Our Team

Mendel Fygenson, PhD | Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Dr. Fygenson holds a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan and a M.A. in Statistics from SUNY Buffalo. He earned his B.S. summa cum laude in Statistics and B.A. summa cum laude in Philosophy from Haifa University, Israel. Dr. Fygenson is a Data Scientist specializing in advanced analytical methods and complex datasets. He has more than 25 years of experience creating targeting/trading strategies, predictive models, and data structure algorithms for the digital media and investment industries. From 1996 through 2019, Professor Fygenson was a tenured faculty in the department of Data Sciences and Operations at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He currently holds an emeritus position at University of Southern California. Dr. Fygenson’s research has been published in leading scientific journals; he has given numerous invited talks around the world and has served multiple times as an expert panelist for the National Science Foundation in the Mathematics and the Social Sciences divisions. E-mail: fm@vericimetry.com

Christopher H. Thomas | Chief Compliance Officer

Mr. Thomas has over thirty years of hands-on experience in compliance, accounting, finance and operations, including government regulation. He has served as an executive officer of regulated investment companies, an investment advisor and a regulated broker-dealer. His roles included Chief Compliance Officer, Assistant Treasurer, and Controller. Mr. Thomas served as Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer of Los Angeles based First Pacific Advisors, LLC. During his tenure, Mr. Thomas developed the compliance program from inception over a ten year period, implementing the policies and procedures, as well as reviewing staff performance. He reported recommendations directly to senior management and in executive session to the independent trustees of the investment companies. He began his compliance career gaining valuable experience as an examiner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. When he left the SEC for the private sector, he was one of a very few examiners in the country that had performed exams of broker-dealers, transfer agents, investment advisors, investment companies, and the NASD. Mr. Thomas also met his CPA experience requirement through presentation of SEC examination work-papers. Mr. Thomas received his BS in Business from California State University, Los Angeles.

Mendel Fygenson, PhD | Chief Investment Officer & Senior Portfolio Manager

Dr. Fygenson holds a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan and a M.A. in Statistics from SUNY Buffalo. He earned his B.S. summa cum laude in Statistics and B.A. summa cum laude in Philosophy from Haifa University, Israel. Dr. Fygenson is a Data Scientist specializing in advanced analytical methods and complex datasets. He has more than 25 years of experience creating targeting/trading strategies, predictive models and data structure algorithms for the digital media and investment industries. Since 1996 he has been a tenured faculty in the department of Data Sciences and Operations at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Dr. Fygenson’s research has been published in leading scientific journals; he has given numerous invited talks around the world and has served multiple times as an expert panelist for the National Science Foundation in the Mathematics and the Social Sciences divisions. E-mail: fm@vericimetry.com

Carl Plat, PhD | Portfolio Manager

Dr. Plat is an investment portfolio specialist with 25 combined years of brokerage, banking, and academic experience. He has worked extensively with investment strategies as a portfolio manager for large bank portfolios across various asset classes, and has served as a fixed income and credit trader. He holds a Ph.D. in International Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an MBA from the Olin School at Washington University in St. Louis, and a BS in Earth Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz. HIs academic research has focused on informational economics related to asset valuation and on market trading strategies.

Corey S. Berman | Investment Analyst, Portfolio Manager Associate & Trader

Mr. Berman holds a BA in Economics from Rollins College. He has been an Investment Analyst at Vericimetry Advisors, LLC since 2012. In 2015, Mr. Berman also assume the role of Trader and Portfolio Management Associate. Mr. Berman is proficient with Bloomberg terminal, excellent with Excel and can perform many office functions with terrifying efficiency.

Alan Y. Wang | Data Scientist, Automation Techonology Specialist & Trader

Mr. Wang holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Ph.D. candidate/ABD (JUNE 2008) in Artificial Intelligence and Computable Economics from the Department of Computer Science, UCLA. By early 2017, Mr. Wang is expected to receive a Master’s degree in Information and Data Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Wang is a seasoned professional Software Engineer with more than 25 years of industry experience. In the last decade his main focus has been in the field of Data Science and Technologies. He was the VP of Engineering, Data Analytics of emReal Corp., an company in Augmented Realty technologies, and the Chief Architect & VP Engineering of Payease Corp., an online payment company. From 2006 through 2011, he was the Director of Engineering of Specific Media Inc. reporting directly to the company’s Chief Strategist. Since January 2015, he has been a Data Scientist and Automation Technology Specialty at Vericimetry Advisors, LLC.

Michael R. Thill, CPA | Fund Treasurer

Mr. Thill has served as a Lead Administrator and Officer at UMB Fund Services, Inc. (“UMB”) since 2007. He serves as Treasurer of the Vericimetry Funds under the Trust’s administration agreement with UMB. He began his career with UMB in 2000.

Mr. Thill has extensive knowledge and experience in accounting, financial matters, reporting requirements, and operations of open end mutual funds, closed end mutual funds, and ETFs. He oversees the administration efforts for various UMB clients and a team of administrators. He regularly assists in the training and development of staff at UMB and advises clients and boards on various matters.

Mr. Thill is a certified public accountant (CPA) and holds a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Brian K. Wing, CPA | Independent Trustee

Brian Wing is the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Ryan LLC, an award-winning global tax services firm, with the largest indirect and property tax practices in North America and the seventh largest corporate tax practice in the United States. With global headquarters in Dallas, Texas, the Firm provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, tax compliance, and strategic planning. He leads a global team of Finance professionals and is responsible for financial tax reporting and planning, banking and risk management, and internal operational reporting for the Firm.

He has more than 20 years of finance, operations, technology, and acquisition experience in public accounting and private industry, including startups and multi-billion-dollar corporations. He served as Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer for the fourth largest wholesale electrical distributor in the United States—a Forbes 100 Private Corporation—where he managed the entire accounting, finance, internal audit, legal, technology, tax, process, and credit functions for the organization. Before that, he served in leadership roles at a leading toy company and as a partner at a Big Four accounting firm.

Mr. Wing is a certified public accountant (CPA) and holds Master of Business Taxation and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics/Applied Science from the University of California, Los Angeles

Chad Lasdon | Independent Trustee

Mr. Lasdon is a commercial banker and real estate investment advisor. He has more than 13 years of professional experience acquiring, disposing, financing, and structuring real estate transactions throughout the United States. Mr. Lasdon has been involved in more than $2 billion of real estate deals involving office, industrial, retail, hospitality, and multi-family product. In his most recent role, Mr. Lasdon served as Vice President with Bank of the West’s Real Estate Industries Division. Previously, Mr. Lasdon spent 11 years with Los Angeles based BentleyForbes, a privately-held real estate investment company. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University where he majored in Real Estate, Marketing, and Management and Organizations. He also graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business where he majored in Corporate Finance.

Paul Karapetian | Independent Trustee

Mr. Karapetian is a seasoned real estate executive specializing in all aspect of corporate real estate services. In the last decade, he as been with IDS Real Estate Group serving as the firm Senior Vice President and head of Corporate Services Division. IDS Real Estate Group is a nationwide corporate real estate services firm providing acquisition, tenant representation, facilities management, construction management, lease administration, disposition services and retail sales forecasting for corporate clients across the USA. Mr. Karapetian earned his B.S. from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business where he majored in Finance and Entrepreneurial studies. Mr. Karapetian is also a licensed real estate broker.