36 Years of Options Performance

Berlinda Liu is a Senior Director of Index Product Strategy in Cboe Global Markets. Her team is responsible for the product management of Cboe Global Indices, which cover a variety of derivatives-based index solutions including VIX, options strategies, target outcome, income generation, risk management, asset allocation, liquid alternatives and retirement-focused investment. Prior to her current role, Berlinda was a Director in the product management team and R&D team in S&P Dow Jones Indices, where she was responsible for product coverage of derivatives-based indices. Berlinda has two master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, in Computational Finance and Information System Management, respectively. She completed her bachelor's degree in Wuhan University. Berlinda is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Society New York.

An investment professional since 1994, Michael J. Oyster is the Chief Investment Officer of Options Solutions, LLC. Mr. Oyster has broad experience as an investment strategist, analyzing institutional fund managers and advising investors on their portfolio allocations, construction, and manager selection. Mr. Oyster’s investment career began in 1994 as the Senior Quantitative Analyst with Schaeffer’s Investment Research. He analyzed equity and index options, financial markets, and behavioral metrics, and also managed several options-based investment strategies. In 1999, he joined Fund Evaluation Group LLC (FEG), an institutional advisory and asset management firm. He researched traditional and hedge fund managers, advised institutional investors, and analyzed markets and the economy. Mr. Oyster led the firm’s research and due diligence efforts on options-based investment strategies, which enabled him to develop a broad, singular understanding of the tools and techniques of successful options-based managers and also of the pitfalls that have bedeviled the unsuccessful. As FEG’s Chief Investment Strategist, Mr. Oyster’s counsel was regularly relied upon by investors for his expertise on markets and economic matters. He advanced established academic research to develop a momentum analysis strategy to improve asset weighting decisions at the portfolio level. He also led the firm’s investment allocation efforts and deployed $4 billion of discretionary capital. Mr. Oyster is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a BBA in Finance, a Chartered Financial Analyst holder, and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst holder. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of Cincinnati, the CAIA Association, and the American Mensa. He is a Board member of the Freestore Foodbank Foundation and the Lincoln W. Pavey Educational Foundation. Michael is the author of two investment books, the more recent of which, Success in a Low Return World, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in November 2018.

John Pearce joined Van Hulzen Asset Management in 2008. He co-manages the Firm’s equity, covered call and small cap strategies. Prior to joining Van Hulzen, he was a Director in the Investment Banking division of Credit Suisse Securities. Prior to Credit Suisse, he was an equity analyst at HOLT. John holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia and a M.S. in Accounting from the College of Charleston.

Matt Moran is Head of Index Insights at Cboe Global Markets. In this role, Moran is focused on the exchange's educational efforts for pension funds, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), mutual funds, and other institutional investors. He has traveled to more than 100 cities worldwide to educate investors and deliver financial presentations. Prior to joining Cboe, Moran served as Trust Counsel at Harris Bank and Vice President at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He is an associate editor of The Journal of Beta Investment Strategies and has written articles for several financial publications, including The Journal of Trading and The Journal of Alternative Investments. Moran holds MBA and JD degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.