Ascent Investment Partners is based in St. Louis and was formed to meet the unique needs of fixed income investors. Because safety and stability are the primary reasons investors include a fixed income allocation in their portfolios, we carefully balance risk and after-tax return in every investment decision.

Sandra Pourcillie, CFA

Principal

Sandra is a Principal of Ascent Investment Partners, LLC.

Prior to forming Ascent, Sandra oversaw the management of $1.7 billion in separately managed bond accounts for high net worth and institutional clients at Evergreen Investments (successor firm to Gallatin Asset Management, and A.G. Edwards Asset Management). She was responsible for helping formulate, implement and monitor investment strategy across approximately 2,100 individual accounts. Prior to the Wachovia and Wells Fargo mergers, she was the manager of the Gallatin fixed income group within A.G. Edwards, Inc. She also served on the A.G. Edwards & Sons Investment Strategy Committee, which developed the firm’s asset allocation for its managed ETF portfolios (assets totaling approximately $7 billion).

Prior to joining A.G. Edwards in 1997, Sandra served as a municipal credit analyst at Boatmen’s Trust Company, where she evaluated the credit quality and trend of municipal issuers in support of their municipal mutual funds, trust portfolios and tax-exempt money market funds. Sandra joined Boatmen’s after her tenure with the State of Missouri budget office, where she analyzed, made recommendations on, and tracked Department of Public Safety and Revenue budget requests and legislative/policy initiatives for the Governor of Missouri.

Sandra has been a CFA Charter holder since 1999, and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in political science and economics from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Jeffrey Ladd, CFA

Principal

Jeffrey is a Principal of Ascent Investment Partners, LLC.

Prior to forming Ascent, Jeffrey served as a senior fixed income portfolio manager within Evergreen Investments (successor firm to Gallatin Asset Management, and A.G. Edwards Asset Management). His responsibilities included the management of more than $1 billion in separately managed tax-exempt portfolios as well as the development of customized fixed income strategies. Previously, he served as a Senior Fixed Income Credit Analyst within the bond department of A.G. Edwards & Sons. He was responsible for analyzing the financial status of various fixed income issuers and identifying new opportunities for investment.

Before joining A.G. Edwards in 1998, Jeffrey served as a Senior Financial Analyst for GE Capital, responsible for the financial management of a $3.5 billion mortgage retention business. Prior to GE Capital, Jeffrey served as a Senior Financial Analyst with The May Department Stores Company, where he focused on profit improvement, expense analysis and budgeting.

Jeffrey received a BS BA with an emphasis in Finance and Banking from the University of Missouri at Columbia. He has been awarded the use of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation by the CFA Institute and he is a member of the CFA Society of St. Louis.

Brian Tournier

Director of Research, Ascent Investment Partners

Brian Tournier is the director of research at Ascent Investment Partners. He is responsible for reviewing credit quality and investor suitability of the bonds purchased for Ascent’s clients and for the surveillance of investor portfolios. Brian has 19 years of industry experience.

Prior to joining Ascent, Brian was the director of credit analysis at Stern Brothers & Co., where he managed all aspects of credit evaluation for a rapidly growing regional public finance investment bank. Before working at Stern Brothers, Brian was a vice president and group leader of municipal research at A.G. Edwards & Sons, where he managed an award- winning research team responsible for analyzing credit quality and deal structure, identifying market opportunities and publishing action-oriented research for retail and institutional investors. He also served as a municipal analyst at A.G. Edwards for more than 15 years.

Brian is a member of the board of governors of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) and a co-chair of the NFMA Disclosure Committee. He was named an All-Star Municipal Analyst by Smith’s Research and Gradings 12 times from 2001 through 2010 in the Water and Sewer Revenue Bond and Special Revenue Bond categories. He served on the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (SIFMA) Municipal Credit Research, Strategy and Analysis Committee from 2004 to 2007.

Brian has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis. He has also completed coursework toward a master’s of business administration and a master’s of public administration from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He is registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with the Series 7, 24, 53, 63 and 79.

Andy Cummings

Director of Business Development

Andy has over 12 years of business development experience in the financial services industry and joined Ascent Investment Partners in January 2012 and Montage Investments in March 2011. His prior experience includes institutional sales and marketing with Sterne Agee Asset Management in Birmingham, AL, investment banking and institutional sales with Flagstone Securities (a boutique investment bank in St. Louis, MO), institutional sales and marketing with RCP Advisors (a private equity fund of funds in Chicago, IL) and as a producer with AON Risk Services in St. Louis, MO. Andy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Miami University, Oxford, OH, Cum Laude, with honors, and holds Series 7, 63 and 65 registrations.

 

 

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