

Azarias is a lean, experienced team focused on investing and investor relations.
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Daren C. Heitman, CFAManaging Partner &
Chief Investment Officer -
Christopher S. CatonPartner &
Co-Portfolio Manager -
Christopher J. GillespiePartner &
Co-Portfolio Manager -
Joe KnechtInvestor Relations Consultant
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Tim PercarpioManaging Partner & Investor Relations
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Colleen KellyChief Compliance Officer
at Philadelphia-based Cooke & Bieler (2005-2014), where he led the firm’s successful launch of its Small Cap Value strategy and co-managed over $4 billion in mid/large cap equities for institutional clients. He was previously a Senior Analyst and Partner at Schneider Capital Management (2000-2005), where he conducted in-depth research and analysis, mainly on small cap value stocks.
He began his investment management career in 1994 at Skyline Asset Management, a Chicago-based investment advisory firm specializing in small cap value management, where he was engaged full-time in small cap value fundamental research. Daren earned an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago – Graduate School of Business. He is also a graduate of Iowa State University with a B.S. in Finance.
Chris was a senior research analyst with Federated Investors (2006-2014) and for his last five years there he served on the Prudent Bear team, which has a decades-long dedication to short bias investing.
Prudent Bear was acquired by Federated in 2008. At Prudent Bear, Chris spent 100% of his time researching individual companies in a variety of sectors to help populate the short portfolio. From 2001 through 2006, Chris was a healthcare analyst with Principal Global Investors in Des Moines, Iowa, performing in-depth analysis on the healthcare sector across all capitalizations.
He has over 30 years of investment experience and began his career as a sell-side analyst, most recently with Robert W. Baird & Co (1997-2001) and McDonald & Company Securities, Inc. (1992-1997). Chris holds a B.A. in Economics from The Ohio State University.
Chris was previously a Senior Analyst and Partner at Schneider Capital Management (1999-2015). While at Schneider, he conducted in-depth, fundamental research on small and mid cap value companies across a broad range of sectors including industrial, machinery, autos, food & beverage, metal & mining, commodities and trucking.
Chris earned an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and graduated with Honors from Boston College with a B.S. in Economics.
Joe has 15 years of relationship building experience in the investment industry. He began his career at Vanguard (2003-2011) in an accelerated leadership program.
Subsequently, he worked at Turner Investments (2011-2013) and Chartwell Investments (2013-2018) where he developed relationships with institutional clients, consultants and third-party distribution platforms.
He earned his MBA at Villanova and graduated from Bloomsburg University with a B.S. in Marketing.
With over 25 years of institutional client service experience Tim was previously Head of Investor Relations at MidOcean Partners (2021-2023) and was responsible for overseeing the firm’s private equity and credit marketing activities. Prior to MidOcean, Tim was the Head of Marketing at Contrarian Capital (2009-2021), Director of Marketing at JD Capital (2007-2009) and was a Principal at Vanguard where he spent 11 years serving in a number of institutional marketing and business leadership roles.
Tim earned a B.A. in Economics from Ursinus College and is a CFA® charterholder.
She previously served as Chief Compliance Officer for NADART, the financial services division of NADA, a plan administrator for over $3.3 billion in retirement assets.
Ms. Kelly was Chief Compliance Officer for Cardinal Wealth Management Group which included the trust division, registered investment adviser and oversight of the broker–dealer compliance effort. She was a founding principal and Chief Operating Officer for Columbia Partners Investment Management and was involved in all aspects of starting up the compliance, financial, trade and hedge fund operations for the company.
Ms. Kelly has implemented and administered several compliance programs for both SEC and state registered investment advisers and has managed several regulatory examinations. She has over 20 years of experience in the investment management industry and is a graduate of Villanova University.