Mr. Brown joined the firm in 2004 and has held multiple senior level positions including Chief Operating Officer prior to his current role. Before joining Victory, Mr. Brown spent five years at Gartmore Global Investments, Inc. in a number of senior management positions including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Gartmore Emerging Managers, LLC. Prior to joining Gartmore, he worked for Ernst & Young LLP as a manager in the Assurance & Advisory Business Services unit focusing on investment management businesses.
Mr. Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with an emphasis on accounting from Ursinus College and a Master of Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Brown also currently serves as a director of Cerebellum Capital. He previously was a member of the Bluecoats, Inc. of Cuyahoga County, OH, and previously served on the Summa Health Systems of Ohio Investment Committee and on the board of directors for JumpStart of Ohio. He was also selected as a 40 under 40 award winner by Crain’s Cleveland Business. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Investments & Product
Kelly S. Cliff, CFA, CAIA
President, Investment Franchises
Kelly S. Cliff serves as president of investment franchises with Victory Capital. In this role, he serves as a strategic resource for Victory Capital’s independent investment franchises, focusing on best practices in alpha generation, risk management and alignment of investment management capabilities with client needs. He is also responsible for providing tactical analysis of Victory Capital’s existing franchises as well as evaluating the capabilities of potential new franchises as part of the firm’s acquisition strategy. Mr. Cliff oversees the centralized investment functions that support the franchises, including trading, quantitative analysis, and risk management.
Prior to joining Victory Capital in 2014, Mr. Cliff spent 22 years with Callan Associates, most recently serving as the chief investment officer of public markets and co-lead of the Global Manager Research Group. Previously, he was chief investment officer of Callan’s Trust Advisory Group. Mr. Cliff joined Callan in 1992 as an analyst, and in 1998 he became practice manager of the firm’s Client Report Services department. From 2000 to 2006, he was manager of Callan’s Global Manager Research Group.
Mr. Cliff graduated from the University of the Pacific with a BS in Business Administration and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.
Mannik S. Dhillon, CFA, CAIA
President, VictoryShares and Solutions
Mannik S. Dhillon serves as President of VictoryShares and Solutions for Victory Capital. In this role, he leads and oversees the firm’s exchange-traded and solutions business. He is also responsible for setting the strategy and initiating the development and implementation of Victory’s strategic beta-based offerings. Additionally, he manages the solutions provided by our investment franchises, which includes product enhancements, extensions and innovations designed to best meet the needs of clients. Mr. Dhillon also contributes to the evaluation of capabilities of potential new franchises as part of the firm’s acquisition strategy.
Prior to joining Victory Capital in 2015, Mr. Dhillon served as a Managing Director and Head of Manager Research with Wilshire Associates. While there, he led the team responsible for evaluating asset managers for inclusion in Wilshire’s multi-manager portfolios. He was also in charge of leading strategic consulting engagements for Wilshire. Mr. Dhillon has a strong background on the institutional consulting side of the business, where he spent nine years as a manager research and defined contribution consultant with Hewitt before joining Wilshire in 2010.
Mr. Dhillon earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Georgia. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations.
Mark J. Van Meter, CFA
Head of Capital Markets and Trading
Mark Van Meter is the Head of Capital Markets and Trading with Victory Capital. In this role, Mr. Van Meter is responsible for managing all aspects of our equity trading and liquidity functions for the Victory Capital investment franchises. In addition to overseeing equity trading for Victory’s active and passive strategies, Mr. Van Meter is the primary resource for all Capital Markets focused research and liquidity expertise relating to our exchange traded products.
He joined Victory Capital in 2005 with seven years of investment industry experience. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Van Meter served as a senior equity trader for Chartwell Investment Partners LLP in Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure with Chartwell, he served as an equity options trader for Van der Moolen, a Philadelphia based firm, where he was responsible for equity option market making, equity trading, portfolio management, equity arbitrage and technical analysis.
Mr. Van Meter holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Additionally, he is a CFA charterholder.
Finance and Corporate Strategy
Terence Sullivan
Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy
Terence Sullivan is chief financial officer and head of strategy for Victory Capital, with overall responsibility for the firm’s financial operations, accounting, treasury management and corporate strategy.
Prior to joining Victory Capital in July 2017, Mr. Sullivan served as a managing director in Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group and head of the Global Asset Management Group. In this role, he was responsible for providing M&A, strategic advisory, and capital markets solutions to global investment management firms. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2003, Mr. Sullivan worked at Putnam Lovell NBF, an investment bank located in New York focused exclusively on the financial institutions sector. He also served as a management consultant in the Financial Services Practice at KPMG Consulting.
Mr. Sullivan holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Villanova University.
Distribution & Marketing
Paul G. Pasicznyk
Head of Institutional
Paul G. Pasicznyk is head of institutional with Victory Capital, responsible for all aspects of relationship management with current and prospective institutional clients and consultants. He and his team are responsible for attracting new clients to Victory Capital and building long-term relationships with those organizations for which the firm has been chosen to serve as a manager. These U.S. and international clients include well-known and respected corporations, endowments, foundations, unions, public funds, sovereign wealth funds, and firms that retain Victory Capital as a subadvisor.
Mr. Pasicznyk has a total of 23 years of experience in the institutional asset management field. He joined Victory Capital in 1997 with seven years prior experience at Banc One Investment Advisors and two years with a niche investment advisory firm.
Mr. Pasicznyk holds both a Bachelor of Science degree in policy analysis and a Master of Science with a concentration in finance from Carnegie Mellon University. Additionally, he holds a registered representative (Series 7) securities license.
Kevin Schmeits
Head of Intermediary & Retirement Sales
Kevin Schmeits is head of intermediary retail and retirement sales and distribution with Victory Capital. He is responsible for Victory Capital’s retail and retirement intermediary sales and distribution businesses including distribution of Victory Funds to 401(k) retirement platforms and distribution of Victory Funds, SMAs, and UMAs to broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, and financial institutions throughout the U.S.
Mr. Schmeits joined Victory Capital in 2003 as part of the firm’s NewBridge Partners acquisition. While at NewBridge Partners, a Manhattan-based large cap growth manager, Mr. Schmeits served as head of sales and distribution. He also served as national sales manager for U.S. Trust and has been employed in the securities industry since 1991.
Mr. Schmeits earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado – Boulder and holds Series 6, 7, and 24 securities licenses. He is a member of the Investment Management Consultant Association and the Money Manager Institute.
Caroline Churchill
Chief Marketing Officer
Caroline Churchill serves as chief marketing officer with Victory Capital. She is responsible for driving overall marketing strategy for the firm, including brand management, product and content marketing, digital marketing, and sales enablement for the institutional, intermediary and retirement business channels. She joined Victory Capital in 2014 with 27 years of previous experience in the financial services industry.
Prior to joining Victory Capital, Ms. Churchill spent 12 years with Janus Capital Group, where she held various marketing leadership roles, most recently serving as senior vice president of marketing. Before joining Janus, Ms. Churchill served as vice president of marketing at Gartmore Global Investments and as a principal at The Vanguard Group.
Ms. Churchill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado. She holds FINRA series 24, 7, 26, 6 and 63 licenses.
Operations & Administration
Michael D. Policarpo
Chief Operating Officer
Michael D. Policarpo has served as chief operating officer for Victory Capital since February 2016, with responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the business platform, including all operational and administrative functions. Mr. Policarpo also supports inorganic growth sourcing, evaluation and execution, as well as business platform integration. Mr. Policarpo joined the firm in 2005 and has held several senior level roles, including serving as chief financial officer from August 2013 through June 2017.
Prior to joining Victory Capital, Mr. Policarpo served as vice president of finance for Gartmore Global Investments, Inc. where he was responsible for strategic planning in conjunction with Gartmore’s senior management teams. He held several other positions during his five years at Gartmore, including chief financial officer of Advisor Services and corporate controller. Prior to his tenure with Gartmore, he worked for Ernst & Young LLP as a senior accountant in the Assurance & Advisory Business Services unit with a focus on investment management companies, registered investment companies and broker-dealers.
Mr. Policarpo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business and economics from Lehigh University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds Series 7, 24, 27, and 99 securities licenses.
Nina Gupta
Chief Legal Officer
Nina Gupta is chief legal officer and secretary of Victory Capital. Previously, Nina was general counsel and secretary of RS Investments, which was acquired by Victory Capital in July 2016.
Prior to joining RS, Nina worked at BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A., where she was deputy general counsel of BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, responsible for providing legal advice in connection with corporate matters, counterparty trading, transactional documentation, and regulatory issues in connection with a variety of different fund structures and accounts.
Previously, Nina was an associate at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York and Menlo Park, where her practice focused on general corporate, structured finance and banking matters. Nina earned a law degree from the University of London in 1996 and a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge in 1997.
Derrick A. MacDonald
Chief Technology and Operations Officer
Derrick A. MacDonald joined Victory Capital in 2008 as director of operations and technology and is responsible for leadership of and strategy development for the operations and technology functions of the firm.
Prior to joining Victory Capital, Mr. MacDonald spent 15 years at Avery Dennison and General Electric where he led a global business team, product management team, operations group, and Six Sigma/lean manufacturing team.
Mr. MacDonald holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada and a Master of Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University. Additionally, he holds a Series 7 securities license.