christopher D. Tessin is a Founder and Managing Partner of Acuitas Investments and serves as the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Small and Microcap portfolios.

Prior to founding Acuitas, he served as Portfolio Manager at Russell Investments with responsibility for all of the firm's US microcap, small and small/mid cap strategies. Prior to his tenure at Russell Investments, Chris held positions in asset management and investment research at Bear Stearns, Schroders and Lehman Brothers. Chris is a regular contributor to CNBC and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The New York Times and other publications. Chris holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Columbia University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Seattle Society of Financial Analysts.

Dennis Jensen, CFA

Dennis Jensen is a Founder and Partner of Acuitas Investments and serves as the firm's Director of Research.

Prior to founding Acuitas, Dennis spent 16 years at Russell Investments, where he most recently served as Portfolio Manager with responsibility for over $10 billion in the firm's U.S. equity multi-style funds and large cap style funds. Before becoming Portfolio Manager Dennis was a Senior Research Analyst, leading the firm's research in the large cap value and market-neutral equity areas, as well as having responsibility for the convertible arbitrage and market-neutral equity portions of Russell's hedge funds. Dennis has made appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNNfn, and PBS Nightly Business Report. Dennis holds a BA in Finance and Business Management and a minor in Economics from the University of Puget Sound. He is a member of the Seattle Society of Financial Analysts.

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Lisa-Thenell

Lisa Thenell

Lisa is the Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Acuitas. Lisa provides management and oversight of the compliance program for Acuitas as well as managing the compliance review process and ongoing operational supervision for Acuitas’ subadvisers. Ms. Thenell has over 30 years of experience in the finance industry, primarily in compliance and mutual fund operations. Ms. Thenell’s investment career began in 1989 as a registered representative at a boutique brokerage firm in Seattle. In 1996, she joined Rainier Investment Management where she worked for 21 years, leaving as Chief Compliance Officer of the adviser and the Rainier Mutual Funds.  Lisa graduated with honors and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance and a minor in economics from Montana State University. Lisa holds Series 7 and 63 securities licenses and is active in the community.

Doug Porter, CFA

Doug Porter serves as a Senior Research Analyst at Acuitas Investments and as a Portfolio Manager on International Small Cap and Emerging Markets Small Cap portfolios.  Prior to joining Acuitas, Mr. Porter spent five years at Legato Capital Management, an Emerging Manager of Managers Investment firm, serving as the team leader of investment due diligence and a member of the firm's Investment Committee. From 2003 to 2010, Mr. Porter was an analyst at Russell Investments, which included positions within Russell's US Equity manager research, multi-asset class portfolio management, institutional consulting and institutional client service teams. From 2001 to 2003, he was an Index Analyst for Russell/Mellon Analytical Services. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Puget Sound, where he studied business administration. He is currently a member of the CFA Institute, the CAIA Association and the Global Association of Risk Professionals, where he received certification as a Financial Risk Manager.

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Matt-Nieman

Matt Nieman, CFA

Matt Nieman joined Acuitas in 2013 and is a Portfolio Manager on all U.S. Microcap portfolios. Additionally, Matt is a Senior Research Analyst responsible for discovering, researching and recommending external investment managers across asset classes, including the firm’s International Small Cap and Emerging Markets Small Cap portfolios. In this role, Matt leads the external manager due diligence effort for U.S. microcap value, international growth and long/short equity. Additionally, he oversees and implements manager transitions across client portfolios. Matt studied Economics and received his undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University. He is currently a member of the Seattle Society of Financial Analysts and is a CFA charterholder.

Pete McConville, CFA

Pete is the Performance and Operations Manager responsible for all operations functions, including performance measurement and reporting for the firm’s clients.  He has over 20 years of experience in the finance industry.

Prior to joining Acuitas, Pete spent five years at Verus Investments, serving as a Senior Performance Analyst, managing the performance calculations for large public and corporate pension plans as well as a Public Markets Research Analyst, assisting in the firmwide manager research efforts. He previously worked at Envestnet|Tamarac providing performance reporting and trading support for wealth management firms.  He began his career as an energy trader working for Edison Mission Marketing & Trading as well as several proprietary trading firms.

Pete earned his BA in Economics from Amherst College and his MBA from DePaul University.  He is currently a CFA charterholder and member of the CFA Society of Seattle.

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Becca-Tessin

Becca Tessin

Becca Tessin is the Director of Finance and manages the human resource and finance functions at Acuitas.

Prior to founding Acuitas, Becca worked as an investment banker for Luminary Capital, a boutique investment bank in New York City, specializing in helping small businesses raise capital and advising on mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Luminary, she was an investment banker for JP Morgan in their technology group. Becca also worked as an investment banker at Hambrecht & Quist and Alex. Brown & Sons. She holds a BA in Communications and Political Science from University of California at Santa Barbara and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.