Baird Equity Asset Management Investment Teams
Baird Equity Asset Management comprises focused teams of investment managers and analysts who have worked together for decades, honing their strategies across different market environments while developing unique, long-term perspectives within their investment styles. And all of our vital client relationships are supported by dedicated, knowledgeable service professionals.
Our growth team has established a strong track record leveraging specialized market knowledge, a consistent management approach and an average of 20 years' investment experience. Chuck Severson, Senior Portfolio Manager on the Mid Cap Growth Strategy, was a founding member of the strategy more than 20 years ago. The team has spent significant time together at Baird and in the sectors they cover, with many of them having covered their sector for their entire career.
The team focuses on high-quality, traditional growth companies and has a strong emphasis on risk control and a long-term perspective. The primary investment goal is to provide consistent, superior-to-market returns at a risk posture less than that of the market. The team looks for companies that have better growth prospects and capital structures than peers. The hallmark of the disciplined approach is to maintain a long-term perspective while investing in established companies with proven management.
Products Managed:
- Baird Mid Cap Growth Strategy
- Baird Mid Cap Fund
- Baird Small/Mid Cap Growth Strategy
- Baird Small/Mid Cap Growth Fund

Chuck Severson, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Kenneth Hemauer, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Jonathan Good, MBA
Portfolio Manager
Director

Douglas Guffy, MBA
Senior Research Analyst
Director

Corbin Weyer, CFA, CPA
Senior Research Analyst
Senior Vice President

Karan Saberwal, MBA
Research Analyst
Vice President

Todd Haschker
Consultant Relations and Portfolio Specialist
Managing Director

Chuck Severson, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Chuck joined Baird in 1987 and has 32 years of investment experience. He has been a Senior Portfolio Manager on Baird’s Mid Cap Growth strategy since its inception in 1993. Chuck earned a Master of Science Degree in Finance in 1987 and BBA degree in 1982 from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he was a member of the Applied Security Analysis Program. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1991.

Kenneth Hemauer, CFA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Ken joined Baird in 1994 and has 25 years of investment experience. He is a Co-Portfolio Manager for Baird's Mid Cap Growth strategy and a Senior Research Analyst covering financial services for the growth strategies. Prior to joining Baird Equity Asset Management, he spent seven years in Baird's sell-side Equity Research Department as a Senior Analyst leading the coverage of financial institutions. Ken has both a BBA and Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was a member of the Applied Security Analysis Program. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995.

Douglas Guffy, MBA
Senior Research Analyst
Director
Doug joined Baird in 2004 and has 35 years of investment experience. He currently serves as a Senior Research Analyst for the growth strategies covering energy, industrials and materials. Before joining Baird Equity Asset Management, he spent over 9 years as an analyst and portfolio manager with American Express Financial Corp. in Minneapolis. Prior to that, he was an equity analyst for Banc One Investment Advisors in Columbus, OH. Doug earned his BA in Economics and Government from Anderson University and his MBA from Ball State University.

Jonathan Good, MBA
Portfolio Manager
Director
Jonathan joined Baird in 2006 and has 18 years of investment experience. He is currently the Portfolio Manager for the Small/Mid Cap Growth strategy and a Senior Research Analyst covering healthcare for the growth strategies. Before joining Baird Equity Asset Management, Jonathan worked at Gartmore Global Investments as an equity analyst for their Global Health Sciences Fund. Prior to joining Gartmore, he spent five years at William Blair & Company as an equity research associate covering Biotech, Lifesciences, Diagnostics and Orthopedics. Jonathan earned a degree in Applied and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania, and earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Corbin Weyer, CFA, CPA
Senior Research Analyst
Senior Vice President
Corbin joined Baird in 2010 and has eight years of investment experience. He joined Baird Equity Asset Management in 2014 and is a Senior Research Analyst for the growth strategies covering consumer discretionary and staples. Prior to joining Baird Equity Asset Management, he spent four years with Baird in the equity research department covering the consumer sector. Corbin received a BSBA in Accounting and Finance from Marquette University.

Karan Saberwal, MBA
Research Analyst
Vice President
Karan joined Baird in 2019 as a Research Analyst covering the technology sector. Prior to joining Baird, Karan worked for three years as a global equities investor at Manning & Napier where his research investment experience included technology and healthcare. Prior to Manning & Napier, Karan worked for eight years at Discover Financial Services and six years in Management Consulting at Ernst & Young & others as a Senior Consultant. Karan is a graduate of the Army Institute of Technology, University of Pune (Pune, India) with a Bachelor of Engineering degree, majoring in Electronics and Telecommunication. He received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Todd Haschker
Consultant Relations and Portfolio Specialist
Managing Director
Todd has more than 23 years of investment experience and currently serves as Consultant Relations and Portfolio Specialist. Before joining Baird, he worked at Heartland Advisors, overseeing the relationships within the investment consultant community. Todd graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993, earning a bachelor's degree in economics.
Our value strategies are managed by a team with an average of 22 years of investment experience, much of that working together. Michelle Stevens has managed the value strategies since their inception more than ten years ago.
Our Value investment philosophy is based on the belief that high-quality companies can increase in strength and value over time. The investment process consists of detailed, bottom-up research to find companies with durable, sustainable prospects such as barriers to entry, pricing power and demonstrated products and services. We seek companies with the fundamental characteristics of growth at below-premium prices. Our portfolios include companies with the potential to exceed "street" expectations yet trade at a discount to our in-house calculations.
- Baird Small Cap Value Equity Strategy
- Baird Small/Mid Cap Value Equity Strategy
- Baird SmallCap Value Fund
- Baird Small/Mid Cap Value Fund

Michelle Stevens, CFA, MBA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Jonathan DeMoss, CFA, CPA, CFP®
Investment Analyst
Senior Vice President

Richard Roesch, CFA
Investment Analyst
Senior Vice President

Rob Zwiebel
Consultant Relations and Portfolio Specialist
Director

Michelle Stevens, CFA, MBA
Senior Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Michelle has 25 years of investment industry experience, having managed mutual funds and subadvised funds and institutional separate accounts in the Small, Small/Mid (SMID) and All Cap Value Equity disciplines. She holds an MBA from the University of Cincinnati and received her bachelor's degree in economics from Wittenberg University. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Jonathan DeMoss, CFA, CPA, CFP®
Investment Analyst
Senior Vice President
Jonathan has 22 years of investment industry experience and holds both an MBA from Indiana University and a bachelor's degree in accounting/management from Iowa State University. He is a member of the Cincinnati Society of Financial Analysts and has earned both the Chartered Financial Analyst and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification. Jonathan is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Richard Roesch, CFA
Investment Analyst
Senior Vice President
Rich has 25 years of investment industry experience and holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Butler University. He is a member of the Dayton Society of Financial Analysts and has earned his Certified Financial Analyst designation.

Rob Zwiebel
Consultant Relations and Portfolio Specialist
Director
Rob has 27 years of investment sales, marketing and client service experience, having been responsible for retail and institutional business development for both wirehouse and regional broker-dealer national accounts. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Dayton.
Chautauqua Capital Management, a division of Baird, specializes in managing international and global equity portfolios. The team is made up of industry veterans with an average of more than 20 years' experience.
Chautauqua’s structure and investment process are designed to generate superior risk-adjusted returns through stock selection skill. This approach emphasizes great, wealth-creating businesses that benefit from long-term trends, possess the sustainable competitive advantages to exploit those trends and can be purchased at reasonable valuations.
To capture the full benefit of stock selection skill, portfolios are invested for the long term, on a conviction-weighted basis, in a concentrated set of best-idea investments. Risks are managed through care in implementation – with an emphasis on quality, thoughtful diversification, awareness of relevant exogenous factors and the application of a forward-looking valuation discipline. We believe there is simply no better way to achieve long-term capital appreciation.
Products Managed:
- Chautauqua Global Growth Equity Strategy
- Chautauqua International Growth Equity Strategy
- Chautauqua Global Growth Fund
- Chautauqua International Growth Fund

Brian Beitner, CFA
Managing Partner

Jesse Flores, CFA
Partner

Haicheng Li, CFA
Partner

David Lubchenco
Partner

Nathaniel Velarde
Partner

Nathan Lee
Trading and Portfolio Analyst

Erika Mobley
Client Services Specialist

Brian Beitner, CFA
Managing Partner
Brian is managing partner of Chautauqua Capital Management and lead portfolio manager for Chautauqua’s strategies. Prior to forming Chautauqua in January 2009, he was a member of the TCW Concentrated Core Equities portfolio management team. Brian joined TCW in 1998 where he held multiple positions including director of equity research, senior equity strategist and portfolio manager for international and global equity portfolios. Prior to working at TCW, he worked with Scudder, Stevens & Clark; Bear, Stearns & Co.; and Security Pacific Bank. Brian earned a bachelor's degree in public affairs and an MBA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Jesse Flores, CFA
Partner
Jesse is partner of Chautauqua Capital Management and serves as portfolio manager on Chautauqua strategies. Prior to joining Chautauqua in 2013, he was an investment analyst at Blavin & Company where he was a generalist responsible for both equity and high-yield debt securities. Additionally, he covered U.S. semiconductors and hardware as a research analyst at Lehman Brothers and Roth Capital Partners. Jesse has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University (McMullen Dean’s Scholar, Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar) and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Haicheng Li, CFA
Partner
Haicheng is partner of Chautauqua Capital Management and serves as co-lead portfolio manager for Chautauqua’s strategies. Prior to joining Chautauqua in 2016, she was a senior analyst and portfolio manager at TCW with specific expertise in healthcare. Haicheng earned an MBA from Stanford, a master's degree in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a master's degree in medical sciences from Harvard Medical School, where she was a research fellow. She graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University and was awarded a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa key for academic achievement.

David Lubchenco
Partner
David is partner of Chautauqua Capital Management and a member of the investment team, contributing on portfolio construction, market analysis and communications for Chautauqua’s strategies. Prior to returning to Chautauqua in 2016, he was an executive vice president at Marsico Capital Management and executive vice president of Scout Investments where he worked in a management, product development and communications capacity. He was also a principal and managing director at Transamerica Investment Management, where he helped develop a strategy similar to that of Chautauqua. David earned a bachelor's degree in economics from The Colorado College and an MBA from the Daniels School of Business at The University of Denver.

Nathaniel Velarde
Partner
Nate is partner of Chautauqua Capital Management and serves as portfolio manager on Chautauqua strategies. Prior to joining Chautauqua in 2019, he was senior financial analyst at j2 Cloud Services and senior vice president, global equity analyst at PIMCO, London. At Nuveen Investments, Nate worked in the Tradewinds Global Investors and NWQ Investment Management divisions as managing director, senior equity analyst and director of research. He also served as vice president, equity analyst at TCW primarily covering industrials, business services and basic materials. Nate earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA with concentrations in finance and strategic management from the University of Chicago, and a Master’s of Information and Data Science from the University of California – Berkeley.

Nathan Lee
Trading and Portfolio Analyst
Prior to joining Chautauqua Capital Management in March 2013, Nathan Lee was an IT systems analyst at European Investors, Inc. in New York, where he was responsible for IT support for 50 employees globally and both virtual and physical server support. He has extensive experience with Advent APX and trade order management systems and wrote visual basic scripts to automate interdepartmental data for portfolio management, operations, compliance, trading and accounting systems. Nathan was also responsible for portfolio administration for both international and domestic funds and executed the daily reconciliation process. Prior to working at European Investors, he worked for Forex Capital Markets providing technical support to a global foreign exchange desk. Nathan has a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in information systems from Colorado State University.

Erika Mobley
Client Services Specialist
Prior to joining Chautauqua Capital Management in 2019, Erika Mobley was senior marketing production manager at Scout Investments, where she was responsible for managing and coordinating the development and production process for print and online marketing collateral. Erika was also a senior proposal writer at Janus Capital Group and began her investment career at Transamerica Investment Management, where she served as a marketing production manager, portfolio reporting analyst and lead client services representative. Erika has a bachelor's degree in business administration and more than 18 years’ experience in the investment industry.
Baird's Specialized Asset Management (SAM) team provides customized, comprehensive equity portfolios for high-net-worth investors.
Portfolios combine high-quality companies with complementary asset classes using mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Our easy-to-understand solutions are customizable, tax-efficient and designed to weather tough markets.
Products Managed:

J. Randall McLaughlin, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Brenda Hutchinson, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Max Mann, CFA, CMT
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director

Maggie Savage, CFA
Research Analyst
Vice President

J. Randall McLaughlin, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Randy, the chief architect of Specialized Asset Management, has 27 years of investment experience and has been with Baird’s Asset Management Group since 1996. He manages portfolios for institutional and high-net-worth clients. Randy graduated in 1989 from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a BA in economics and in 1999, earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Brenda Hutchinson, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Brenda has 30 years of investment experience and has been with Baird’s Asset Management Group since 1989. She is a portfolio manager serving institutional and high net worth clients. In addition to her investment tenure, she has extensive experience in compliance and operations. She graduated in 1989 from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee earning a BBA in finance summa cum laude, and in 1998, she earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Max Mann, CFA, CMT
Portfolio Manager
Managing Director
Max has 11 years of investment experience and has been with Baird’s Asset Management group since 2016. He manages portfolios for institutional and high-net-worth clients. Before joining Baird Equity Asset Management, Max spent seven years in Baird’s Institutional Equities and Research department. He graduated in 2008 from Northwestern University with a BA in economics and was a member of the varsity baseball team. In 2012, Max earned the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Market Technician designations.

Maggie Savage, CFA
Research Analyst
Vice President
Maggie has 10 years of investment experience and has been with Baird’s Asset Management group since 2018. She is a research analyst. Before joining Baird Equity Asset Management, Maggie spent six years in Baird’s Institutional Equities and Research department and three years in Baird’s Asset Manager Research group. Maggie graduated in 2009 from Marquette University with a BS in finance and in 2011, earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.