Michael L. Goldstein

Mr. Goldstein is the Managing Partner of Empirical Research Partners LLC. From 1990 through March 2002, he was the Chief Investment Strategist of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors from 1995 until the firm’s sale to Alliance Capital in 2000.

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    • During his tenure as an investment strategist and quantitative analyst at Sanford Bernstein he was a perennial member of the Institutional Investor All-American Research Team and his written research was chosen among the ten best on Wall Street nine times in ten years. After time away to start up Empirical Research Partners LLC, he has again been named to the Institutional Investor All-American Research team, in both the Portfolio Strategy and Quantitative Research categories in each year since 2004.

      From 1986 through 1989 he was a Senior Research Analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. covering the diversified financial services, brokerage and money management industries, and was selected as a member of the Institutional Investor All-American Research Team. From 1984 through 1986, he was a Senior Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co. supporting the equity trading and arbitrage division, and from 1979 through 1984, he worked at what is now Accenture, specializing in business planning and financial modeling.

      He graduated from the University of Michigan with an MBA, and the University of Wisconsin with a BBA, both with honors.

Sungsoo Yang, CFA

Mr. Yang is in charge of quantitative research at Empirical Research Partners LLC. He joined the firm in 2003 and has been instrumental in the development of our quantitative frameworks including our stock selection models and regime indicators.

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    • His current focus is to improve our stock selection frameworks globally and to perform in-depth quantitative research on market anomalies, analyzing their ramifications to fundamental portfolio managers. From 1997 through 2001, Mr. Yang worked as a senior research analyst at one of Korea’s largest conglomerates, Hyundai Group, where he designed econometric forecasting models for financial subsidiaries and published macroeconomic research reports for top managements.

      He graduated from Princeton University with a Master in Finance degree in 2003. He also holds a M.A. and B.A. in Economics from Seoul National University in Korea, and is a CFA charterholder.

Rochester Cahan, CFA

Mr. Cahan is the U.S. Portfolio Strategist at Empirical Research Partners LLC, having joined the firm in 2013 to focus on a broad spectrum of research topics ranging from bottom-up stock-selection to top-down macroeconomic analysis.

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    • Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cahan was the head of U.S. Quantitative Strategy for Deutsche Bank in New York. During his tenure there the team was top-ranked for quantitative research in the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team survey for three consecutive years from 2011 through 2013. Before Deutsche Bank he also held quantitatively-focused positions at Macquarie Bank and Citigroup in both New York and Sydney, Australia from 2003 through 2010.

      In addition to his highly regarded practitioner research, Mr. Cahan has published a number of academic articles in top journals including The Journal of Empirical Finance, The Journal of Banking and Finance, and The Journal of Portfolio Management. Mr. Cahan received a double degree in Mathematical Physics and Finance from Massey University in New Zealand in 2003, and is also a CFA charterholder.

Christoffer Koch

Mr. Koch is an Investment Strategist at Empirical Research Partners LLC who focuses on macroeconomic, consumer, and portfolio research. Before joining Empirical in 2024, he was an economist at the International Monetary Fund and worked on its flagship publication, the World Economic Outlook, since 2021. Prior to that he spent a decade as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, focused on macroeconomics, finance, and banking research and policy.

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    • He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford and graduated with a Ph.D and M.Phil. in Economics. He also holds an M.A. (Hons) in Economics from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Laura Dix

Ms. Dix is the Head of Consumer Strategy at Empirical Research Partners LLC. She specializes in consumer-related macroeconomic issues and stock selection dynamics within the consumer sectors.

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    • Ms. Dix joined the firm in 2003 and has worked closely with Mr. Goldstein on a wide range of fundamental research topics with an emphasis on those pertaining to the U.S. consumer. She returned to Empirical in 2022 after a few years hiatus from the working world that was spent dedicating her time to raising her three young children. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Dix worked at Neuberger Berman from 2000 to 2003. She graduated from Emory University in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Wes Sapp

Mr. Sapp is a Product Specialist at Empirical Research Partners LLC. Joining the firm in 2009, he helped establish Empirical’s global efforts in the development of stock selection frameworks while producing research that marries bottom-up stock selection with top-down macroeconomic analysis for equity investors focusing on the developed and emerging markets.

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    • Prior to Empirical, he spent five years with J.P. Morgan as an Associate Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst. He earned an MBA in Finance and Business & Public Policy from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Florida.