Meet our executive leadership team
A. Brad Busscher
Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel
Brad Busscher is Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of InspereX and is responsible for overseeing the legal, compliance and technology departments. He is also a member of the InspereX Executive Committee.
Prior to joining InspereX in 2009, Mr. Busscher served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Mesirow Financial, where he was a member of the Executive Committee, supported a diverse group of operating entities engaged in brokerage, asset management, insurance, private equity and hedge fund of funds activities and participated in several material acquisitions by the firm. Before that, he held senior level positions at Van Kampen Investments – a unit of Morgan Stanley, and Kemper Securities / EVEREN Securities, Inc. / First Union Corporation (n/k/a Wells Fargo Advisors). He also served as a Branch Chief of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and began his career in private practice in Miami, Florida.
Mr. Busscher holds a BA from Cornell University, a JD from the University of Miami and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. He recently completed his term as a Director of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, published a chapter in a securities treatise (“Corporate Transactions: The Role of Compliance”), and is a frequent speaker on securities regulatory issues.
Christine Carrels
Chief Marketing Officer
Christine Carrels is the lead champion and guardian of the InspereX brand, having orchestrated its launch in 2021. She oversees the firm’s digital-first approach to building the firm’s reputation, engaging clients, and educating investors.
She is a veteran of creating, managing, and analyzing content to help build relationships for organizations ranging from start-ups to non-profits to the Fortune 500. Before joining InspereX in 2016, she was the director of marketing for a regional bank in Illinois for eight years, partnering with executive management to grow the bank’s market share.
Ms. Carrels graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois and was the lead writer and researcher for a published photo history of the university. She volunteers frequently for charitable causes and is a past president of Illinois Women in Leadership.
Aditi Deeg
Chief Financial Officer
Aditi Deeg is an experienced strategist who leads all of InspereX’s financial matters, including accounting, financial planning & analysis, regulatory financial reporting, as well as oversight of risk management.
She brings over 20 years of public and private sector experience with a proven track record in scaling businesses. Prior to joining InspereX, Ms. Deeg was the Chief Financial and Operations Officer of charity: water, a global nonprofit organization, where she was responsible for overseeing all financial strategy and scaling operations. Previously, Ms. Deeg spent over a decade in the financial and tech sector, holding the position of Chief Financial Officer at pingmd, a digital healthcare solutions company, and Kingstown Capital, a high growth value hedge fund. She also held various positions at Bear Stearns and Banc of America Securities.
Ms.Deeg currently sits on the Board of several nonprofit organizations. She holds a BA from University of Maine and an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business.
Laura Elliott
President, Partnerships & Engagement
Laura Elliott helped co-found InspereX’s predecessor firm Incapital in 1999. As President of Partnerships & Engagement, she specializes in business development and relationships with the firm’s top-tier clients.
Previously, Ms. Elliott worked at ABN AMRO as Syndicate Manager for the GMAC SmartNotes program, responsible for all dealer relationships. Prior to ABN AMRO, she was at Mesirow Financial for nine years, working consecutively in compliance, retail and institutional sales, and high-yield trading.
Ms. Elliott earned her BS in education from the University of Alabama and currently serves on the President’s Cabinet at the university. She has served as a member of the Bond Dealers of America board and the SIFMA Retail Fixed Income committee. She belongs to the Women’s Syndicate Association and the Security Traders Association of Chicago.
Marshall Nicholson
President, InspereX Technologies
Marshall Nicholson has primary responsibility for guiding InspereX’s technology strategy and extending our partnerships. He is an experienced executive with more than 20 years in fixed income technology.
Most recently, Mr. Nicholson served as a senior advisor at SumRidge Partners, a technology-driven fixed income market maker specializing in corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and institutional preferred securities. Previous to that, he was President of ICE Bonds at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). He has also held executive leadership roles at Millennium Advisors, Knight BondPoint, and ValuBond. He started his career in sales at Scudder Investments & Thompson Financial.
Mr. Nicholson earned his MBA from the University of Georgia and his BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Deryk Rhodes
Head of Market-Linked Products
Deryk Rhodes is responsible for the origination and trading of market-linked products (MLPs), maintaining issuer relationships, and overseeing MLP sales to dealers, institutional investors, and non-wholesaled financial advisors. Prior to joining InspereX in 2010, he was with Newbridge Securities as Head of Structured Products Trading. His experience also includes serving as a Director at Citigroup, focusing on market-linked product sales to third-party dealers and institutional accounts, and as a Vice President within the market-linked products structuring and trading group at Nomura Securities. Deryk has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is regularly quoted in investment journals.
John Tolar
Head of Fixed Income Sales & Trading
Adept at driving growth in his 20 years of leadership at the firm, John Tolar oversees InspereX’s Fixed Income Trading, Dealer Sales, and Institutional Sales teams, including all efforts in delivering diverse fixed-income investment solutions to broker-dealers, institutional investors, registered investment advisors, and banks. Previously, Mr. Tolar held sales roles at Countrywide Securities and FTN Financial and worked as a Portfolio Manager for SunTrust Bank. He earned a BS in business from Florida State University and holds Series 7, 24, 53 and 63 licenses.
Sara Wehmeyer
Chief People Officer
Sara Wehmeyer leads InspereX’s efforts to attract, recognize, reward and develop best-in-class talent in order to drive organizational effectiveness and productivity.
An experienced executive with direct experience in all aspects of human resources, Ms. Wehmeyer previously held a variety of roles focused on human capital within the wealth management industry. She spent 16 years at UBS Wealth Management Americas, most recently serving as Head of Talent and Development, where she partnered with the business on accelerating the firm’s wealth management transformation efforts via high-quality training, structured talent management processes and leadership bench development. She previously held a number of leadership roles including Senior HR Business Partner, Head of Compensation Strategy & Consultation, and Head of Next Gen Programs and Campus Recruiting, as well as roles in both fixed income and equity sales.
Ms. Wehmeyer graduated summa cum laude from the Pennsylvania State University and is a frequent speaker on human capital issues.
Nick Whiteley
Head of Business Development & Strategy, InspereX Technologies
Nicholas Whiteley is responsible for driving the growth strategy and partnership initiatives for InspereX’s technology division, including leading enterprise sales efforts and electronic fixed income sales and trading teams.
Prior to joining InspereX, Mr. Whiteley spent a number of years at Credit Suisse, leading US Broker-Dealer and RIA distribution for cross-asset structured derivatives linked to equities, rates and credit. Prior to that, he led equity-linked structured products trading for Incapital and held various roles within a boutique fixed income money manager in London.
Mr. Whiteley earned his Law degree from King’s College London and, prior to his career in finance, qualified to practice as a barrister in the jurisdiction of England and Wales.
Board of Directors
Tom Ricketts
Co-Founder Incapital,
Chairman of InspereX
Tom Ricketts is the executive chairman of the Chicago Cubs, and the founder and chairman of securities underwriting, distribution, and trading fintech InspereX.
Tom founded in Incapital, later renamed InspereX, in 1999 and was the CEO of the firm through 2009. During that period, Tom was named to Institutional Investor Magazine’s “40 Most Influential in E-Finance” five times and was the 2010 E&Y Midwest Entrepreneur of the Year in Financial Services.
In 2009, Tom led his family’s bid for the Chicago Cubs. In 2016, the organization won its first World Series title in 108 years, snapping the longest championship drought in North American major sports history. Among many recognitions, Tom was named the Sports Business Journal Executive of the Year in 2017.
Tom also led the family’s $1 billion private financing of the restoration of Wrigley Field and development of adjacent properties now known as Gallagher Way and the Hotel Zachary. Tom received the Urban Land Institute Lifetime Achievement Award for the project. He is the chairman of Marquee Development, which is working on similar projects around other sports facilities.
Tom has an AB in economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago. He won the Business School’s Distinguished Young Alumnus Award in 2005. He and his wife, Cecelia, a physician, met at Wrigley Field. They live in the Chicago area and have five children.
Gurinder Ahluwalia
Vice Chairman, InspereX
Mr. Ahluwalia is Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of Directors of InspereX Holdings and an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee Partners. He brings over twenty-five years of operating and financial services experience with a proven track record of building, fixing and growing businesses, most recently in wealth management. Mr. Ahluwalia has provided strong leadership in a number of different roles including COO, CEO and President, and Chief Risk Officer. Mr. Ahluwalia is currently a director of Hightower Advisors and was a co-founder of 280 CapMarkets.
Previously, Mr. Ahluwalia was an advisor and COO at Ovo Cosmico, Inc., a VC-backed start-up with a mission of making credit affordable and accessible everywhere. He was also president and CEO of AssetMark, Inc., where he focused the company’s strategy on growth through advisor engagement, improved execution, and product and service innovations. As President and CEO of GE Private Asset Management and Genworth Wealth Management, he transformed the unit from a boutique business to one with industry-leading profitability. He previously served as a Senior Vice President at GE Insurance and Chief Risk Officer at GE Edison Life Insurance.
Mr. Ahluwalia holds an M.S. cum laude from New Jersey Institute of Technology, a B.S. of Computer Science from New York University College of Arts and Sciences, and a B.E. of Electrical Engineering from Cooper Union.
Since 2011, Mr. Ahluwalia has served as the President of the board of Ensaaf, whose mission is to fight crimes against humanity in India, with a special focus on Punjab, by documenting abuses, bringing perpetrators to justice, and organizing survivors.
John Amboian
Director, Former Chairman
and CEO of Nuveen Investments
John Amboian is the retired Chairman and CEO of Nuveen Investments, a position he held from 2007 through 2016. Prior to this, he served as Nuveen’s President from 1999 to 2007, after joining Nuveen in 1995 as its Chief Financial Officer. He previously served on the Nuveen Mutual Funds board from 2007 through 2015 and the public-company board of Nuveen Investments from 1995 through 2007. Prior to joining Nuveen, Mr. Amboian was Senior Vice President of Finance, Strategy & Technology at Miller Brewing. He began his career in corporate and international finance at Kraft Foods.
Mr. Amboian is the lead independent director of Danimer Scientific, a publicly-traded leader in biodegradable plastic polymers. He also is a board member of publicly traded special-purpose acquisition companies sponsored by Live Oak Merchant Partners. He is an independent director of Adams Street Partners, a leading private-markets investment firm and an industry advisor to private-equity manager Madison Dearborn Partners. Mr. Amboian also is a senior advisor to Estancia Capital, a small/middle market private equity firm with a focus on financial services and is chairman of North Square Investments, a multi-boutique asset management firm in Chicago. He is chairman of Evanston Capital Management, a hedge fund alternative-investment manager and serves on the board of InspereX LLC, a FinTech fixed-income underwriter and distributor. Mr. Amboian also is on the board of Cresset Capital, a high-net-worth wealth management firm.
Mr. Amboian received both a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is on the board of Lurie Children’s Hospital and its investment committee. He chairs the board of the North Shore Country Day School Foundation. He also serves on boards of other not-for-profit organizations.
John D. DesPrez III
Director, CEO InspereX
John D. DesPrez III, a prominent executive in the financial services industry, was appointed InspereX’s Chief Executive Officer in January 2015. Mr. DesPrez previously served as CEO of John Hancock Financial Services and as Chief Operating Officer of Manulife Financial Corp., one of the largest diversified insurance groups in the world.
Mr. DesPrez oversaw the U.S. operations of Manulife for 10 years, during which time the company purchased John Hancock. As CEO and President of John Hancock Financial Services, Mr. DesPrez oversaw a broad-based financial services operation with multiple business lines, including annuities, mutual funds, group pensions, college savings plans, structured financial products, managed accounts, and life and long-term care insurance. In addition to Manulife’s U.S. operations, Mr. DesPrez was later also given responsibility for Canada and Asia, and then became COO with oversight of all the firm’s operating businesses around the globe.
A native of Cleveland, Mr. DesPrez majored in economics at Harvard College and graduated from law school at Georgetown University. He previously served on the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute and the Board of Directors of the American Council of Life Insurance, both in Washington, D.C. Mr. DesPrez continues to serve as an honorary trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Mr. DesPrez also serves on the boards of Halstatt, LLC, a Collier family holding company, Haversine Funding, LLC, a non-bank lender, and of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
Damien Dwin
Director, Founder and CEO, Lafayette Square
Damien Dwin is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lafayette Square, a commercially scaled investment platform built for and enhanced by a commitment to impact. Founded in November 2020, Lafayette Square deploys long-term capital alongside impactful services to local communities across the U.S. through its credit, real estate, and renewables divisions. The firm seeks to make positive social and economic impact in underserved communities. By increasing access to economic opportunity, we can build a more inclusive American economy.
Previously, Damien served as Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Brightwood Capital Advisors from its founding in 2010 to October 2020.
Damien began his career as a trader with Goldman Sachs, New York & London, there earning the Michael P. Mortara Award for Innovation. He then further developed his investment expertise working for Credit Suisse, where he was the Co-Founder and Head of the North American Special Opportunities business until 2010. At Credit Suisse, Damien also served on the Vice President Selection Committee and led the Fixed Income Division Credit Training Program.
He is an active thought leader on mass incarceration, economic inclusion, racial justice and representation, and the use of purpose and profit for good. He has written for Entrepreneur and Inc.com.
A committed philanthropist, Damien currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Vera Institute of Justice. He also serves on the non-profit boards of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Studio Museum in Harlem, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Woodberry Forest School, and Boys’ Club of New York.
Damien received a B.S./B.A. from Georgetown University where he later served two terms on the Board of Regents.
Kelly Herrell
Director, CEO Hazelcast
Kelly Herrell has a thirty-year career span in high tech industries. After earning his MBA at Cornell, he started in Product Management with large companies such as AT&T and Oracle, which landed him in Silicon Valley in 1995. From there, he quickly pivoted to software startups where he rapidly grew responsibilities to become CEO. Of the first four consecutive startups, two went public and two were acquired. Now at his fifth young software company, Hazelcast, he is driving rapid growth across the world’s largest financial services and eCommerce customers worldwide.
Kelly has served as an advisor to multiple young companies earning successful exits and is a mentor and lecturer for the Digital Immersion program at Cornell’s graduate business school.
Amy Hong
Managing Director, Head of Market Structure & Strategic Partnerships, Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs Board Observer
Amy is head of Market Structure and Strategic Partnerships within FICC and Equities. She is responsible for leading strategic growth initiatives through partnerships, investments and acquisitions. Amy is a member of the Clearinghouse Risk Council, co-leads the Global Banking & Markets’ Women in Trading program and was previously co-head of the Global Markets Division Women’s Network and a founding GS Accelerate champion. Earlier in her career, she worked in Global Credit Trading. Amy joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division and was named managing director in 2017.
Amy serves on the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets Advisory Committee, the boards of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and ICE Clear Credit, and the risk committees of ICE Clear Credit and ICE Clear Europe on behalf of the firm. She also serves on the board of the TEAK Fellowship in New York City.
Amy earned a BA in Political Science and International Relations from Bucknell University and an MBA from Columbia University. She was awarded the George E. Doty Global Master’s Degree Fellowship.
Jim Kelligrew
Director, Vice Chairman and Head of Corporate & Commercial Banking (CCB), US Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp Experience
Jim is vice chair and head of Corporate & Commercial Banking (CCB) which serves middle market, large corporate and commercial real estate firms, as well as government and financial institutions.
Other Experience
Jim is a 34-year markets and banking industry veteran. Prior to joining U.S. Bancorp in 2009, he spent six years at Wells Fargo/Wachovia Securities (2003-2009) and ten years at Bank of America Securities (1993-2003). During this time, he managed various Capital Markets related groups. Jim started his career at Lehman Brothers in 1987, where he worked in New York (1987-1989) and London (1989-1993).
Education
Jim earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Michigan.
Professional Affiliations/Community Involvement
Jim is a community advocate and involved in several community organizations in Charlotte, NC. He is the founder Banking on Our Community, an annual event which has raised over $1 million for numerous charitable organizations in Charlotte. He is also a member of the Charlotte Father’s Day Council for the American Diabetes Association, is an advisory board member for Charlotte Bridge Home and the John Crosland School, and volunteers as a head coach for Charlotte Junior Girls Soccer.
Jim serves as co-executive sponsor for the Development Network at U.S. Bank. Previously, he served on the boards of SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), MarketAxess, Incapital, and the American Bankers Securities Association (“ABASA”)
Tom Vales
Director, Advisor Starkweather Management LLC
Fixed Income Market Advising, Starkweather Management LLC
Tom Vales began his advisory, Starkweather Management LLC, in 2021 to address market structure for fixed income management and trading. He is currently serving as an Independent Trustee for the Axonic Funds managed by Axonic Capital LLC.
Prior to starting his advising practice, Tom was the Chief Executive Officer for TMC Bonds (TMC, formerly TheMuniCenter), an electronic marketplace for trading fixed income which was acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange in July of 2018. Mr. Vales had started the ATS in May of 2000, with backing from industry leaders including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Assured Guaranty. He oversaw and managed the company to become a market leader for electronic bond trading with over 1000 firms participating on its live trading platform at the time it was sold.
While running TMC, he was an active participant in industry groups speaking at conferences and writing comment letters for regulatory initiatives. Mr. Vales served as a Member of the FINRA Fixed Income Steering Committee, Subject Matter Expert for the MSRB, and participant for the FIMSAC Municipal Market sub-committee.
Prior to starting TMC, Mr. Vales spent ten years with Bankers Trust where he was a Managing Director of the Relative Value Arbitrage Group and Senior Manager of the Tax-Advantaged Arbitrage desk. From 1989 to 1996, he worked as a Vice President at BT Securities in municipal trading, sales, and derivatives.
Mr. Vales graduated in 1986 from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He is an outdoor enthusiast, spending a great deal of his free time in the Adirondacks.
Rupa Vazirani
Director, Partner Payments, Netflix
Ms. Vazirani brings over twenty years of experience in financial technology. She most recently was the head of payments and strategic partnerships at Netflix for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to Netflix, Ms. Vazirani worked at Apple, where she was responsible for the development and launch of Apple Pay Cash and the conceptualization of the Apple Card. Ms. Vazirani has held several senior management positions at Visa in innovation, including building the company’s money transfer capabilities globally.
Ms. Vazirani previously led marketing for Calypso Technology, an early stage capital markets trading technology company where she oversaw marketing, sales operations, and partnerships for the company globally. She has also worked with financial services clients at the Boston Consulting Group and began her career at Citibank in the consumer technology group.
Ms. Vazirani holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.