The winners of the Volunteer of the Year awards by region have demonstrated exemplary results with their local society, the CFA Institute community, and beyond. Huge congratulations to these inspiring individuals for their standout achievements in developing future professionals, delivering member value, and building market integrity.
Volunteer of the Year: Americas
Thomas Brigandi, CFA, CFA Society New York
Over the last year, Thomas Brigandi, CFA, served as both chair and vice chair of the CFA Society New York board of directors, steering the local society through some of the greatest uncertainty it has faced in over a decade due to the pandemic. Tom also provided tireless volunteer efforts leading his team of hundreds of investment professional volunteers globally, generated new ideas, supported the global CFA Society community, and mentored future professionals from socio-economic groups underrepresented in the investment industry.
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Tom was quick to recognize that a lack of events due to the pandemic could hit the CFA Society community hard. He, therefore, moved the Asset Owner Series (AOS), which had been exclusively an in-person offering pre-COVID (totaling over 50 events across APAC, EMEA and the Americas), to the virtual ecosystem by creating the AOS Virtual Keynotes. The virtual events began on a weekly cycle and Tom made these available to the CFA Society network for free. This provided smaller societies, without the ability to pivot to webinars quickly, with fresh thought leading content they could share with their members on a regular basis. Tom’s volunteer team organized over 40 AOS Virtual Keynotes featuring C-Level asset owner representatives from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, pension funds, insurance companies, central bank reserve funds, investment consultant OCIOs and private banks. These events were attended via livestream by over 4,000 CFA Society New York members, in addition to many more via recording. Since 2015, the nearly 100 in-person and livestreamed AOS and AOS Virtual Keynote events combined have featured over 400 asset owner and investment consultant speakers from organizations with over 75 trillion USD in assets under management and advisory at their time of speaking. The Asset Owner Series Virtual Keynotes are co-hosted by CFA Society New York with the CAIA Association and CFA Institute.
In addition, Tom launched the Global Policymakers Series (GPS). The GPS features current and former policy makers, in addition to think tank fellows, discussing what to expect next in the regulatory, monetary and fiscal policy realms. His team organized the inaugural 4-day GPS Summit, which attracted over 1,800 virtual attendees and featured 50 influential current and former policy makers and think tank fellow speakers from organizations such as the European Commission, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Inter-American Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Brookings, European Central Bank, US National Economic Council, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Chatham House, the People’s Republic of China and the Former Prime Minister of Australia, Hon. Kevin Rudd, among others. CFA Institute and the Foreign Policy Association co-host the Global Policymakers Series with CFA Society New York.
Tom frequently partners with other local CFA societies to generate thought leading content, and during 2020, his volunteer team co-hosted a major LatAm Asset Owner Summit featuring over 30 LatAm-focused institutional investor speakers, which attracted almost 600 viewers. He also served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York (CUNY) Foundation, navigating the foundation through fiscal challenges owing to the pandemic.
“We are thrilled to have Tom’s contributions recognized by CFA Institute,” said Deepika Sharma, CFA, Chair of the Board of Directors at CFA Society New York. “Tom is at the heart of many of our society’s efforts and has been a highly visible and well-connected leader within the New York City investment community for nearly a decade. We are thankful for his leadership within the society’s board and within our society’s membership.”
Volunteer of the Year: Asia Pacific
Robert Ramos, CFA, CFA Society Philippines
Robert Ramos began volunteering for CFA Society Philippines in 2009 when he was a CFA Program candidate. He went on to earn his CFA charter in 2011 and added huge value to the local society in a variety of volunteer roles. In December 2019, Rob was unanimously elected by the board as its new President and Chairman. While navigating the pandemic, Rob’s active leadership and strategic foresight have helped the local society deliver on its strategic objectives.
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In the Philippines, Rob’s name is synonymous with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) and Asset Manager Code™ (AMC). He has launched several GIPS and AMC initiatives and helped to secure the country’s first AMC compliant firm in 2015, Union Bank of the Philippines Trust. Through his efforts as Board of Trustee and Vice President for Industry Relations (2018-2019), more firms followed suit and became AMC and GIPS compliant.
As Board of Trustee and Vice President for Continuing Education (2014-2016), Rob helped to launch the Philippine Investment Conference and conducted 20 seminars and workshops throughout his term. Through Rob’s efforts, CFA Society Philippines has also engaged with local regulators to discuss ESG standards and is currently working with three financial regulators to increase local knowledge and promote the ESG certification.
One of the most important facets of local society governance is financial management. Under Rob’s leadership, the society has improved this area and established a robust budget process. Every board meeting financial position and comparative budget, along with recommendations, are presented and the local society is in the process of system migration to a new accounting software.
To help CFA Society Philippines better serve members and execute plans, Rob has invested in training for staff at the local society and helped to increase skills in bookkeeping, project management, report writing and graphics advertising.
The pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation at the local society. CFA Society Philippines developed a mobile application pre-pandemic and Rob has increased its capabilities to include payment integration and enhanced event management tools.
Rizchelle Sampang-Manaog, Program Director, CFA Society Philippines said, “Rob has proven his calibre through solid leadership and governance. Over the years, he has inspired candidates and fellow CFA charterholders to rally behind the local society through volunteering. By recognizing the significance of volunteers, he has ensured we can deliver membership value and build capacity beyond what staff alone could accomplish.”
Volunteer of the Year: Europe, Middle East and Africa
Oleksii Sobolev, CFA, CFA Society Ukraine
Oleksii is one of the founding members of CFA Society Ukraine–participating in the initiation of the local society and licensing by CFA Institute in 2009. Since then, he has been an active volunteer and significant contributor to its development and growth. Oleksii was elected President in 2018 and due to his success was re-elected for a second term in 2020. He is an outstanding leader full of creativity and energy and has helped the society to gain a greater voice within the local investment community.
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Based on a highly democratic leadership approach, Oleksii has transformed the governance structure and operations at CFA Society Ukraine. One of the core features of Oleksii's leadership style is his ability to listen and moderate discussion. Each board member has an equivalent voice in the decisions made by the local society and is free to suggest and initiate a new project or program, which aligns with the strategy of CFA Society Ukraine. The board of directors is now a strategic body that delegates part of its functions to staff members at the local society.
As Head of the Advocacy Committee, Oleksii initiated a project with the financial market regulator, the National Commission of the Securities and Stock Market, to create the transparent system of certification of stock market representatives. Oleksii has been deeply engaged in the project, from the concept of reform, management, and working on the legal documents needed to update the certification. In 2020, it was approved by the Ministry of Justice and for the first time in Ukrainian history, ethics was approved as a mandatory block within the certification.
While President, Oleksii hosted the first regional Women in Investment Management Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Forum, increased media coverage of society activities, and transformed the format of local events to increase their effectiveness and relevance.
In 2020, Oleksii helped to secure a grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to shape financial education in Ukraine. With this grant, the local society was able to ensure a healthy operation pipeline during the pandemic. CFA Society Ukraine tripled the number of projects it was working on; increased the number of events it hosted; and introduced 11 brand new projects.
Anna Anzina, Executive Director, CFA Society Ukraine commented: “Having been with CFA Society Ukraine since its first steps, Oleksii is dedicated to the values and mission of CFA Institute. This helps him to identify the strategic direction and core objectives the leadership needs to focus on. He thinks out-of-the-box and uses his energy to motivate board members and volunteers at the local society. There is no doubt that as a result of Oleksii's management, CFA Society Ukraine has received more influence within the local financial and investment market.”