Research Affiliates Leadership

Chris J. Brightman CFA is a Partner, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Research Affiliates and is based in Newport Beach, California. He has worked as Executive Director and Head of Equity Strategy at UBS; Partner, Senior Portfolio Manager at Brinson Partners; and CEO / CIO at UVIMCO. Chris attended Loyola University Maryland between 1988 and 1990 and Virginia Tech between 1979 and 1983.

Jeff Wilson is a partner and Chief Distribution Officer of Research Affiliates, a global leader in smart beta, factor investing, and asset allocation. The firm delivers investment solutions around the world in partnership with leading financial institutions. Jeff is responsible for leading Research Affiliates’ global distribution, marketing, and product management activities. In this role, he directs and manages the firm's outreach to the global investment community. He is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Jeff was senior associate and director of marketing at Maverick Capital in New York City, where he led new business development in the United States, Canada, and Asia. In this capacity he provided sales, marketing, and client service to corporate and public pension plans, endowments, foundations, funds of funds, and multi-family offices. Previously, Jeff had been senior vice president at TCW in Los Angeles, responsible for the firm’s institutional client base in the western and midwestern regions of the United States. Prior to TCW, Jeff was a finance associate at Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

Jeff received his BS and MBA from the University of Southern California. ​​

Jim Masturzo is a partner and CIO of Multi-Asset Strategies of Research Affiliates, a global leader in smart beta, factor investing, and asset allocation. The firm delivers investment solutions around the world in partnership with leading financial institutions. Jim leads the multi-asset investment team that supports the firm’s suite of tactical asset-allocation products. In this role, he oversees portfolio construction and modeling for existing portfolios as well as the design and construction of new strategies. In addition, Jim regularly writes about capital markets and oversees the firm's public asset-allocation resources, specifically the firm’s Asset Allocation Interactive website. Jim is a member of the firm’s Investment and Management Committees.

Prior to joining Research Affiliates, Jim worked at Bloomberg specializing in portfolio analytics. In this role Jim advised portfolio managers on best practices related to performance measurement, attribution, and risk analytics for equity and fixed income portfolios.

Jim has a BS in electrical engineering from Cornell University and a MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.​

Nate Kelso is Head of Information Technology and serves as Chief Information Security Officer. In this role, he manages the project management and business analysis functions as well as the infrastructure, information security, web program, and cloud computing strategy. Nate also works closely with the Research Affiliates management team to define and execute the firm’s IT strategy.

For more than 20 years, Nate has held various technology management positions within the investment management industry. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he was a director at BlackRock with responsibility for the development and implementation of software for their alternative investments business.

Nate earned a BA in business administration with an emphasis in finance from Washington State University. Nate holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.

Chris Ariza is a partner and Chief Technology Officer of Research Affiliates, a global leader in smart beta, factor investing, and asset allocation. The firm delivers investment solutions around the world in partnership with leading financial institutions. Chris oversees the Data Systems, Investment Systems, Enterprise Systems, and Information Technology teams, as well as defines technology strategy, contributing to firm-wide software engineering activities and promoting open-source RA technologies. He is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

With over 20 years of software engineering experience, Chris has developed tools in a variety of domains, most notably algorithmic music composition and computer-aided musicology. Prior to joining Research Affiliates, he was a visiting assistant professor of music at MIT, assistant editor of the Computer Music Journal, and an assistant professor of recording arts and music technology at Towson University.

Chris has a BA in music with honors from Harvard University and an MA and PhD in music theory and composition from New York University.

Joe Hattesohl, as Chief Financial Officer, has day-to-day responsibility for planning and implementing all finance-related activities at Research Affiliates, including corporate accounting, fund accounting, and portfolio operations. He is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Joe was previously a partner and chief financial officer at Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC, prior to its acquisition by Trust Company of the West. After MetWest’s sale, Joe was managing director at TCW and helped integrate the two firms. Prior to that position, he was a vice president at PIMCO, where he oversaw financial reporting, fund accounting, and taxation for the PIMCO Funds.

Joe received his BS in accounting and business administration, with high distinction, from the University of Kansas. He is a certified public accountant and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Orange County.

Feifei Li is a partner and CIO of Equity Strategies for Research Affiliates, a global leader in smart beta, factor investing, and asset allocation. The firm delivers investment solutions around the world in partnership with leading financial institutions. Feifei leads the cross-sectional equity research and strategy design that supports the firm’s systematic active portfolios and smart beta indices. She works in close collaboration with the PIMCO RAE™ portfolio managers and Research Affiliates’ academic advisors.

Feifei is a member of both the Research Affiliates Investment Committee and the Management Committee. She has been instrumental in the design of Research Affiliates’ innovative investment solutions since she joined the firm in 2005, becoming director of research in 2009, head of investment management in 2015, and head of the investment strategy in 2018 before assuming her current role as the head of equities in 2020. Feifei has published more than 40 articles and journal papers in both academic and practitioner journals and won best article awards from the Journal of Portfolio Management and European Financial Management.

She has taught undergraduate and MBA finance classes at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Irvine. She is a Program Committee member at Q Group and serves as a reviewer for multiple academic and practitioner journals such as the Financial Analysts Journal.

Feifei earned a BA from Tsinghua University’s School of Management and Economics in Beijing and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds the Financial Risk Manager designation.