We believe differences enrich perspective, debate fosters innovation, and teamwork fuels excellence.

Across our seven offices in the United States and through our over 330 investment professionals, we offer clients customized and enduring investment solutions culled from extensive research. As an employee-owned organization, our accomplishments are aligned with the success of our clients.

Meet Our Research Team

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Partner, Head of Private Equity Investments

Joshua Beers

Headshot of Timothy Bruce.
Partner, Head of Portfolio Construction

Timothy Bruce

Oliver Fadly Headshot
Partner, Head of Private Debt Investments

Oliver Fadly

Chris Hill headshot
In Memoriam (1975-2022)
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Chris Hill, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Brandon Jones, Principal, Senior Investment Director, NEPC
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Brandon Jones

Tim McCusker Headshot
Partner, Chief Investment Officer

Timothy F. McCusker, FSA, CFA, CAIA

Phill Nelson Headshot
Partner, Head of Asset Allocation

Phillip R. Nelson, CFA

Headshot of Dulari Pancholi, Partner, Head of Credit and Multi-Asset Investments, NEPC
Partner, Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments

Dulari Pancholi, CFA, CAIA

Headshot of Alec Rapaport.
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Alec Rapaport

Partner, Head of Real Assets Investments

Matthew Ritter, CAIA

Sarah Samuels Headshot
Partner

Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA

Principal, Senior Investment Director, Real Assets

Shelley R. Santulli

Neil Sheth Headshot
Partner, Head of Global Research

Neil N. Sheth

Headshot of Elton Thomaj, Partner, Senior Investment Director, NEPC
Partner, Senior Investment Director

Elton Thomaj, CAIA

Partner, Head of Private Equity Investments

Joshua Beers

Josh is a member of the Firm’s Private Markets Research Group, leading the coverage of Private Equity strategies.  He is responsible for conducting manager due diligence, providing educational overviews to clients and constructing investment plans for implementation in client portfolios.  Josh is also a member of the Firm’s Equity Beta Group and Strategic Healthcare Team.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2018, Josh spent a decade at Liberty Mutual, deeply involved in their private markets portfolio.  In his time with us, Josh has brought his outstanding expertise and vast network in Venture Capital.  He has significantly raised the bar of how we cover this important area for our clients.  Josh was promoted in January of 2024 and is someone consultants and clients across the firm rely on for his PE expertise.  Josh has been involved in fulfilling important PE mandates that help NEPC to differentiate our capabilities and win new business.  Josh has a natural leadership style and is a strong mentor to the members of the PE team.

Josh received his M.B.A. from the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and his B.S. in Finance from Quinnipiac University.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Portfolio Construction

Timothy Bruce

Tim is the Director of Portfolio Construction. In this role Tim works with NEPC’s clients to solve portfolio construction and asset class implementation questions. Tim and his team work across all of NEPC research to incorporate the Firm’s best ideas in public and private markets. The Portfolio Construction Team works in tandem with clients to analyze their exposures through a quantitative and qualitative lens that is specific to the portfolio goals and objectives of each client.

As a research team leader, Tim is a member of multiple investment committees at NEPC. A frequent conference speaker, Tim has authored multiple white papers across a broad range of asset classes and investment strategies. Outside of his formal research responsibilities, Tim consults to all of NEPC’s client segments.

Tim received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Finance and Strategic Management. Tim received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University.

Location:Tampa, FL

Partner, Head of Private Debt Investments

Oliver Fadly

Oliver is part of the Private Markets team, leading the coverage of Private Debt strategies.  Oliver is also a member of the Impact Investing Committee and the Credit and Equity Beta Groups. He joined us in 2011 as a Research Associate, producing searchbooks for the Traditional Research team before moving to the Private Equity team and taking on increasing responsibility over the past 10 years.  At NEPC, we are proud of our early leadership in researching and allocating to Private Debt.  Oliver has been a critical leader in developing our capabilities in this space.  Oliver knows the ins and outs of the NEPC Research process, starting out as an Analyst and working his way up to Sr. Consultant before taking on this new role of Head of Private Debt in September 2022.  In this new role, Oliver is already differentiating NEPC’s knowledge and depth of expertise in the PD space and has helped us attract and retain clients looking for this expertise.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2011, Oliver was employed at State Street Corporation as a Syndicated Bank Loan Associate.  At State Street, Oliver managed multiple clients’ bank loan portfolios by processing all trade settlements, researching and resolving share breaks and interest discrepancies.  Oliver was also responsible for producing accurate portfolio valuation on a daily, monthly and quarterly basis.

Oliver earned his B.A. from Bates College and is currently pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

In Memoriam (1975-2022)
Principal, Senior Investment Director

Chris Hill, CFA, CAIA

In Memoriam (1975-2022)

We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of a member of our NEPC family, Chris Hill. Chris was not just a co-worker, he was a mentor and a friend to so many. In his 8 years at the firm, he worked tirelessly to put clients first, working in our west coast office for many years, to becoming a founding member of our portfolio construction team. We will long remember his kind demeanor, infectious optimism and incredible work ethic. Chris will forever be missed and has left a lasting imprint on all of us at NEPC.

Chris joined NEPC in 2013 and is a member of the Portfolio Construction Team. Chris works with NEPC’s clients to solve portfolio construction and asset class implementation questions. As a member of the Portfolio Construction Team, Chris works across all NEPC research to incorporate the Firm’s best ideas in public and private markets. The Portfolio Construction Team works in tandem with clients to analyze their exposures through a quantitative and qualitative lens that is specific to the portfolio goals and objectives of each client. Outside of his formal Portfolio Construction duties, Chris maintains a presence on the Private Markets Research Team where he conducts manager due diligence and constructs investment plans for implementation in client portfolios.

From 2013 to 2016, Chris was a member of the Private Markets Research Team at NEPC. After a year as a Sr. Vice President at EnTrustPermal where he worked on the Consultant Relations team, Chris returned to NEPC in 2017. Prior to NEPC, Chris was the Director of Alternatives at the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) where he led the alternative asset program for the $9 billion retirement system.

Location:Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, TX

Principal, Senior Investment Director

Brandon Jones

Brandon is a Senior Investment Director with NEPC and has over 15 years’ experience advising family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals. Brandon’s expertise is in after-tax asset allocation and portfolio construction, performance and exposure modeling and reporting, and evaluation and selection of alternative and public market investment managers.

Brandon has a particularly strong background in analytics and financial modeling. In addition to his ongoing client and analytical responsibilities, he also serves as a member of NEPC’s Asset Allocation Committee and Credit Beta Group.

Prior to joining NEPC, Brandon served as a Research Director and Director of Risk Analytics at CTC | myCFO, where he oversaw the monitoring of strategy performance through qualitative and quantitative investment manager data, and collaborated with consultants to structure, optimize and implement client portfolios. In addition, Brandon was responsible for the design and development of portfolio analytical tools and reports. Brandon joined CTC | myCFO in 2010 as a Performance Reporting Analyst before being promoted to Research Analyst. Previous to CTC | myCFO Brandon worked as a Pension Fund Analyst at Milliman, Inc.

Brandon earned his B.S. in Finance from Portland State University. When he’s not optimizing client portfolios, Brandon enjoys painting, biking, kayaking, and traveling in search of the next great surf spot.

Location:Portland, OR

Partner, Chief Investment Officer

Timothy F. McCusker, FSA, CFA, CAIA

Tim joined NEPC in 2006 and began his career in the investment industry in 2002.  Tim is responsible for overseeing Investment Research at NEPC, a group of 69 professionals including dedicated teams focusing on Alternative Investments, Public Markets, and Asset Allocation.  As CIO, Tim leads investment strategy development for NEPC including market assessment and outlook, communication of key themes and best ideas, as well as evaluation of investment strategies.  Tim also works closely with a wide variety of clients to construct investment portfolios to meet their long-term objectives.  Tim is a member of the Marketable Investment Committee, the Private Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.  Additionally, Tim is a member of the firm’s Management Group.  Tim was named in CIO magazine’s “The Knowledge Brokers 2016” edition as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants.  In 2015, Tim topped CIO magazine’s 2015 annual ranking of the world’s most influential investment consultants in the Generalist consultant category.  In 2014, Tim was recognized by CIO magazine in their edition titled “The Knowledge Broker” as one of the top 25 of the world’s most influential investment consultants.  Tim ranked 6th out of the 25 consultants recognized.[1]

Prior to becoming Chief Investment Officer, Tim served as NEPC’s Director of Traditional Research, overseeing long-only manager research and Asset Allocation.  Previously, Tim worked in Asset Allocation and Manager Research functions, where his responsibilities included maintaining and developing asset allocation models and frameworks used broadly by NEPC clients as well as Global Asset Allocation and Risk Parity manager research.  Before joining NEPC, Tim was an associate at Towers Perrin, where he provided actuarial consulting advice and addressed plan asset-liability issues for clients.

Tim earned his B.A. in Mathematics from Colgate University.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA) designations.

[1] CIO’s Most Influential Investment Consultants: CIO Magazine interviews pension and non-profit CIOs, asset managers and former consultants to approximate what it calls “the hierarchy of today’s institutional consultant industry”.  The results should not be considered a recommendation of any specific firm or individual consultant.  For more information, please visit CIO Magazine’s web site at https://www.ai-cio.com/lists/

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Asset Allocation

Phillip R. Nelson, CFA

Phillip leads NEPC’s asset allocation research and is responsible for the firm’s macroeconomic outlook, dynamic asset class views, and capital market assumptions. Phillip joined NEPC in 2011 having been in the investment industry since 2002. Prior to joining NEPC, Phillip was responsible for overseeing the investments of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. Phillip received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments

Dulari Pancholi, CFA, CAIA

Dulari’s investment career began in 2000 and she joined NEPC in 2006.  She is the Head of Marketable Credit & Multi-Asset Investments Group at NEPC. Dulari is also the Co-Head of NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee. As a research team leader, Dulari is a member of multiple investment committees and serves as the Co-Head of the Credit Beta Group. Dulari is also frequent speaker at industry conferences on the topic of Impact Investing.

Prior to joining NEPC in August of 2006, Dulari was Vice President of Operations of the Hedge Fund at Venus Capital Management.  Prior to that, Dulari was employed as a Research Associate at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Market (CISDM).  As a Research Associate, Dulari’s responsibilities included understanding various databases, statistical models, software and analytical tools used for efficient financial analysis.  While at CISDM, Dulari authored and co-authored several research papers, one of which was published in the Journal of Alternative Investments in the Spring of 2004.

Dulari received her M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds L.L.B. and B.S. degrees from the University of Mumbai.  Dulari has attained both of the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. She is also a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society. She has recently completed the Sustainable Finance program at Yale SOM Executive Education.

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Investment Director

Alec Rapaport

Alec joined NEPC in 2020 and began his career in the investment industry in 1996. Alec is responsible for fixed income investment research and due diligence of developed markets fixed income strategies. Alec is a member of the credit beta group responsible for identifying investment opportunities across credit and setting research themes across traditional and alternative credit strategies.

Prior to joining NEPC, he worked as Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager for Mercer Investments, overseeing Mercer’s OCIO fixed income funds and portfolios with a focus on the defined benefit and defined contribution client base. Earlier in his career, Alec was Managing Director and Team Head of Fixed Income and Commodities for Commonfund Asset Management Company.

Alec earned an A.B. in Economics from Vassar College and an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Location:Stamford, CT

Partner, Head of Real Assets Investments

Matthew Ritter, CAIA

Matt Ritter joined NEPC in 2012 and leads the firm’s Real Assets Investments team and the Real Assets Beta Group.  The Real Assets Investments team is responsible for developing market viewpoints, sourcing investment ideas, conducting manager due diligence, and providing educational materials for various real estate and real asset strategies.  Matt also has experience working directly with clients to construct real asset portfolios and investment plans.  In 2015, Matt co-authored NEPC’s white paper on REITs and their role in institutional investment portfolios.  Matt is a voting member of NEPC’s Alternative Asset Committee.

Prior to joining NEPC, Matt held positions at GMO and Brooke Private Equity Associates, and previously worked as an intern in NEPC’s Private Markets Group.  Matt earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner

Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA

Sarah is a partner at NEPC and oversees the firm’s 45-person investment manager selection team across private equity (buyouts, growth equity, venture capital), private debt, private real estate and real assets, hedge funds and public markets. In this role, she oversees the investment of roughly $4 billion per year in private markets funds. Prior to joining NEPC, Sarah was managing director at Wellesley College where she was responsible for the investment of the College’s endowment, including manager selection, asset allocation and portfolio construction.

Earlier in her career, Sarah was deputy chief investment officer at Mass PRIM where she chaired the internal investment committee and oversaw asset allocation, investment research and manager selection across asset classes. Samuels led the portfolio management of the $80 billion pension fund and was a member of the Executive Management Team tasked with strategic planning and management of the organization. Sarah also worked as associate portfolio manager at Boston Advisors and in a variety of roles at Wellington Management Company.

Sarah is Chair of the CFA Society Boston Board, serves on the Advisory Board for Girls Who Invest and founded the Boston chapter of Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN). Previously she chaired the Investment Committee and served as a Board Director for the University of New Hampshire.

Sarah holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations and earned an MBA in Finance at Boston University and a BA in German/minor in Business from the University of New Hampshire. She is an active angel investor, founded a podcast called Pull Up A Chair, wrote a children’s book called Braving Our Savings and is passionate about teaching children about investing.

Sarah has received recognition for her contributions to the industry, including: With Intelligence’s Advisor of the Year; Institutional Investor’s Influential Woman in Institutional Investing, Most Wanted Allocators, Hedge Fund Rising Star and Public Pension Plan of the Year; Trusted Insight’s Top 30 University Endowment Rising Star; Banker & Tradesman’s Women of FIRE; CIO Magazine’s Next Generation Award; ai-CIO’s Forty Under Forty

Location:Boston, MA

Principal, Senior Investment Director, Real Assets

Shelley R. Santulli

Shelley Santulli joined NEPC in 2022 as a Principal, Senior Investment Director in Real Assets.  She has extensive real estate investment experience with over 25 years acting as a principal on behalf of institutional investors executing core, value-added, and opportunistic real estate investments using a variety of structures including direct property acquisitions, development, joint venture equity, preferred equity, subordinated debt, entity-level investments, and publicly-traded CMBS and REIT securities.  Shelley has significant experience investing across property sectors and most major domestic and select international markets with investments totaling over $7 billion in gross asset value.

Prior to NEPC, Shelley was an Executive Vice President, Portfolio Management at American Realty Advisors where she was focused on portfolio management and strategy of a diversified, open-end value fund.  Previously, she was Managing Director, Head of Strategy & Business Development at Berkshire Group where she was a member of the Operating Committee and led strategic planning, product development, strategic business development initiatives, research, and corporate communications and marketing.  Other prior experience includes senior level investment positions at The Congress Group, Broadview Investors, AEW Capital Management, and Fidelity Investments. Earlier in her career, Shelley worked in the Real Estate Advisory Services Groups of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Laventhol & Horwath.

Shelley has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University, Magna Cum Laude, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Head of Global Research

Neil N. Sheth

Neil joined NEPC in 2009 with investment experience dating back to 1993, including thirteen years as a private equity and hedge fund investment professional.  He has extensive investing experience across the U.S. and international public and private credit and equity markets.  Neil currently coordinates our international investment research across both private and public markets.  In addition, he leads our private debt practice globally and is involved with sourcing and performing diligence on private equity managers in Europe and Asia. Prior to this role, Neil oversaw our alternative asset groups.  He is actively involved in all aspects of manager research, client portfolio design, construction and implementation. He works with all NEPC client types.  Neil a member of the firm’s Alternative Asset Investment, Retirement, Audit and Diversity and Inclusion Committees.

Prior to joining NEPC, Neil worked at Berkshire Partners, LLC, a leading middle market leverage buyout firm based in Boston, where he was a founder and co-portfolio manager of a fundamentals-based, global value hedge fund.  Previously, Neil spent eleven years as a private equity investment professional.  In this capacity, he served on the boards of seven companies in both the U.S. and Europe while he was a Partner at M/C Partners and an Associate at General Atlantic, LLC; two firms that focus on the global technology, telecom and media industries.  Neil began his career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co.

Neil received his B.S. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Location:Boston, MA

Partner, Senior Investment Director

Elton Thomaj, CAIA

Elton began his investment career in 2005 and joined NEPC in 2013.  In 2019 he joined the NEPC Portfolio Construction team, servicing Healthcare, Endowment & Foundations, Private Wealth Corporate and Public clients.  Prior to joining the Portfolio Construction team, Elton was a member of NEPC’s Healthcare Team.  As a Senior Investment Director, Elton works with clients on overall fund design, including asset allocation, manager selection, performance reporting and monitoring, and education.

Prior to joining NEPC, Elton worked as an Analyst for the Eriksen Group where he managed client portfolios, provided investment manager due diligence, performed client risk analysis and developed an investment policy statement process.  Prior to Eriksen, Elton worked as an Actuary for the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority where he developed and managed new diagnostic tools and processes.

Elton earned his B.S. in Mathematics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and received his Actuarial certification at the Actuarial Association of Albania. Elton holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Location:Charlotte, NC