Joseph H. Davis, Ph.D., is Vanguard’s global chief economist and global head of the Investment Strategy Group. He leads a global 75-person research organization that is responsible for Vanguard’s thought leadership agenda as well as the development and oversight of the firm’s investment methodologies and models.

Joe chairs the firm’s Strategic Asset Allocation Committee, which governs multi-asset-class investment solutions, and he is a member of the Senior Investment Committee for Vanguard’s Fixed Income Group. He also holds roles on global advice and product committees.

Joe is a frequent keynote speaker, has published white papers in leading academic and practitioner journals, and currently serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Portfolio Management and the Journal of Fixed Income. Previously, Joe has been one of few nonacademic researchers ever to be recognized as a Research Fellow by the National Bureau of Economic Research for his contributions to our understanding of U.S. business cycles.

Joe earned his B.A. summa cum laude from Saint Joseph’s University, earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics at Duke University, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Chris Hofmann leads the Intermediated Wholesale Team and has around 17 years of experience on both the trading and issuer sides in the field of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Previously, Chris Hofmann worked at several renowned asset managers in the areas of ETFs and index solutions. Furthermore, she advised family offices and high-net-worth individuals throughout Germany on ETF allocations

Chris Hofmann holds a diploma in International Business Administration and studied at the ACCADIS School of International Business in Bad Homburg as well as at the American Business School (ABS) in Paris.

As the European head of Vanguard’s Investment Management Group, Geoff is responsible for the firm’s investment management functions within the region, which includes portfolio management and trading, research and thought leadership, and ETF capital markets. In his role as Global Head of Fixed Income Indexing, Geoff oversees the management of Vanguard fixed income index funds and ETFs.

Geoff is a member of the European Investment Committee, the European Advice Investment Policy Committee, as well as the firm’s Strategic Asset Allocation Committee, which governs multi-asset class investment solutions.

Since joining Vanguard in 2009, Geoff has held a variety of roles in trading and portfolio management, supporting both active and index mutual funds and ETFs, including leadership of the firm’s Fixed Income Group within the Asia-Pacific region.

Geoff earned a B.S. in finance and management from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A in decision sciences and strategy from Duke University. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Ales Koutny, CFA, is the Head of International Rates at Vanguard. He is responsible for the portfolio management of global governments and foreign exchange strategies. He joined the company in 2023.

Prior to joining Vanguard, Ales was a Global Macro Portfolio Manager at Janus Henderson, where he spent 8 years managing a range of global and unconstrained strategies. He started his career as an Analyst at JP Morgan Asset Management.

A CFA® charter holder, Ales also holds a M.Sc. in Data Science from City, University of London and a M.Sc. in Finance from Grenoble EM. He earned a B.A. (Hons) in Entrepreneurship from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Kelly Gemmell, CFA, joined Vanguard in 2022 as a Senior Investment Product Specialist focusing on Fixed Income within the Product Management team in Europe.

Kelly joined from Credit Suisse Private Bank, where she was a Senior Portfolio Manager for Fixed Income and Sustainable mandates. She performed fundamental analysis for equity and credit investments, ESG due diligence for funds, and managed diversified portfolios to meet the investment needs of private clients and institutions.She also led the development of the sustainable direct securities platform for both equity and fixed income securities.

Kelly began her investment career 16 years ago as part of the multi asset class investment group at Morgan Stanley Private Bank. Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Kings College London, is a CFA charterholder and holds CFA institute certificates in both ESG investing and Climate and Investing.