Mark McMeans, CFA

Chief Executive Officer

Mark McMeans is CEO and a founding partner of Brasada Capital Management. Prior to founding Brasada, Mark worked for sixteen years at AIM Investments, which was named the top performing mutual fund company of the 1990’s by Barron’s, as Director of Equity Investments ($85 Billion in equity assets under management) and Managing Director, AIM Capital Management, and President and Chief Operating Officer, AIM Private Asset Management, Inc. ($4 Billion in assets under management).  He also served as a Global Partner of AIM’s parent company, Invesco. Prior to working at AIM, Mark held positions at JP Morgan Chase and KPMG, LLC.

Mark received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, where he currently serves on the Advisory Board for the MBA Investment Fund, LLC. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in finance, from Rice University in Houston, TX, where he serves on the Oversight Board of the M.A. Wright student-managed fund, Jones Graduate School of Business.

Mark is a CFA charter holder and is a former officer and board member of the CFA Society of Houston.  He is an Investment Advisory Board member of MBR Financial in Houston and is a member of the Endowment Fund and Finance Committees of Christ Church in Sugar Land, Texas.

Gabe Birdsall

Portfolio Manager

Gabe Birdsall is a founding partner of Brasada Capital Management and has been the lead portfolio manager of the Brasada Long-Short Equity Fund, LP since its inception in January, 2009.

Prior to Brasada, he worked for 13 years at AIM Investments, most recently as Vice President of AIM Capital Management, Inc. During his time there, he was asked to help lead turnaround efforts as co-manager on several of the firm’s flagship equity portfolios such as the AIM Constellation Fund (CSTGX) and the AIM Weingarten Fund (WEINX). He led the day-to-day research efforts for AIM’s $15 billion large and multi-cap growth offerings; and was the domestic-lead manager of the $1 Billion AIM Global Aggressive Growth Fund (AGAAX) for four years, which achieved twice the return of the S&P 500 Index during that time period. Before assuming responsibility for these funds, he worked for two years on AIM’s derivative equity trading desk.

Gabe earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance from Stephen F. Austin State University, where he has served as a speaker to the Finance Club for many years and as an advisory board member to the student-managed funds. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree, with concentrations in both finance and international business, from Houston’s University of St. Thomas.

Jonathan Reichek, CFA

Portfolio Manager

Jonathan is a portfolio manager and partner at Brasada Capital Management. Since 2012, he has been a portfolio manager focused on three equity strategies: Focused Equity, Dividend Growth and Equity Income.  Prior to Brasada, Jonathan held positions at Friedberg Investment Management, Securities Management and Research, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Jonathan received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting and a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas.  Jonathan is also a CFA charter holder.

Hooman Amiralai

Managing Director

Hooman Amiralai is a managing director at Brasada Capital Management where he is primarily focused on wealth management and hedge fund sales and marketing.  Prior to joining Brasada, Hooman spent thirteen years at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York. At Goldman, Hooman most recently served as a Vice President of the Investment Management Division’s Alternative Investments & Manager Selection (AIMS) group, which spanned the private equity, hedge fund and long-only equity business lines. Additionally, during his tenure at Goldman, Hooman helped establish and co-manage the GS Alternative Investments Partnership (PSC) group tasked with capital and client management and financial analysis across all GSAM Alternative Investment products. Hooman began his career at Goldman as an analyst in the asset management division focused on the private equity fund-of-funds products.

Hooman earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and is series registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Shannon Truman

Financial Advisor

Shannon Truman is a financial advisor with Brasada Capital Management where her primary focus is on wealth management sales and marketing.  Prior to joining Brasada she worked 9 years at AIM Investments (now Invesco) where she most recently served as Vice President of AIM Private Asset Management, Inc.

Shannon received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Texas Tech University and is series registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Clay Hatfield

Associate Financial Advisor

Clay Hatfield is an Associate Financial Advisor at Brasada Capital Management. Prior to joining Brasada, Clay worked as a Regional Vice President with Pacer ETFs, where he was responsible for sales and marketing of the company’s offerings to financial advisors & institutions across South Texas and Louisiana. Before joining Pacer, Clay spent 3 years with Jackson National Life Distributors as an Internal Wholesaler.

Clay earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with a minor in Economics from the University of Kentucky.

Julia Nolen

Operations Manager

Julia Nolen is the operations manager at Brasada Capital Management.  She also serves as the company’s fixed income trader and compliance officer.  Prior to joining Brasada, Julia spent 22 years at AIM Investments (now Invesco) where she most recently served as Senior Fixed Income Trader for the firm’s $3 billion offering of tax-exempt mutual funds and private accounts.  Before joining Dick Berry in the municipal bond group, Julia spent 7 years in AIM’s Compliance office, supporting the firm’s code of ethics and investment advisory compliance efforts.  She also worked in International Operations at COMPAQ Computer Corp. (now the Hewlett-Packard Company).

Julia earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University, and held several FINRA licenses while employed at AIM.

Tien San Lucas

Senior Analyst

Tien San Lucas is a senior analyst at Brasada Capital Management.  Prior to joining Brasada, she was a senior analyst at AIM Investments (now Invesco) supporting a $15 Billion asset base of multi-cap growth investments in the consumer discretionary, financials and basic materials sectors.  Before joining AIM, Tien was an equity research associate with Morgan Stanley in New York covering the personal computing hardware industry.  She also served as manager of investor relations and as a research analyst with Compaq Computer Corp (now the Hewlett-Packard Company). 

Tien earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Houston.

Ed Zhang

Analyst

Ed Zhang is an analyst at Brasada Capital Management. Prior to joining Brasada, he was involved in corporate strategy at HP Inc, managing global executive reporting and analytics for its two key business units and supporting senior management in market review and analysis. Prior to joining HP, Ed has held a variety of roles with a focus in managing large-scale operations and process improvement across a diverse range of industries including oil & gas, medical devices and manufacturing.

Ed earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston.

Karen Grimaldo

Trader

Karen Grimaldo is the Trader at Brasada Capital Management. Prior to joining Brasada, Karen worked as a Portfolio Analyst & Trader at Linscomb & Williams, where she was responsible for the daily operations of the trading desk. Before joining L&W, Karen was employed at Eagle Global Advisors for 5 years, where she handled trade support & settlement responsibilities for domestic and international securities. She also has worked at Crossmark Global Investments as a Portfolio Administrator.

Karen graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a minor in Accounting.

Jennifer Taylor

Client Service Associate

Jennifer Taylor handles client services at Brasada Capital Management.  She is responsible for day-to-day customer account administration.  Prior to joining Brasada, Jennifer worked in financial services in the Houston area for the past 12 years.

Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from the University of Houston.