Kestra Investment Management 

Kestra Investment Management Team

Through Kestra Investment Management LLC (“Kestra IM”), we have access to outstanding resources to deliver timely economic and market insights, sophisticated analysis, and comprehensive investment solutions for our clients. These services include asset allocation strategies, investment ideas, and personalized portfolio analysis and construction.

About Kestra Investment Management

Kestra Investment Management LLC is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kestra IM is an affiliate of Kestra Holdings. Kestra IM provides market research, commentary, and portfolio guidance to its affiliated broker-dealers and registered investment advisers. 

We are dedicated investment professionals with more than a century of combined experience, having managed assets for some of the industry’s most respected firms. For more information, please reference the Kestra Investment Management LLC Form ADV disclosure brochure. Kestra IM employees are not affiliated with or employees of the independent advisory firms they provide services to nor are the independent registered representatives or registered investment advisors affiliated with or employees Kestra IM. 

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  Previously serving as Chief Investment Officer at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management and as Chief Investment Officer at AIG Funds, Kara has become a keynote speaker and regular contributor to many television, radio and new publications including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, Yahoo! Finance, TD Ameritrade Network, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Barron’s.

  Earlier in her career, she was an analyst at Chilton Investment Company, a hedge fund, and at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Before joining the investment industry, she was an analyst covering international political and economic risk at Marvin Zonis + Associates, with a focus on Eastern Europe and Russia.

  Kara is a member of the CFA Society of New York and the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth. She serves on the board of directors for Welcome Home, a nonprofit, which she founded to provide support for newly resettled refugees. Kara earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. She is a passionate supporter of financial literacy and diversity within the financial services industry. Most importantly, she is a proud wife and mom of three children who keep her busy, delighted and humbled, often all in the same day.

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  Derek Schug currently serves as the SVP, Head of Portfolio Management for Kestra Investment Management.

  Prior to joining KIM, Derek was a Portfolio Manager at AlphaSimplex. There he was responsible for the strategic development, delivery, research, and ongoing portfolio management of AlphaSimplex’s asset allocation products with an emphasis on the model portfolio delivery business where AlphaSimplex acts as a Portfolio Strategist. He also served as a co-portfolio manager for the AlphaSimplex Dynamic Allocation Strategy. He has over 25 years of industry experience.

  Prior to this, Derek was the Founder and CEO of SandBox Investment Partners, LLC, a quantitative investment management firm focused on managing tactical ETF portfolios for Financial Advisors and Institutions. Prior to founding SandBox, Mr. Schug served as Vice President, Investment Strategist at LPL Financial, where he led a team tasked with generating investment ideas across an expansive suite of asset allocation portfolios and also led the creation and ongoing management of new asset allocation model types. Prior to joining LPL Financial in 2005, he spent over four years at Columbia Management, where he created and managed the firm’s Investment Services Team. Derek Schug began his career at Fidelity Investments in 1992.

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  Bobby Gomez, CIMA, is currently an Investment Specialist for Kestra Investment Management. Her team provides sales and service for the Kestra IM models and strategies to the financial professionals within Kestra Holdings. This includes transition analysis, portfolio construction, ongoing education and providing advisor insight to the team as they develop and expand the platform.

  Prior to joining Kestra, Bobby served as the Head of Product Specialists at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management (United Capital). She led a team of 7, ensuring that the financial professionals received best in class service and support for their model strategies. She supported the CIO and other Managing Directors regarding market reviews and outlook along with hosting educational and training webinars. Bobby worked closely with Investment Management, Alternative Investments and Manager Selection (AIMS) team, and the Alternative Capital Markets group to help facilitate a smooth transition during the acquisition.

  Bobby was an Investment Consultant/Wholesaler for American Beacon Funds, Ark Invest and Fidelity. Her experience also includes working directly with high-net-worth clients as a Financial Advisor at JP Morgan and Bank of America.

  She is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) and earned her bachelor’s from DePaul University. She loves spending time with her 3 kids and has a passion for cooking and creating her own recipes.

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  Mouna Pyneni joined Kestra Investment Management in 2021 as a Portfolio Manager. She will help develop and manage a curated menu of investment strategies and manage the day-to-day oversight, performance measurement, attribution, and rebalancing.

  Prior to joining Kestra, Mouna was a member of the Investment Management team at Goldman Sachs PFM. As an IM associate, she managed model portfolio delivery process from idea origination to implementation. She played an integral role in the post-acquisition of United Capital into Goldman Sachs, supporting $30 billion in the platform and off-platform assets.

  Mouna began her career as a research analyst in 2010 with Charleton Financial, where she managed model portfolios and served as a liaison between the firm, third-party money managers, custodians, and clients. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the Rochester Institute of Technology. After work, you’ll mostly find Mouna either trying to cook without burning the house down or at a local Crossfit box.

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  Alan Zhang joined Kestra Investment Management in 2022 as an Investment Strategist. His main responsibilities include managing Kestra Investment Management model portfolios, conducting thematic market research, and building strategic/dynamic asset allocation framework. He would also participate in active communications with Kestra financial advisors.

  Prior to joining Kestra, Alan was a research analyst of the Investment Management team at Edward Jones. As a member of the Asset Allocation team, he focused on building and managing the research process for tactical asset allocation, strategic asset allocation, and capital market assumptions. He played an integral role of building the quantitative, multi-factor research framework for tactical asset allocation for his previous team.

  Alan earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and earned a master’s degree in data science from University of California, Berkeley. He holds the CFA and FRM designations.