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.
Dave Rudd is a 20-year veteran of institutional fixed income sales and trading, and one of the visionaries behind 280 CapMarkets. Driven by a belief that dealers should compete for advisors’ business, and that technology should play an integral part of that process, he set out to develop a new firm with a new perspective; a conflict-free model centered around Best Execution. Prior to 280, Mr. Rudd was Director of Fixed Income Capital Markets and a top producer at RW Baird in San Francisco. Previous roles include Institutional Sales at RBC Capital Markets, Piper Jaffray, and Fidelity Capital Markets. He is a native of Silicon Valley and a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in Economics.
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 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.
Laura Elliott helped co-found Incapital in 1999. As Co-Head of the Fixed Income division, she specializes in business development and relationships with Incapital’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. 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.
Steve Giles oversees information technology infrastructure, application development and business analytics.
Prior to joining InspereX, he spent 21 years at Manulife Financial and its U.S. division, John Hancock. While there, he held a variety of operations management positions, including most recently, Vice President of General Account Investment Operations. His experience includes mutual funds, variable annuities, fund administration and investment operations.
Mr. Giles earned a BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University and an MSF from Boston College. He is an active participant in the Northeastern University community, where he previously served on the Board of Visitors for the Business School and the MBA Finance Career Track Advisory Committee and as a judge at the University’s annual international business case competition. He holds Series 7 and 24 licenses.
Hugh McHaffie leads InspereX’s development and distribution of market-linked products through its expanding presence in the financial advisor, banking, and broker-dealer communities.
Hugh is a veteran of the wealth management industry, previously having served as President of John Hancock Wealth Management, a division that offers mutual funds, retirement savings products and annuities. In addition, he oversaw John Hancock’s Investment Management Services and served as President of the John Hancock Trust and John Hancock Funds II mutual fund complexes. Prior, he was Senior Vice President, Individual Business Product Management for MetLife and served as Chairman of the Metropolitan Series Fund. A graduate of the University of Toronto with a BA in economics, Hugh is formerly a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and past member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
George Holstead is Co-Head of InspereX’s Fixed Income division, encompassing all fixed income trading, dealer and institutional sales, and the capital markets practice, including debt and equity syndicate businesses, and the firm’s industry-leading InterNotes program, offering individual investors access to new issue corporate debt offerings.
Mr. Holstead joined InspereX in 2019, bringing more than two decades of sales experience coupled with a track record of establishing and expanding highly successful fixed income divisions for large regional broker-dealers such as Raymond James and Sterne Agee. Prior to InspereX, he was a managing director at Brean Capital, where he was responsible for the build-out of the Middle Market and Financial Institutions Group.
A graduate of Texas Wesleyan University, Mr. Holstead holds FINRA Series 7, 9, 10 and 63 licenses
Prescott Nasser has over 15 years of technology experience, building financial services software and teams. He is a VP at the Apache Software Foundation. Mr. Nasser was previously VP of Engineering at Vouch Financial and Director of Engineering at Prosper Marketplace.
Prescott graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Cognitive Science and an emphasis on artificial intelligence. In addition, he studied Graduate Economics at Stanford University.
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.